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Posted by Alric Knebel on 07/16/06 23:25
nu-monet v9.0 wrote:
> Alric Knebel wrote:
>
>>Blind obedience to any government is sick. The
>>government is to exercise the will of the people,
>>not impose its will upon them. The corny patriotic
>>stuff...
>
>
> That is a twisted and dark conception of what is meant
> by patriotism. Certainly patriotism can be distorted
> to evil ends, but that is the exception, rather than
> the rule, and is mostly done by dictatorial and
> authoritarian regimes. But even in the darkest of
> places, patriotism still holds many noble and honorable
> feelings.
Patriotism is a value that's taught by the state, and tells you that the
arbitrary boundaries established on maps will influence who or what
you'll consider first in moral dispensation. In the darkest or lightest
places, it's the least noble feeling. The nobility of it doesn't really
exist, and this presumed nobility is something we're TAUGHT to believe
is inherent in it, falsely establishing a moral obligation to embrace
it. By holding it up as the highest obligation of a citizen (and, by
definition, that's what it does), it establishes itself as the only
ideal that really matters, and therefore all other ideals are inferior
to it, and owes something to it. But patriotism is a superfluous and
counterfeit value, not essential to a person's character before the
highest judgment, whatever that turns out to be. Adherence to a higher
value that embraces HUMANITY collectively is the sine qua non of true
character. A true ecumenical spirituality is the source of all other
morality.
> Patriotism is the recognition that an individual shares
> a common ground with his neighbors. That they have a
> background, universally seen as a physical place, in which
> they share a history, an ethos, and a philosophy of society.
That's all nice and gooey-sweet, but many people are disenfranchised by
the very society they live in, and such conditions were set-up from the
get-go. In embracing patriotism as the only value that matters, most of
the do-wells live in denial of the consequences of the policies they
embrace. The view is, if the national values allow the do-wells the
luxury of patriotism, the country must be deserving of all the love
they're able to give it.
> Patriotism also implies a selflessness and charity that
> is offered to your kinsman that would not be given to
> those in other lands.
Those concepts have nothing to do with patriotism. Patriotism borrows
those attributes from a higher ideal.
> An example of this is the hurricane Katrina disaster.
> Though it could be given other justifications, such as
> religion, or humanitarianism, or whatever, the responses
> to Katrina were in essense patriotic. People from all
> over America volunteered, donated and contributed to help
> others. And yet, many of those who did so, did no such
> thing after the Mexico City earthquake. For though they
> might have felt empathy for its victims, they lived in
> another country.
None of that had anything to do with patriotism. Because some of them
didn't contribute to the relief effort to Mexico City doesn't make it a
patriotic effort. The amount of reporting on Katrina brought it more to
their consciousness, so people less inclined to participate in these
efforts were moved to do something. They weren't responding to it
patriotically, but in the way that people generally feel empathy to such
tragedy. Because it was closer to home, they could SEE it and FEEL it,
and more than likely had direct connections to the region affected. And
it should be noted that some of the contributors DID participate in the
relief effort for Mexico City, and those people are responding to the
higher ideal I was talking about. This is a superior value to to
patriotism.
> A different example of patriotism is love of country.
> Only in the least can this be indoctrinated, compared to
> the tremendous emotion that fills some people when they
> think of their native country. Even during the harsh
> days of the old Soviet tyranny, Russians returning home
> on Aeroflot were commonly seen to break into tears on
> re-entering Russian airspace.
It's ALWAYS indoctrinated. ALWAYS.
> Yet another example are those who profoundly love the
> philosophical basis for their nation. In the case of
> Americans, who love the Constitution and the Bill of
> Rights, and embrace the "democratic revolution", which
> began with the founding of America. They live and breath
> its principals, more than the place or its people. For
> them, the spreading of concepts found in their revolution
> is more important than life itself.
That "democratic revolution" is one of the biggest myths held by most
people who cherish the concept of patriotism. There was nothing
particularly revolutionary about this revolution, since the Romans had
practiced it, as did the Greeks before them, and even England had at
that time -- and had for some time -- a representative form of
government. The only thing that changed was what to call the highest
authority, and how that man takes that spot. These are just the
examples I know of off the top of my head, referencing a casual common
education on the matter. What I just said are facts contrary to the
self-glorifying account of history we spout in our rote idealism. When
word of the French Revolution spread throughout the western world, our
"Founding Fathers" were alarmed by it, since the French Revolution was
literally a grassroots revolution; the American "Revolution" was led by
an elite class of white men seeking their own country to run. The lives
of the vast majority of Americans never changed one iota; the only thing
that changed was who they'd be paying taxes to.
> For this last group, patriotism is best expressed by being
> shared with others, so that they might also have the
> patriotism that comes from living in a free democracy.
> There is no cynicism in this, either. For them, the
> greatest of patriots are those that free slaves, people
> who do not live in a free democracy.
And all of that's a good point. Too bad most Americans hate other
Americans, especially American labor. Patriotism is usually spewed as a
reason to stifle any issues concerning them, since the solution to those
problems seems to be something akin to the dreaded "socialism." The
thing is, real patriotism suggests some kind of socialism.
Unfortunately, most people enjoy expressing patriotism with their lips
or with a gun.
> Patriotism keeps nations together, and it is why there will
> never be a broad and powerful one-world government. Because
> there is nothing such a government of the world could offer
> that is anything close to what patriotism can give a nation
> or its people.
Depends on what your values are. I find the ideal of a one-world
government comforting and an ideal all human beings should embrace. If
one government can be imposed on fifty states and prevent them from
fighting, and the cooperation facilitate a greater success, the example
suggests that this could be expanded to the world. And we're not the
only example of it. Western Europe seems to have accomplished a lot
with the idea, too. In fact, Western Europe is an even finer example of
it than the United States: Unlike the United States, the EU unifies
people of different tongues.
> Efforts to undermine patriotism, derisively called
> nationalism, are instead causing the ruination of the EU,
> a colorless assembly meant to represent a generic people,
> created out of the fear that difference makes war. It is
> a bland and lifeless organization, and one destined to fail
> in its grand schemes, because it lacks the soul found in
> patriotism.
Patriotism is most often practiced blindly, and at that point is
indistinguishable from nationalism. Your deeming the EU national
character as "lifeless" is a sign of that nationalism. This
"lifelessness" of the EU has the advantage of peace, which allows a
PERSONAL liveliness, the freedom to live your life as you see fit. The
government under the EU also rewards citizenship, regardless of class,
with certain demonstrable inalienable rights that enhance the quality of
life, where things matter. THAT, my friend, is what patriotism
practiced unhypocritically delivers. You can talk about patriotism all
you want, but you know a tree by its fruit. And the fruit is all that
matters.
--
______________________________________________
Alric Knebel
http://www.ironeyefortress.com/C-SPAN_loon.html
http://www.ironeyefortress.com
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