In the xbone sequel naming thread it seems one of the less... salubrious members managed to wind up a Japanese ultra nationalist of a sort. The result was an absolute shit show but still a nice popcorn worthy affair.
Now I find national pride a hilarious concept at the best of times (if pride must be a thing for you then make it something you have done or achieved rather than what you are) and thankfully it mostly only exists anywhere near here as a thing for international sports but when taken to the more extreme things (but still remaining words) it only gets more amusing. To that end I quite enjoy a game of get such individuals frothing at the mouth and have tried it on a variety of such people over the years. I do however find they vary by nation, or sub region within it, to say nothing of the state of any separatist movements at that point.
So then what countries do you find the produce the most hilarious results here, and same for regions within them as they can be just as fun.
UK wise. Some would look immediately towards Scotland but for the most part it is little more than a line in a Corries song. Now if you want the real fun see if you can find a Cornish separatist (full history here would take a while but suffice it to say it was one of the last non English speaking areas of England, so much so that they had a rebellion over it when the English bible was made mandatory, a few others besides). There might be a Welsh one out there but better there would be the internal north-south divide of Wales. We are probably too far from the Heptarchy for any real fun to be had there but historical texts have some good stuff.
Ireland vsthe occupied territories Northern Ireland was historically fun but is a bit of a cliche these days and mostly reserved for internet comment sections (though some fun to be had there). Make sure you know about Londonderry if you want maximum fun.
France. France vs Germany can be a fun one but the Basque mob... actually I said just words above and that one ends up with you as a target on a rifle range if you are not careful. I tend to find the Spanish Basque set less inclined to go for it than the French side but eh.
Speaking of Spain then while a Spain vs Portugal one can be fun (Spanish really is just a guttural version of Portuguese) it actually one of the times the more obvious thing is worth going for (in this case the Catalan region).
Belgium. For such a contrivance of a country the first place there is not much fun that can be had from outside unless you can do the contagious gunfire thing with elements within it. Assuming their former empire puts down the AK47s for long enough then you can get something out of that, better still if you know the specifics of the exit from the place.
Poland is always a fun one. Having spent centuries as something of a pawn or border state, being chipped away, occupied and otherwise having to regenerate itself it engenders some good stuff (historically speaking nationalism has been a response to massive outside threats or having to keep things going/form up a country, those already managed that and some peace tend to downplay it).
US wise. Texas would be the obvious one but other than historical Mexican border stuff there is not much to it these days. If however you have not come across a full bore New Englander and proud of it type (to the point where they would rather be categorised as New Englander than American and get upset at the latter) you have not experienced much here.
Moving up to Canada then while the obvious of Quebec vs the rest is easy pickings a lot of the time Alberta vs Vancouver has done some things at times, though that is probably not much more than most places having a dislike of their capital. For outside it then some of south America get get a bit touchy (the joke about Americans putting a Canadian flag on their backpack might well get reversed there) if you look at the mining and logging activities. Time was you could get something going with the Falkland Islands (a UK territory) and Argentina but you have to look pretty hard for that one nowadays to get good.
I would say China but one never knows if it is the 50 cent army/Internet Water Army, not falling foul of Confucius' institute if outside it or more genuine. Mind you throw a Taiwan is best/real China in there and you can still get something. If you know the full history of recent internal setups vis a vis Mongolia, the Russian border and all the others then you can do more.
Other than the pockets in random villages Germany does not produce the best these days (too many decades of education against it), however if you want to get a Denmark vs Germany border dispute going there can be some good fireworks. Denmark vs its various territories is also good.
Russia has a slight variation on the China thing but find a proper one of those and with a light bit of prodding you can get some interesting results. Even prior to obvious reasons you will tend to find Ukranians have a bit of an issue with Russia.
Finland vs Russia gets to be a fun one but for the most part Karelia is a bit of a historical joke than anything particularly serious at this point in time. Did once see something from Åland vs things with Sweden but nothing special.
The rest of the Nordics have their own little spats from time to time but you tend to have to get really deep into history and linguistics to get the best stuff from internals.
Prior to the thread above I thought most of the Japanese efforts were fairly self contained or pre world war 2 relics but seems I might have an unplumbed vein there. Exception being if you bring the Ainu into things; best reaction I ever got was to a Japan for the native Japanese line when I mentioned that it was nice as the Ainu were pretty hard done by.
The middle east... if you are willing to go on the full historical and current cultural course on internal relations here you can have some fun, and I did once see the seeming walking contradiction that is Arab supremacy (though that is less tied to a country) but my experience is more limited for this. Israel is also in the middle east and has its own fun ones, to say nothing of internal manoeuvrings (indeed start by learning their internal political parties and you will find a fairly direct path to winding things up).
Speaking of full courses then be sure to tackle that before you go in for Yugoslavia and all that fell from that and stay behind the safety of a keyboard for that one when you do.
India and the subcontinent then. The India vs Pakistan one can be fun, especially if you know the full history with the Mughals, but if you can get Pakistan vs Bangladesh going on then retreat to safe distance and watch the sparks fly. India vs China can be good but that probably has a decade or so before that comes to fruition (this belt and road lark is going interesting places). Sri Lanka might do things but internal historical (see Ceylon) does better.
Indonesia does some things with Australia but one looks to internals there, even if that mostly just involves looking at Aceh with increasing worry.
Back to Turkey then. Internally the traditionalists vs the modern (in a manner of speaking) is good stuff but the real points can be if you manage to get an Austrian and Turkish type going at it over history then good stuff. Otherwise Turkey vs Greece, especially if you can wind in Cyprus. Depending upon the recipient it may be a duck and cover routine but you could consider bringing up the Kurds to get something started.
This is getting a bit long so EOF so song
Hopefully this nicely spiced rather than the time when I dropped the whole bottle of essence of pure flamebait on a thread.
Now I find national pride a hilarious concept at the best of times (if pride must be a thing for you then make it something you have done or achieved rather than what you are) and thankfully it mostly only exists anywhere near here as a thing for international sports but when taken to the more extreme things (but still remaining words) it only gets more amusing. To that end I quite enjoy a game of get such individuals frothing at the mouth and have tried it on a variety of such people over the years. I do however find they vary by nation, or sub region within it, to say nothing of the state of any separatist movements at that point.
So then what countries do you find the produce the most hilarious results here, and same for regions within them as they can be just as fun.
UK wise. Some would look immediately towards Scotland but for the most part it is little more than a line in a Corries song. Now if you want the real fun see if you can find a Cornish separatist (full history here would take a while but suffice it to say it was one of the last non English speaking areas of England, so much so that they had a rebellion over it when the English bible was made mandatory, a few others besides). There might be a Welsh one out there but better there would be the internal north-south divide of Wales. We are probably too far from the Heptarchy for any real fun to be had there but historical texts have some good stuff.
Ireland vs
France. France vs Germany can be a fun one but the Basque mob... actually I said just words above and that one ends up with you as a target on a rifle range if you are not careful. I tend to find the Spanish Basque set less inclined to go for it than the French side but eh.
Speaking of Spain then while a Spain vs Portugal one can be fun (Spanish really is just a guttural version of Portuguese) it actually one of the times the more obvious thing is worth going for (in this case the Catalan region).
Belgium. For such a contrivance of a country the first place there is not much fun that can be had from outside unless you can do the contagious gunfire thing with elements within it. Assuming their former empire puts down the AK47s for long enough then you can get something out of that, better still if you know the specifics of the exit from the place.
Poland is always a fun one. Having spent centuries as something of a pawn or border state, being chipped away, occupied and otherwise having to regenerate itself it engenders some good stuff (historically speaking nationalism has been a response to massive outside threats or having to keep things going/form up a country, those already managed that and some peace tend to downplay it).
US wise. Texas would be the obvious one but other than historical Mexican border stuff there is not much to it these days. If however you have not come across a full bore New Englander and proud of it type (to the point where they would rather be categorised as New Englander than American and get upset at the latter) you have not experienced much here.
Moving up to Canada then while the obvious of Quebec vs the rest is easy pickings a lot of the time Alberta vs Vancouver has done some things at times, though that is probably not much more than most places having a dislike of their capital. For outside it then some of south America get get a bit touchy (the joke about Americans putting a Canadian flag on their backpack might well get reversed there) if you look at the mining and logging activities. Time was you could get something going with the Falkland Islands (a UK territory) and Argentina but you have to look pretty hard for that one nowadays to get good.
I would say China but one never knows if it is the 50 cent army/Internet Water Army, not falling foul of Confucius' institute if outside it or more genuine. Mind you throw a Taiwan is best/real China in there and you can still get something. If you know the full history of recent internal setups vis a vis Mongolia, the Russian border and all the others then you can do more.
Other than the pockets in random villages Germany does not produce the best these days (too many decades of education against it), however if you want to get a Denmark vs Germany border dispute going there can be some good fireworks. Denmark vs its various territories is also good.
Russia has a slight variation on the China thing but find a proper one of those and with a light bit of prodding you can get some interesting results. Even prior to obvious reasons you will tend to find Ukranians have a bit of an issue with Russia.
Finland vs Russia gets to be a fun one but for the most part Karelia is a bit of a historical joke than anything particularly serious at this point in time. Did once see something from Åland vs things with Sweden but nothing special.
The rest of the Nordics have their own little spats from time to time but you tend to have to get really deep into history and linguistics to get the best stuff from internals.
Prior to the thread above I thought most of the Japanese efforts were fairly self contained or pre world war 2 relics but seems I might have an unplumbed vein there. Exception being if you bring the Ainu into things; best reaction I ever got was to a Japan for the native Japanese line when I mentioned that it was nice as the Ainu were pretty hard done by.
The middle east... if you are willing to go on the full historical and current cultural course on internal relations here you can have some fun, and I did once see the seeming walking contradiction that is Arab supremacy (though that is less tied to a country) but my experience is more limited for this. Israel is also in the middle east and has its own fun ones, to say nothing of internal manoeuvrings (indeed start by learning their internal political parties and you will find a fairly direct path to winding things up).
Speaking of full courses then be sure to tackle that before you go in for Yugoslavia and all that fell from that and stay behind the safety of a keyboard for that one when you do.
India and the subcontinent then. The India vs Pakistan one can be fun, especially if you know the full history with the Mughals, but if you can get Pakistan vs Bangladesh going on then retreat to safe distance and watch the sparks fly. India vs China can be good but that probably has a decade or so before that comes to fruition (this belt and road lark is going interesting places). Sri Lanka might do things but internal historical (see Ceylon) does better.
Indonesia does some things with Australia but one looks to internals there, even if that mostly just involves looking at Aceh with increasing worry.
Back to Turkey then. Internally the traditionalists vs the modern (in a manner of speaking) is good stuff but the real points can be if you manage to get an Austrian and Turkish type going at it over history then good stuff. Otherwise Turkey vs Greece, especially if you can wind in Cyprus. Depending upon the recipient it may be a duck and cover routine but you could consider bringing up the Kurds to get something started.
This is getting a bit long so EOF so song
Hopefully this nicely spiced rather than the time when I dropped the whole bottle of essence of pure flamebait on a thread.
