Quote: (12-06-2018 04:31 AM)Kona Wrote:
Europe is not a country. This is the part that I don't get.
Hi Kona, I think I can help here. The pride displayed here is not national pride in a country, but rather ethnic pride, specifically pride in the achievements of the indo-germanic, or now in modern times, indo-european, people. For ease of reference I shall call them germanic people. Europe, to the largest degree is the creation of the germanic people. It is them that created France (Franks), England (Angles/Saxons etc), Germany, Scandinavia, parts of European Russia (the Kievan Rus was a mix of Viking ie Germanic people), and parts of Italy and Spain (Visigoths etc).
One could say for instance that Germany was not a country until 1871, however, of course the peoples that made up Germany existed well before then, and German history extends far beyond 1871. In a sense people are not equal to 'country'. Hence the more general pride in the germanic or indo-European heritage of Europe, and the world. Did you know indo-germanic people were found in China, they are called the "Tocharians".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tocharians
This kind of pride has had a resurgence recently with things like the discovery of the oldest representation of the moon and sky, the Sky disc of Nebra.
Quote: (12-06-2018 04:31 AM)Kona Wrote:
Is there Asian pride? Does that include China, Japan, Okinawa, Vietnam etc.? No.
There is Asian pride actually, in a general sense. The Asian people were very susceptible to Japanese invocations of Asian nationalism during WWII, and subsequent Asian nationalism overthrew the British in Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of Asia. It's slightly different because the development of nationalism in China, Philippines etc is in an earlier stage to that of Europe.
Quote: (12-06-2018 04:31 AM)Kona Wrote:
Why can't the European folks just stick with individual pride in each country? Wanna be proud of your French heritage, go for it. England is a hell of a lot different than Italy, so how do those two get to fall under just European?
Both England and Italy share a migration history, not just the Romans invading Britain, but also germanic people related to the Angles and Saxons invaded Italy. Both countries are European, but that's not just a geographic term, but also one that links history, blood and sentiment.