A normal response to the harmful nationalism of the political Right is a total rejection of any form of national pride.
This is understandable - nations are flawed. Governments include people with reprehensible views. A glance through even recent history can be a source of great shame. Anyone with a set of morals or political ideals will never be able to look at the whole and say "this country only does good", and with the strive for purity in the modern Left, it can be very hard to accept imperfection, let alone cataclysmic flaws.
The rejection of nationalism invites derision in its place. If you know your country is flawed, has done harm, is doing harm, and you know that misplaced national pride propagates that harm and the international perception of your country, it is tempting to counter nationalism with the argument that all forms of national pride are shameful, specifically in your own country, and maybe some others that are the most aligned with yours. Likely you wouldn’t move to a different country, you’re probably sharp enough to realise that all populations and governments are flawed (some more so than others but that will fluctuate over time).
Flag waving, patriotism and national pride are inevitable and quite probably necessary for countries to exist independently at all (do we need them? The alternative, down the line, is presumably a global dictatorship or global anarchy, neither of which are likely to work out well for anyone but a dominant group…there must be some great minds dedicated to the potentials of a borderless world but I can’t see it myself).
If you only ever counter national pride with negativity, you hand all the power to people who won’t do that and you provide no motivation for nationalists to join you in being proud of the good things you country could do well, for example international aid, hosting a globally respected science community, being home to some of the world’s best educational establishments, having a rich history of music, comedy and theatre.
These are building blocks, you don’t have to claim they make your country better than others but if you refuse to celebrate the fact that the country you are contributing to is capable of doing good things, should be proud of them and should build on them, you are handing national pride and your country’s future to people who don’t care about those things. And they will always hold the power because you can’t win votes with "this place and its people are no good and always will be."
