National interest?

To coincide with the London Olympics, Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper published a list of what it considers to be the ten worst national anthems in the world. 

Now, amazingly – well, perhaps not given the publication – ‘God Save The Queen’ didn’t make the cut. Come on, of all the people in the world who need saving, old pampered Elizabeth is not the top priority. Her British subjects, however, seem to think differently. 

One country’s national song that did make it onto the list – at number six, in case you’re wondering – was that of our current home, Colombia. 

This is something that hasn’t gone down too well with a number of the locals we met in the past week – that is those ones who feel part of this ‘Republic’ (see our ‘Whose Land Is It Anyway?’ at http://bit.ly/NQIsTr for more on that particular topic).

'Did you just criticise my country?' 'Sorry, I thought you wanted my opinion.'

In truth we can, sort of, understand the annoyance of some Colombians at this apparent affront to their national anthem (its name by the way is ¡Oh Gloria Inmarcesible!, Oh Unfading Glory!). It’s not that bad. 

Indeed, after you’ve heard it a few hundred times – by law it must be played on all the state’s radio and television channels at 6 am and 6 pm every day – the tune becomes quite catchy. 

Maybe, though, that’s just a result of intense exposure to it. We might begin to have similar feelings for the North Korean ditty – it topped The Telegraph’s list – if we heard it as often. OK, possibly not.

Outside of all that, this whole story has served to remind us of how passionate many Colombians are about their country. 

In many respects, this can be seen as a good thing, being proud of your nation, defending its honour. But like everything, it’s best in moderation. In its mildest form, nationalism can be blinkered and biased, in its extremist form it can be crushingly deadly – Nazism is all we need to mention here. 

Needless to say, Colombian patriotism is thankfully in the former category as is the case in most countries across the globe. But we should be at least open to a bit of constructive criticism from time to time. 

For some Colombians, however, just the slightest negative remark about their country is taken as a massive insult (for an example of what we mean, see, http://bit.ly/PxO5R8). The same can be said for many US citizens – the existence of this blinkered and biased nationalism.

'Never mind the rainbow, just look at that grey sky.'

In contrast, you’ve got the attitude of the majority of us Irish. Speaking positively about our country is practically frowned upon. 

We love to tell people how much of a mess it’s in – and it’s in a pretty big one. It’s not that we’re not proud of where we are from or don’t like it, it’s just we tend not to do hyperbole as the Yanks have perfected. 

In fact, we’re skilled in the exact opposite, making things seem far worse than they generally are. We talk down achievements rather than talk them up. Indeed, to that last sentence, our natural cynicism would ask, ‘What achievements?’ 

We are our own worse critics. To us, that’s a natural way to be. Anything else just smacks of arrogance – too North American or English. 

In a sporting context, for the fans at least, we believe this pessimism or cynicism or whatever you want to call it works well. Because our expectations are so low, when we do inevitably fail, we don’t get terribly upset. We just drink more and sing. Much better than the standard English reaction of rioting — isn't that right, Master Roy Keane?

Down & out, yet again.

Putting on, though, our ill-fitting ‘positivity hat’, we Irish, you have to say, have done quite well across the board, in relative terms. We just don’t brag about it. While this is a trait we tend to like, at times it can be self-defeating – especially when we go abroad, going up against other nationalities for jobs or whatever. 

Thus – if only for a time and for show – we have to learn to be a bit more boastful as to what we’re about. 

In fairness, we’ve done that pretty well through the years. Our international sporting excellence remains a work in progress, however.