June is being celebrated as LBGTQ?Pride month. February has been designated as the month to celebrate “Black Pride”. It seems that every subset of humanity has a demand for a tribal exercise of superiority signalling.
In a sense, I get it.
But if pride is ever justified, race is one of the least valid reasons. It’s at the bottom of the list.
At the top is what you’ve actually done. You can be justly proud of how you’ve lived your life. The way you’ve shown your character. What you’ve accomplished. How you’ve raised your children. And especially, how you’ve treated other people.
All else are things that are accidents of birth. These all have tribalist implications.
It’s fine to be proud of your family, when you’ve had good parents, who’ve encouraged and supported you. But pride in distant relatives who may have distinguished themselves in some way is much less valid.
Below that, I’d put national pride. I suppose it’s OK, but you had no choice in it, and it’s too easy to get carried away. And to me, it would be much more justified depending on what you’ve contributed to your country and your fellow citizens.
And lowest on the list are purely biological characteristics that are functions of your lifestyle and DNA. Like your race or your sexual orientation.
Is it really rational for me to be proud I’m a white guy? I know it’s part of who I am, but it happened because of a random reproductive event. It’s nothing I did, and nothing over which I have any control.
I’ve never understood “pride” in something you didn’t accomplish, like gay pride, for example.
Having a specific identity around being a minority seems to do more harm than good. The same goes for black or racial pride. Being obsessed with your “blackness” just seems obsessive and invites a microcosm.
As I see it, being proud of my race or sexual orientation makes as much sense as being proud of my blood type.
If we’re going to have “pride” in things we did not accomplish, why not male or female pride? Or for things we chose, why not Christian or Muslim or atheist pride? These concepts don’t really exist, but it may have to do with the fact that there are too many people under each label that by being one of these things you’re “not special enough”.
I believe racial pride is both stupid and pointless. There’s nothing wrong with being educated on your culture or history and no one should feel ashamed of their race.
But I believe that at the same time, one persons accomplishment(s) are not those of an entire race. No one should be ashamed of their race because it’s a fact of life and something that shouldn’t even be a problem, but the more people continue to point out factors that separate us as human beings the less likely people are to quit using race as a crutch or as a way to be degrading.
I understand celebrating your culture and traditions, but for some reason it seems like the same people going around talking about Latino pride, Black pride, Asian pride and White pride are the same people who go around saying their race is so oppressed in society and that they feel discriminated against.
Proverbs 11:2 – [When] pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly [is] wisdom.