There is absolutely nothing wrong with being proud of the achievements of one's ancestors, and being attached to the language, culture, and way of life they produced. I'm damn proud of my people, whose strength and resilience in the face of unimaginable hardship is the reason I'm here and breathing, and those people's genes are in my body and help to make me who I am. I guess you're not proud of the hard work and dedication of your parents either, or of your children? You didn't do it, after all.
The only problem arises when that sense of identity, that pride, morphs into a belief not only that your "group" is superior to others, but that this gives you the right to oppress or demean other groups and treat them as "less" human.
This sense of pride need not even derive from membership in a group through blood. I'm damn proud of my adoptive country as well. Does it do everything right? Obviously not. All things created by man are flawed. (Sometimes, Catholic theology is still helpful.) I swell with pride when I read the founding documents of this country, the Declaration of Independence, the writings of Washington, the Federalist papers, the speeches of Abraham Lincoln. Were they perfect men? No, they weren't. Did they deal correctly with slavery? No, they didn't, and the country had to pay the price by fighting a bloody war to settle it. The fact remains that these are milestones in human political development, and anyone should be proud to belong to the group which created them and tries to live up to them. Heck, I'm proud of the work of the various charities I belong to, and not just for the work done under my aegis, but for good work going back decades.
I find this virtue signaling about being part of this post-modern, I'm a citizen of the world, and not some right wing, nationalist extremely unattractive. Some people think being proud of one's country means you disparage others and find that verboten, but have no difficulty disparaging people who are proud of their nationality. If some of you don't feel any attachment to being American, for example, how about you renounce your citizenship and go elsewhere? See if you like it better somewhere else. I had to swear to defend this country and its founding documents to become a citizen. Maybe native born citizens should be required to do the same to renew their citizenship. Imo, this is just more of the I want all the benefits but none of the responsibility attitude that is so pervasive in this post modern world. (I feel the same way about Italian citizenship, btw. All this bunk about it's enough to have some measure of Italian blood is ridiculous. You swear to defend it, or forget about getting the benefits of citizenship.)
As for being a moderator, to my knowledge no one volunteers. One is asked. No one is paid.
Ygorcs is a moderator for a few weeks. He apparently doesn't know yet that it's not necessarily a bed of roses. I've been called every conceivable, vile, pornographic name in the book, a few times in the public section but mostly by pm, by various racist, lunatics drawn to this "hobby", sometimes American, often Balkan or Eastern European. I've been threatened with physical harm, but not to the extent that another moderator had to endure. A certain "member" found this moderator's name and address and threatened him in his home, and also threatened some major event. One nut job had to be referred to the FBI. Our identities are now more shielded.
So, no, not always fun.
I'm also sure that Ygorcs doesn't mean to imply that he doesn't take being a moderator seriously.
Now, enough of this, and back to the topic.
@Firetown,
Looking down on people whom you assume aren't as educated as you are, Firetown? Very unattractive. I thought everyone was supposed to be equal and treated with respect? Or does that only apply to people with whom you agree?
If you're going to play that game, do you want to question my degrees or intellect?
Do not ridicule other members again. Am I clear?
