[toretore]

This guy gets it. Being proud of one's nationality makes no sense. You have no right to take pride in something you didn't have a part in. Likewise, you have no obligation to feel shame for something you didn't take part in, like a country's wars or human rights abuses.

Attaching your sense of pride and self worth on something you can't control is a weakness. It doesn't matter what it is, it could be a nation, a political ideology, a religion or a football team. As long as you don't control it, you're subject to its inevitable changes whether good or bad - your sense of pride or shame is outside of your control.

To be independent is to be strong. Your country maintains secret torture facilities or spies on its citizens? Not your fault; you didn't approve of it and that's as far as your obligation goes. You can be proud of your work to oppose it, but the shame belongs to the perpetrators.