[vosper]

I'm with you; it makes no sense to me to be proud of an unknown stranger's achievements just because s/he happened to be born within the same borders as you.

I've never understood the swellings of national pride that occur within a country when (for example) one of their citizens wins an Olympic medal; only a handful of people played any part in that achievement, to insinuate yourself amongst them by virtue of these random relationships is almost parasitic.

Likewise, though less on-topic, I have no time for patriotism either. George Bernard Shaw put it best: "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it."