There’s nothing irrational about patriotism

In the run-up to Remembrance Day, my local branch of the Quakers has been displaying a sign on the front door. It reads, with ever-so-slightly combative bold type: ‘Remembering all who have lost their lives in war’. They’re willing to mourn, as long as they don’t have to be patriotic about it. Temperamentally, I’m with the Quakers on this one: I struggle to get emotional at national symbols like the royal wedding or the sight of the Union Flag. But I know people who are moved by these things, and I’m not sure this is because they’re less enlightened than me and the Quakers. It seems more likely that we’re the ones who are missing something. Patriotism is irrational if it means believing, as George Monbiot has suggested it does, that ‘whatever good you might perceive abroad, your own country is, on balance, better than the others’. That does seem ridiculous, but patriotism isn’t really about judging who’s better: it’s a movement of affection.