"Insert group here" pride has been a pretty prevelant statement in our culture and I'd like to know why. You aren't proud that you were born a human so why are you proud you were born black, white, gay, female, Latina, whatever? You didn't do any work to become that way anything that would justify pride. Your response "it's more about the struggle". To live is to struggle. Being called names in highschool is part of life. Being turned away from jobs for stupid reasons is part of life. Being paid unfairly is part of life. I'm not saying discrimination is okay and we should do nothing about it I'm just saying we all struggle. The struggles are different but everyone does. Don't try to quantify it and say your struggle was more burdensome because it's your struggle, not mine. How the (*)(*)(*)(*) should I know what you've been through or vice versa. Now certainly there should be pride in getting things changed but let's be real, you probably didn't help to change them all that much. You went to some rally's participated in some marches, sat in some diners at the most and THAT you should be proud of. You should say things like "I'm proud I helped change things" because that is an awesome accomplishment (if you actually did anything besides stand in a group and buy a T-shirt then sign your name). But things like "I'm proud to be a woman" are just silly and actually kind of hurtful. If you're proud to have participated in something like the diner sit-ins during the civil rights movement then others will be ashamed that they didn't help and rightfully so, they should have helped change things. But if your proud to be a woman I should be ashamed that I'm not right? But I didn't choose not to be. To say your proud of this or that is to say you are a better person because of those things. But you aren't. You're just a person who happens to be gay/black/white/a woman. So (*)(*)(*)(*) off with the pride. You aren't special. Commence chair throwing and blaming of the Jews.
The term “pride” used in this context isn’t about being especially proud or what you are but about not being ashamed. We’re talking about various groups of people who were condemned, demonised and even criminalised for what they are and, if to a lesser extent, still are. The “pride” concept came up as a reaction to the assigned “shame”. Its commonly pushed further than a neutral middle ground because of that, as a way of highlighting how there should be no shame for what they are. It can certainly be overplayed and misused in some situations but the underlying principle remains sound.
` ` To me, this is much ado about nothing. The attachment of the word "Pride" to another word or phrase happens so often now, it has become cliché to a point of being laughable. However the word still makes applicable sense under certain conditions such as being gay, a female or being a mom/dad/parent.
There is nothing wrong with being centered within a particular ethnic culture, time, and geographic location. It is part of what makes you you. It's all good, as long as you don't take it to an extreme, and use this natural feeling as an excuse to hate others
Pride is helpful if you're part of a race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, etc that has historically been put down or looked down upon in the past.
