National vs Individual Pride

What is the role of the difference between national versus individual pride?

What happens when the individuals are no longer proud of their nation?

Decline. For example, I’m proud to be American, and that I’m also proud to pay my taxes. Consider the opposite, rich individuals who hide their wealth in offshore bank accounts and only care about their individual wealth, rather than the greater good.

Critique of modern Americans

A bad sign: the rich, educated and elite Americans who live in Silicon Valley and elsewhere don’t really have American pride. Compare this to mainland Chinese, who still think long-term emprise China over their own individual needs.

Are silicon valley companies really American?

Maybe not. For example, Apple prefers to be a global company, rather than an American company. Note their shady offshore accounts in Dublin, all for the sake of foregoing taxes.

Global?

It seems nowadays, American culture is the global culture. For example, young rich Chinese kids would still prefer to wear a pair of Kanye West Yeezy sneakers, rather than a luxury Chinese brand. Similarly speaking, rich and successful Chinese individuals would still prefer have an iPhone Pro over the newest Xiaomi or Huawei phone.

What about South Korea?

Ekorean flag RIC KIM covid photography providence 00022

Korean Pop culture, and Korean fashion, Korean make up, and Korean TV shows and series are taking the world by storm. But what is South Korea, really? Since the IMF bailout, and the Korean War, it seems that South Korea is simply a neo colony of the United States. Note how the military of South Korea cannot operate or function without American military intervention.

Why it is a good time to be Korean-American

At this point, South Korean culture in American culture is practically the same. South Koreans love luxury goods, shopping, consumerism, and capitalism. The only difference between South Korean culture and American culture is that South Koreans still venerate the family, lineage, have national pride, do military service, have a respect for a scholarship, and a lot of the Confucian notions of filial piety still remain intact.

Why have your kids study Mandarin?

If you have your kids study Mandarin, your belief is that China will become the new superpower, and supersede America. My thought is that as long as American culture, American music, American films, and the American military remain on top, China will still be number two. I would say it’s better for your kids to study Latin and ancient Greek, than any other language purely for social economic benefits.

Does it matter or should it matter who you Pledge your Allegiance to?

The tricky thing is overtime, only the individual will remain. Thus in this way, it seems more wise to focus on your individual pride, than your national pride. Often times people use national pride as a mask to cover up their own personal insecurities. Similar how when individuals spend too much time focusing on sports, and specific sports athletes, it shows a sign of lack of respect for self.

I think for yourself, but have pride in your own country

A simple prescription I have is this: have a deep respect for your own self and opinion, don’t take sides, yet have respect for your own nation. It is impossible to have a nation that is 100% in accordance with your own personal beliefs, but that is part of the game, the price we must pay for citizenship.

ERIC KIM