Pride, as used in the cliche "Proud to be an X", can be defined as a combination of two conditions:

• The consideration of the condition "X" in high regard, and
• One meeting the condition "X"

For instance, one may say, "I am proud to be an American". That would signify that the person stating the aforementioned phrase considers Americans to have a special worth, and is an American. Now that we have our definition down, let's start. I am going to attempt to prove that if one is "Proud to be an X", they consider their condition to be superior.

1. Assume second condition (bullet point two) is met. This means that we assume that the person in question meets condition "X"; in the case of the "Proud to be an American" slogan, we are assuming that the person in question is in fact an American.
2. Now comes the meat of the proof. Let's look at the first condition (bullet point one). Holding something in high regard is quite obviously relative; the use of the word "high" is definite proof of that. Therefore, when one holds something in high regard, they must be comparing that something with something else.
3. If someone is comparing condition "X" (ie. being an American) to another condition (ie. being a Mexican) and they find condition "X" to be in high regard, then they believe that condition "X" is superior in regards to the second condition. This is inherent to the concept of high regard, as in order to be considered high something else must be considered low.
4. We have now proved that to consider condition "X" in high regard, one must consider another condition in low regard. Therefore, one must consider condition "X" to be superior in regards to that second condition.

In short: since the concept of pride (at least the definition used in the common "Proud to be an X" slogan) is based off of personal regard, which is relative, superiority must be felt by one in order to feel pride.

What say y'all? Methinks 'tis quite a solid proof. Care to poke holes in it?

Nice one... probably the best formatted on KL.

One problem... "pride" does not have such a clean definition. There's a difference between pride and arrogance.

There are many different kinds of pride, but for the pride felt in the "Proud to be an X" slogan, methinks my definition was accurate.

im going to try to put this in to a different context.

I am proud to be a Girl Scout.
Yes, i place being in girl scouts in high regard, so long as one is not doing it only to enhance your resume...
Yes, i am a girl scout.

So by your proof
1. We can assume i am actually in girl scouts.
2. I compare being in girl scouts with something else. Lets say not being in Girl Scouts.
3. Because i place being in girl scouts in high regard, that means i place not being in girl scouts to be in low regard.
4. Because i place being in girl scouts in high regard, that means i consider myself superior to people who arnt in girl scouts.

My first point will be that your proof is very redundant.
Now i ask you, do i appear to consider myself superior to all of you, who i assume are not in Girl Scouts due to your status as Male? Of course not, as i am the coolest person on the face of the planet. So there.
But what i mean to say is by your proof, i automatically assume a position of superiority to those of you not in girl scouts. Lets test this out.

I have a friend. This friend is Male and therefore not in girl scouts. I look up to him greatly... If i ever feel superior it is because a) I have a better driving record than he does, and B. I get generally better grades. But, considering he was a national merit finalist, b is not necesarily a good reason to consider myself superior.

Take another example, also male. Obviously not in girl scouts, but he is a boy scout, and therefore an object of compitition. As a group and a whole, girl scouts consider themselves superior to boy scouts... however, to bring in individual examples, i do not necesarily consider myself superior to this particular person.

Finally, i will say that almost all of my female friends are or were girl scouts. But one who i know is not: do i feel superior to her? Most definitly, we treat eachother as sisters and so NATURALLY i think i am better than her.

Ahh, but I never mentioned considering oneself superior to others; merely considered condition "X" to be superior to another condition.

how do you explain that?

'Tis lies. Fine, you win. I shall revise my proof. Is it better now?

Sure, ok. I consider being in girl scouts superior in general to not being in girl scouts, its a great program...
So's boy scouts but id never admit it in public, cause the public still prefers them (damn prejudice... everyone knows what the eagle scout is but how many people know what the gold award is?... and in the 4th of july parade theres individual boy scout troop 'floats' and then theres a girl scout 'float')

I didn't know about the eagle scout.

Now, a person can be proud of who they are, whether if they're black, white, whatever. However, that doesn't automatically mean that they find themselves superior to others. I will prove my point in the following statements.

For example, I am proud to be female. I have no qualms about being female. However, do I think women are better than men simply because I am proud to a woman? No, I just accept and am positive about who I am. Most of my friends are guys, if I thought women were better than men, wouldn't I be surrounded by girls?

In my dictionary, being proud of who you are does not immediately say that you believe you are superior to another. An African-American person can walk through the streets and shout "I'm proud to be black" without that having any racial superioity to it. On the back side of the coin, an African-American walking through the streets shouting "Black power" indicates that there is some air of superioty to that persons claim that black equals power.

Being proud means that you have a REASONABLE amout of self-respect, according to www.merriam-webster.com. If you didn't know, self-respect means respecting yourself. Thus, proving that pride is one part of having a high amount of respect for yourself, leading to a higher amount of self-esteem, finally decreasing your chance of depression.

Wait, your female and a punkrocker? Anarchy? Anyone? I have no problem with female punkrockers, it's just that you never hear about female punkrockers, so don't flame at me. I believe in doing what you want, wearing what you want, saying what you want, and thinking what you want, without being influenced by the media or your peers. as Elijah Woods (Frodo in Lord of the Rings) once said And he's Celebrityish and they should know about being different, (since they're famous).

I'm not going to flame you. Don't worry, I hardly ever take my aggression and anger out on others, just ask the kids I've beaten up for pissing me off, jk, jk.

I chose that name because I love punk rock. I have my own beliefs towards stuff, but not because of the punk I listen to. I believe what I want to believe and thats that.

Ironically, I haven't been listening to punk rock that much anymore.

As for feminism itself, in my opinion, its okay to believe that women are awesome and they can do whatever they set their minds to. I think its wrong for a woman to believe that she is superior to a man.

I agree everyone should be treated equally, but it's not so, and thats what's such a shame. Can you image a world where everyone was treated equally?

There'd be a lot less bullshit in the world, I can tell you that. Prejudice is like the big, pus-filled, red zit on the face of the world.

Damn straight there wouldnt be, too bad that won't happen, well, at least in OUR lifetime.

Yeah, everytime we get a little bit closer to a prejudice free world. Someone comes along and puts us right back where we used to be.

Well, its unfair, but we can't change it, unless it's most of the world wanting a prejudice free world, which they don't.

Right-o!

We're way off topic, back on topic, I don't think pride ultimately leads to superiority, not for everyone, at least.

Let me explain this in an equation (cause i want bragging rights later ) Pride = believing that you can do anything = Thinking your better cause you think you can do something that they cant = fake belief of superiority = E=MC2 = Nerd

E=MC2?!? How did we get on the subject of Mariah Carey's new album?

I'm a complete nerd, I looked up the definition of pride. It means having self-respect, which has nothing to do with believing you can do what you want. Thus, not leading you to believe you're better and not leading to superiority.

omg.. mariah Carrey? omgwtfbbqsauce! that was einstein, and for everything else i respond by saying, meh.

I don't believe that MC2 == Nerd.
Sure, MC2 might employ some nerds, but MC2 itself is not equivalent to "Nerd."

So, you define being "proud" as being "positive"? In that case, do you reject bullet point one of my definition?

I'm not sure, but I can't make a conclusion that you would.

Hmm, I wonder what the recreation would be to a white person walking through the streets and shout "I'm proud to be white!" would be...

I didn't say you believed you could do what you wanted. I said that being proud of something requires that you consider that condition superior to other conditions.

I think there is a distinction between pride and arrogance. If pride means self-respect, just respecting someone else's beliefs does not mean you think they are superior.