"The country I live in now is the best country in the world for people like me; I would be terribly unhappy if I was exiled." If your mental reply goes something like, "Why, what’s so special about the USA?.."
Now this is one of the funniest things I've read for a while.
Of course you're never happy about your home country neither you think it's the best country in the world - unless you're monumentaly stupid and forgiving.
National feeling isn't about lying to oneself, rather it's about being ready to invest yourself in your country, spend efforts on fixing problems and feel bound to it. We'll call it "Daughter Homeland" because it actually behaves like a teenager, and not an easy kind.
"everyone admires a person who became a billionaire in a depression more than a good-times billionaire"
There is a strong scenario of making a fortune out of depression: that is, vulturing and monetizing decay.
A factory struggles? Buy it out for nothing, lay out everybody, scrap equipment for metals!
People can't make ends meet? Micro-lend them at 200% interest!
Local police grinds to a halt due to lack of funds? Murder @ Steal, you'll legalize your capitals later!
Use chaos and pain to forcibly take every low hanging fruit, and there would be totalitarian dictators and serial murderers less hated than you.
This all actually happened in ex-USSR in the 90-s.
Now this is one of the funniest things I've read for a while. Of course you're never happy about your home country neither you think it's the best country in the world - unless you're monumentaly stupid and forgiving.
National feeling isn't about lying to oneself, rather it's about being ready to invest yourself in your country, spend efforts on fixing problems and feel bound to it. We'll call it "Daughter Homeland" because it actually behaves like a teenager, and not an easy kind.