Filipinos are a great example. Most Filipinos say Pinoy pride with their mouths. Yet do they behave with pinoy pride? We know the answer. So who is Pinoy Pride directed to? Inwards? No, every Filipino knows how the Philippines can be.
@ansy1968
In fact, most Filipinos don't actually hate China, based on surveys. Yet why is their government behaving in such an irrational way? Surely they must know that they are weaker and outcompeted right?
No, that's not how people think. Assuming that people think like that is foolish. What most Filipinos think is Philippines + US is a single unit, and US achievements are their achievements as a core US ally with a MDT. That is Pinoy pride. They believe themselves to be the #1 sidekick and friend of the US, that is their pride.
Is it right or wrong? You can argue the facts but the facts are irrelevant because they behave as if it were true. So that's why the Philippines acts as if it had the US military- because it thinks it does.
What about Japan? Same thing. They don't see themselves as a sidekick. They don't even see themselves as losing WW2. The word 投降 or 战败 is never used by Japan in any document!!!
《为万世开太平 倾总力于将来之建设》
(万世の為に太平を開く 総力を将来の建設に傾けん):
昭和天皇决定终止战争。
Japan regards WW2 as a ceasefire (终战) in exchange for switching sides, not as them being defeated. The document in Japanese and Chinese is 终战诏书 which is not actually a surrender document. Chiang allowed it out of pragmatism but as you can see it laid the groundwork for today's Japan.
You can see this from their visceral denial of war crimes and why they continue to visit Yasukuni despite Chinese and Korean protest: they won, right? How can the victors be questioned? How can the victors be denied the right to honor their heroes?