The problem I have with patriotism when it comes to my country, is the anti-British attitude that still exists amongst some of my fellow Irish. It really is maintaining a division. Yes what the British did 100 years ago was terrible and I don’t condone it. But the good British people of today are not responsible for what their ancestors did, and most certainly do not support it.
Here’s an example of what I mean. Some of us Irish have a tradition of traveling up to the North of Ireland to do our Christmas shopping. Why? Because even with the exchange rate from Euro to British Pound, its still less expensive to purchase a lot of goods. Suffice to say, a lot of things in the Republic of Ireland are overpriced.
So anyway, my father was talking about going up to Newry for the weekend when he was at a local pub one year. To which someone responded with “Well I certainly won’t be doing any christmas shopping up north, for patriotic reasons.”
As a humanist, I really have little respect for this mentality. Its not the way to move forward.