Happy New Year and Patriotism

Mon, 5 Jan 2026

First of all: I wish you all a happy new year. While 2026 has already started off kind of bad I hope for you personally it will go well.
I spent new years with my partner and friends and my 2nd gym session in the new year today was one of the best ever, so I feel confident, at least for now.
My goals this year are the same I set towards the end of last year. Lose more weight, lift more weight, be more healthy physically and mentally. Since I have already become a gymrat I legit actually enjoy the process.
But man, politics and human rights are not off to a good start... Let's hope our generation manages to overthrow the old warmongers, fashists and all the pain and suffering. I for one will continue to support the good fight.

On another topic, something I have thought about a lot lately:
Patriotism seems so incredibly ignorant and stupid to me.
I don't believe you can be proud of where you were born. You can be proud about living more healthy, about achieving a goal of yours, about helping someone else, about getting through bad times, about being yourself. How can you be really be proud about where you were born?
You didn't achieve this. It's pure RNG. It's nothing you had to work for, struggle for. I could maybe understand being proud of being citizen of a country after years of working for citizenship. Maybe you migrated, maybe your parents did and finally you can call that place home. But patriotism in almost all cases I have seen in my life is about where you were born.
I live in Germany, and everytime I hear or see someone being proud about being German I just die a little inside. And it's almost always right-wing people here too, to a point where I strongly belive that patriotism is purely a political tool.
I legit do not understand how that's anything to be proud of. Not because it's bad to be born in whatever country, but because it had nothing to do with you.
It feels like patriotism is just another means of the rich and powerful to make people behave and do their bidding. When you love your country so much that you are proud about living there you will probably go to war for some old, shriveling shrimp of a politican.
It just seems so ignorant...
Maybe I am overthinking it, but it seems more and more important to me in todays worlds political and humanitarian climate.