Quote:
Originally Posted by RealJames
Regarding Japanese people thinking they are better than everyone else.
Patriotism is a completely different issue, many patriotic people everywhere in the world love their country but still don't think they are better than others, they just prefer their home over another. This is the category Japanese people fall into, not some weird belief of superiority that is being propagated by western minds.
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Actually in my opinion patriotism is directly related to feelings of superiroty and racism. Patriotism is basically pride. It is pretty much impossible to have pride without comparison. It is one of the reasons that pride is almost universally condemned by all major religions (I'm not religious but this is one of the few things about religion I actually agree with). Pride in your country is only possible by comparison to other countries. It's not something that you are necessarily concious of but you can not really have pride without comparison. And herein lies the slippery slope towards nationalism and racism. The more pride or patriotism is instilled in any populace the more likely they are to believe their country and culture and people are better than others. This leads to feelings of superiority and if nationalistic fervour is whipped up into enough of a frenzy then this is when one group of people can go and do some truly horrendous acts against other peoples. Patriotism can be useful in pulling a people together as a nation but it has it's dangers and downsides.
I don't really believe that Japan has any big problem with over zealous patriotism though. It once did and there is definitely still a legacy of that but on the whole I think they are a fairly humble people. There is a Japanese way of doing things though and they aren't generally too keen on changing those ways. This can be good and bad.