I'm not my country, not my president.

There's the popular notion that one should apologize for the actions or behavior of others in a group they didn't choose to be part of.

It's an absurd idea. How can I be responsible for something totally beyond my control and that I can not affect? Why should I feel pride –or shame– for things that other people, having been born in the same country hundreds of years ago, did?

This collectivist boasting, of course, more often than not plays out in the domain of history, politics, and sports, an enjoyable and mostly harmless version of wars.

"Not my president" – was the slogan after Trump became president. Adding the rainbow flag frame to your Facebook profile was popular among Hungarians when the government passed a law against the LGBT community. There are countless other examples.

We want to distance ourselves from people whose views we find repugnant but who share an arbitrary group with us. However, I think this does more harm than good.

It reinforces the collectivist notion that the random group is somehow more than the individuals therein – that everybody in the group thinks and acts similarly, and that each member bears responsibility for the actions of all others.

This is a hazardous yet popular concept that is complete nonsense and is responsible for continuing animosity between the "tribes" and countless deaths.

I'll assume responsibility for my actions and those of my underaged children, but I won't support collectivism by going even an inch further than that.