Downtown Grounds
16oz Pumpkin Spice Latte
Pumpkin Spice Muffin
(screw you, pumpkin spice haters!)
I won a free coffee and it's National Coffee Day! I has a happy.
Anyway... A few months ago, I tried to start up a new blog with the intent to create a discussion topic for my tiny handful of readers to engage other people in, and then respond with thoughts from their discussions. People seemed to have missed the memo... and the comment thingy was having issues. So, I think I shall try it again as a video blog later on. Maybe after the new year. I'm going to focus on finishing up book stuff (yeah, I'm still doing the book thing) in the meantime. Anyway, here is the first topic from that blog from April. Feel free to discuss with your bus driver or annoyed barista...
Sunday, April 20,
2014
Let's start with
patriotism.
What is your
definition of patriotism, and do you think it is a good thing?
Voltaire is often
quoted as saying, "It is lamentable that to be a good patriot
one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind." Or something
like that. I tried to tease out a more definitive definition from
the online dictionary pages, but I wasn't quite satisfied. The
interpretations seemed to be a little more modern, and the origins
were a little... abrupt, and unclear. All that's clear is that it
comes from the words for father and fatherland. The modern
definitions mention love and devotion, and that just seems a little
more romantic to me - more benign. I recall thinking that patriotism
most implied an expectation of loyalty - loyalty to your fatherland.
And that's why I
tend to agree with Voltaire's interpretation.
I don't believe in
unquestioning, unwavering loyalty, not to any person or country or
land. I don't believe in elevating my country and countrymen to some
higher kind of humanity. And I do not think anyone, even someone I
trust and care about, should be obeyed without scrutiny. No one is
infallible, and even someone I reasonably trust now may prove to be a
complete idiot about something else later. This is why I would make
a bad soldier. That, and certain physical shortcomings we need not
dwell on here.
All that's enough to
get labeled a coward or weak, or that I somehow hate the troops.
Fuck that. Just because I recognize that every other human being on
this planet is a human being, that doesn't mean I don't care about my
home and my family. And I include my country and countrymen when I
say that. If the proverbial wolf is at the door, I would not cower.
I would not hesitate to rise to the defense. For some people that
means signing up and taking up arms. I respect that, but I can't do
that. I can't put myself at other people's discretion to direct. I
don't trust those people on the best of days, and committing to all
the acts of war on someone else's say-so... just can't do it.
If I am patriotic at
all, then I fulfill my patriotic duty by trying to keep the men and
women who swear themselves to defend me from ever having to fulfill
that sacrifice. I will always question the need to go to war. War
is the definition of failure in my eyes. If you have to go to war
then every other means of resolution must have been tried and must
have failed.
(Oh, my goodness...
"It's the final countdown!")
Anyway. I guess
talk of patriotism always turns to war because that seems to be the
finest test of loyalty - put your life on it or you don't really mean
it. I hate that notion, too. I agree with that bumper-sticker:
Peace is Patriotic. Yes, I was born in America so I have to tend to
the matters of my family. That means supporting it, trying to make
it better. It is my homeland and I love it, but it doesn't get a
pass. I believe in the idea of America - the idea of it is truly one
of the greatest humanity has come up with. But America isn't the
idea it wants to be, or thinks it is. And America isn't the only
great idea, either.
I wouldn't be a good
patriot if I pounded on my chest shouting, "American
Exceptionalism!" That would be a self-deluding lie, and lies
are not going to make us a better country. A human being is a human
being is a human being, and countries might help in an organizational
sense (for things like getting your social security check in the
mail) but not much for purposes of compassion and understanding.
These arbitrary delineations are just another way of creating a false
distance between us.
So, am I a patriot?
I don't know. I'm not a nationalist, I know that. I'm not a
chest-pounder, or cheerleader. I'm not much for competitive sports,
or dominance, anyway. I will never shove my flag in anyone's face.
But I care about the place I live and the people that live in it.
But I care about everyone else, too.
I guess, if I'm a
patriot, I'm a disobedient patriot.
...You know, I
thought that was going to be the last line, but then I remembered
that whole Bundy Ranch thing...
My "patriotic
disobedience" doesn't include aiming automatic weapons at other
people when I disagree with them. I believe in the rule of law. I
know that laws can be wrong, and administrators of laws can be
corrupt and abusive (I'm not saying that's the case here, just
saying...). But we have means of recourse built into the system.
Armed insurrection is not one of them, not while the system is still
basically in tact. If people are not perfect, then no system we come
up with can be perfect. So if you tear down one system with
violence, whatever system you come up with will still have that fatal
flaw running through it. The best we can do is try to make the
system we have as balanced and transparent as we can, with viable
means of challenging fault when we find it.
Okay... Thoughts?
-------------
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