(DDEckerslyke) wrote in message
. com...
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Complete the following sentence in ten words or less
Being proud of your country is like being proud of ...

I once heard the idea that a flag should be replaced by a picture
of your mum and dad having sex. This seems to sum it up nicely.

Here's what Edward Lasker wrote about nationalism:

"My French friend proved to be a very interesting fellow, remarkably mature
for his 18 years. He was studying mathematics at the Sorbonne, and we compared
notes on the French and German system of education. Basically, there did
not seem to be much difference. ... In both countries the youngsters were
indoctrinated with the most stupid kind of nationalism. The result was that
every German boy reached maturity with the conviction that everything in
Germany was better than in any other country; and every French boy reached
maturity with the same conviction regarding France. In later years, when I
lived in England and in the United States, I was much surprised to find that
the same methods were used, as a matter of course, in Anglo-Saxon schools.
I do not wonder that we had two world wars."
--Edward Lasker ('Chess Secrets', p. 135)

And there's another country,
I've heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her,
Most great to them that know.
We may not count her armies;
We may not see her King.
Her fortress is a faithful heart,
Her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently
Her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness
And all her paths are peace.
--Cecil Spring-Rice (1918, 'I Vow to Thee, My Country')

--Nick