Welcome to the sensible German’s approach to “patriotism”. Definitely after WW2, but absolutely relevant again. Our governments have been full of shit ever since, with surprisingly the only non-selfish head of state having been the conservative Mrs. Merkel, whom no one expected it of. She still did spearheaded a government with fucked up social politics, but at least not for personal gain (only for that of her buddies in industry) - which is arguably a low bar to clear.
Anyways, the bottomline is: I’m a human first, European second, a lot of things then, and a German only by some piece of paper.
Welcome to the sensible German’s approach to “patriotism”. Definitely after WW2, but absolutely relevant again. Our governments have been full of shit ever since, with surprisingly the only non-selfish head of state having been the conservative Mrs. Merkel, whom no one expected it of. She still did spearheaded a government with fucked up social politics, but at least not for personal gain (only for that of her buddies in industry) - which is arguably a low bar to clear. Anyways, the bottomline is: I’m a human first, European second, a lot of things then, and a German only by some piece of paper.