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human
I believe patriotism to be a primitive and negative influence, yielding a net negative effect on the world, CMV

From a utilitarian perspective (A line of thinking I largely agree with), I find patriotism to be a backward and misguided influence which damages relations between different cultures. 

Firstly, I must define what I understand to be patriotism, which may not be in line exactly with other definitions, else arguing about it is entirely pointless.

I consider patriotism to be pride in your homeland and where you come from, alongside the belief that your homeland is superior in some manner to anywhere else. I consider it to be loyalty to land and property.

Now, onto my reasoning for why I believe that loyalty to where you come from to be a negative thing.
>You have no choice in where you are born, it is entirely random chance which put you in the country that you were born in.


>It creates rivalries and negative emotion between groups with patriotic feelings for different areas, often leading to conflict.


>The idea that this bit of land and originating from this bit of land makes you superior or inferior is a ridiculous concept.


>Patriotic feeling is often abused to control and persuade large groups of people (progaganda posters during wartime for example) in bad situations, e.g. fighting a war they don't understand for under the guise of protecting their country.


>Most places in the world have been conquered and reconquered countless times, but somehow, now this time, this nation is the one true nation and is superior to all which preceeded it.


>It causes people to be blind to the failings and atrocities of their own government, allowing them to justify horrors in the name of their nation. 


>If my country did something which I disagreed with on a moral level, I would do everything in my power to oppose it, whereas a more patriotic man may be less willing to speak to their mind, this is just speculation however and I could most definitely be wrong.

What caused me to write this was that I recently had a discussion with a friend who was outraged by my apparent lack of patriotism, who is no longer speaking to me as a result.
gpt
Patriotism is simply the latest iteration of very primitive, but important and positive, human social patterns.

The first humans lived in very small units, extended families really.   There was only so much these units could accomplish on their own though, and groups of extended families would form 'tribes'.    It was the beginning of social cohesion.  We extend the same trust and loyalty that we used to reserve for our blood to our tribe.    The tribe was far larger and stronger than the family and could provide greater security and wealth (via specialization and trade).   This tribalism expanded into larger and larger concepts of tribe,  from tribe to clan, from clan to city-state, from city-state to nation-state.   
In this context, patriotism is merely the latest iteration of the primitive tribal impulse.  Loyalty to your social unit.  It is by far the most open minded and broad version of it yet.  
At some point in the future nation states may give way to continent-states (think EU)... and eventually a single 'human tribe'.   There are those would like to hurry the process and view patriotism as backwards, but its not something that can be engineered.  It must come through contact (seeing and experiencing other groups) , mutual trust, and mutual consent to work together.   

It cant be forced, and you cant really fault people for sticking to what they know and trust.  This 'tribalism' in its various forms has allowed us to work in ever larger cooperative groups and our entire civilization is a result of it.   It may be primitive, but it is far from negative.