Geographic pride

[bugo]

Btw; I, like most Texans, pride myself on my Texanship.

Why are you proud of something that was a complete accident?

[BigMattFromTexas]

Well possibly because Texas is the most awesome state? Yeah. That's why
BigMatt

[Ian]

Well possibly because Texas is the most awesome state? Yeah. That's why
BigMatt

[agentsteel53]

Well possibly because Texas is the most awesome state? Yeah. That's why
BigMatt

that does not meet the definition of "pride", as you cannot claim responsibility for its alleged awesomeness.

[BigMattFromTexas]

OMFG! This isn't the point of the damn thread okay. Dang.
BigMatt

[Brandon]

Well possibly because Texas is the most awesome state? Yeah. That's why
BigMatt

Does Texas border one of the Great Lakes?  No?  Then it can't be on the most awesome state list IMHO. 

[Scott5114]

OMFG! This isn't the point of the damn thread okay. Dang.
BigMatt

Thread split. It is now.

[corco]

Assuming he contributes to his community in some form or another (he's too young to pay taxes, but I'm sure he does something), then he is actively helping to make Texas Texas. His initial birth in Texas may be an accident, but if he does anything at all to help make Texas a better place then he should feel like he can take pride in being a Texan.

[agentsteel53]

(he's too young to pay taxes, but I'm sure he does something)

may he be conscious of his accomplishments.

[Scott5114]

Assuming he contributes to his community in some form or another (he's too young to pay taxes, but I'm sure he does something), then he is actively helping to make Texas Texas. His initial birth in Texas may be an accident, but if he does anything at all to help make Texas a better place then he should feel like he can take pride in being a Texan.

I suppose that is based on what one considers Texas to be. Is it a tract of land? Is it a legal entity? Is it a community? One would assume you are going with the last definition there.

I personally don't really consider myself to be necessarily proud to be from Oklahoma. I don't really have much in common with the majority of the other several million people that live here–my politics, religion, and outlook on life are vastly different from your normal Oklahoman. But I have friends and a decent job here, so I'm disinclined to just pack up and move to Kansas or Missouri. (I do miss living in Springfield; it is a great town.) However, whenever I hear about positive developments in Oklahoma City (like the Devon Tower or a new MAPS project), I feel happy that the city is advancing and that I am around to see it. I suppose you could say that I do work to improve Oklahoma, if for no other reason than making Oklahoma better benefits me as much as it does everyone else here.

tl;dr: AMBIVALENCE

[Alps]

I'm proud to be a New Jerseyan.  That doesn't mean that I pride myself on being from here.  I pride myself on representing my state and countering the endless stereotypes that people are going to throw at me in response to this.  (And I'm not going to waste time countering them here)

[realjd]

Does Texas border one of the Great Lakes?  No?  Then it can't be on the most awesome state list IMHO. 

Gulf of Mexico >>>> Great Lakes

My family is from Texas, and I was born there. I proudly consider myself a Texan, even if I don't live there anymore.

[J N Winkler]

I have complicated feelings about pride in geographical location.  I am from Wichita, and I am proud of that, but I feel less confident saying I am proud to be from Kansas because I feel the rest of the state thinks Wichita and the surrounding area should break off and join some other state (maybe Oklahoma).  Plus, my feeling of pride in any one location has been diluted after spending so much of my life elsewhere.

[agentsteel53]

I have absolutely no pride in living in any of the geographical locations I've lived in.  Location is just a convenience - a place to fall asleep at night, where your magazine subscriptions and your IRS audits go.  There are so many places on this earth that are awesome that I happen to not be using as my mailing address.

of all the places I've lived, Boston is probably the most awesome, and the place that I spent the most living at.  Am I proud to be from there?  Hell no; my parents made the decision to move there on my behalf when I was 5.

if I were totally freed from economic responsibilities and could choose a place to live ... well, I'd probably find a mailing address and a place of incorporation that is most free of tax burdens, and then (hey, I'm free of economic responsibilities, I can afford this!) see the world, and hopefully wake up in a different location every morning.  Then, and only then, I'd be proud of my locational choices: an absolute nomad.  Having set myself free through my own hard work and economic good choices, I would be consciously devoid of origin and devoid of destination, and damn proud of that achievement.

[agentsteel53]

bear in mind, "black pride" is one of the more contentious beliefs in our society today, and "white pride" one of its greatest taboos.  neither has anything to do with any conscious choice the prideholder has made. 

that should show you just how far "pride" goes in our lives, and how far it should go.

[triplemultiplex]

Gulf of Mexico >>>> Great Lakes

Bah, the Gulf is just another chunk of ocean.  Freshwater is where it's at!  Plus, no hurricanes.


Unless one truly has a terrible experience or was perpetually nomadic, I bet most people would have a sense of pride about the city or region or state or country they grew up in.  Thanks to the filter of time, we really remember only the coolest stuff from our youth.  That's a big segment of our lives where all we know is that place and it's hard not to become defensive of the place that raised you.

[agentsteel53]

it's hard not to become defensive of the place that raised you.

there's a difference between defending the locations that you remember fondly (as I would with Boston), and actually being proud that you, yourself, were blessed to inhabit such a delicious segment of the space-time continuum.

It's the difference between "this place is awesome" and "I am awesome".  Not that I don't claim to be awesome, but I have evidence of my actual efforts to support my cause!

[Chris]

I'm not particularly proud of being a Dutchman. Sure, we're a well-known country for our size, but it does have it's own annoying things. This country is over-organized, for example. I guess I can feel just as much a European / world citizen as a Dutchman. Borders are only on maps (at least in much of Europe).

[cu2010]

I hate my home state. Highest taxes in the nation, our government is completely corrupt, neither of the main gubernatorial candidates seem to have a solid plan to actually fix things, Albany is one giant money pit, and there's no growth here due in part to high taxes and corruption.

...but, yet, I'm still a proud New Yorker, and will do everything I can to make my home state great again.

[corco]

I've become enough of a mutt that I can't really claim any state as home. Heck, legally I can't claim any state as home. I'm ineligible to pay resident tuition in ANY of the 50 states at this point (which is really, really annoying)- Idaho doesn't consider me to be an Idahoan and Wyoming doesn't consider me a Wyomingite. I take great pride in being a citizen of the United States of America (as much as I may or may not agree with policy decisions sometimes).

I suppose I'd call myself an Idahoan, but I've lived in five states in my 22 years and beyond my parents and going to Jr high and high school there, I have no roots in Idaho- I could make an equally convincing argument that I'm from Ohio (born there, family there, spent summers there, that state has been the one constant through my entire life- it's the only place I can still go and be in the same houses with the same people as I could when I was born), but that's not particularly strong either.

[mightyace]

^^^

It looks like perspective and/or your experience in a place plays a definite role in what you call home.

It definitely does for me.

As many of my posts show, I still have a strong affinity for Pennsylvania, the state I was born and raised in, even though I haven't lived there since I was 18.

And, even though I've been in Tennessee 15 years, it holds less appeal than Ohio where I lived 10 years, Maryland where I spent 2, or even Wisconsin and Illinois that I've mainly spent time over the years visiting relatives.

[Dougtone]

I hate my home state. Highest taxes in the nation, our government is completely corrupt, neither of the main gubernatorial candidates seem to have a solid plan to actually fix things, Albany is one giant money pit, and there's no growth here due in part to high taxes and corruption.

...but, yet, I'm still a proud New Yorker, and will do everything I can to make my home state great again.

Plus the rent is too damn high.

I've lived in various places around New York State throughout my roughly 30 years of life.  I grew up on Long Island, and even though I lived there until I started college, I just say that I grew up on Long Island.  Since then, I've lived in various places around Upstate New York and consider myself to be an Upstate New Yorker.

[english si]

I guess I can feel just as much a European / world citizen as a Dutchman. Borders are only on maps (at least in much of Europe).

The Scottish and Welsh borders are strong in the UK, and the border between Britain and elsewhere in Europe is over 20 miles of saltwater, so we don't feel very European in the South of England - interestingly the further north you get, the more there is that feeling. There's quite a bit of county/regional pride in England - Yorkshire and Lancashire being the strongest county identities. There's less as you get closer to London, until you reckon yourself a Londoner. In summary - in the South, strong British identity, even if it's called 'England'. In London and the north, more strong regional/county identity (though in 'provincial' England a feeling of Englishness is throughout, even if there's a strong regional identity as well) and increased sense of Europeaness - peaking in Scotland, though Wales and Cornwall (less so Cornwall) have strong national identities.

Living in the south, I'd call myself English, and mean British for everything except most sport, and resentful of the 'Devolved issues, but Scottish/Welsh MPs can still vote, even though it won't take effect there, situation'.

I'd imagine that Spain has some strongly defined internal borders, with looser feeling wrt the international ones. Likewise the north/south divide in Italy. And the biggest case of cultural/language divide in Europe must be Belgium, which is very divided as a country into Flanders and Wallonia - to the extent that national government is highly unstable and spends a lot of time not existing, but the international borders are as if they are not there at all, and they all feel very European, even if they don't feel Belgium.

So it will be interesting to see what happens with the 'Ever Closer Union' - while Brussels remains aloof and distant from the people there's not a huge amount of nationalism, but as soon as the centralisation becomes more obvious (most of the rational EU-skepticism in the UK is due to how much is done in Brussels, far away and with little accountability. There's also killing all our fish while crippling our fishing industry, the large amount of money we put into it even when factoring in what we get back and the bureaucracy.), then we'll perhaps see more national and regional identities getting stronger.

The USA is more homogeneous culturally (think homogenised milk, rather than mono-cultural) and linguistically than Europe is. Sure there's different cultures, but there's much less geographical linkage to that - there's exceptions, and there's tensions of course, but there is a lot more unifying force.

[agentsteel53]

there's exceptions, and there's tensions of course, but there is a lot more unifying force.

yeah we haven't gotten all up in arms in nearly a century longer ago than you guys got all up in arms!  

[yanksfan6129]

Having worked on Andrew Cuomo's gubernatorial campaign (NY) since June, I can attest that the A.G. has substantive policy ideas...how many candidates have produced 6 policy books, the main one of which is about 200 pages long (and I've read them--there is real policy in them).