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What is patriotism?

by | Jul 6, 2020 | What is patriotism?

“Nietzsche wrote that words with a history cannot be defined. Their meanings are in their stories, their biographies. That is surely the case with “patriotism.” Patriotism is as patriots have done. And in relatively recent times–say, since the American and French revolutions–those who have called themselves patriots or who have called others to the banner of patriotism have largely fallen into two camps.

The first company, whose signature is on so many of the bloodiest pages of the modern age, has its spiritual roots in the radical ideologies of the French Revolution. They announced the advent of a new god on earth and a new prophet/commander whose voice was the voice of that god. The new god, of course, was la patrie, the nation, and the new commander was the state.

Abbé Sieyès named the new god: “The nation exists before all. It is the origin of everything. It is the law itself.” By 1792, in a petition addressed to the National Assembly, the ferociously jealous claims of the of the new god were made chillingly clear: “The image of the patrie is the sole divinity which it is permitted to worship.”

Those claims have echoed in a thousand variations from that day to this. It is the worship of national power, of national greatness, nearly always expressed as power over other peoples and qualities, and as power that acknowledges no limits on its own assertion. This voice has been as clamorous and continuous in our own country as in many others. The line from Col. Alexander Hamilton to Lieut. Col. Oliver North is strong and pure.

The other company of patriots does not march to military time. It prefers the gentle strains of “America the Beautiful” to the strident cadences of “Hail to the Chief” and “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” This patriotism is rooted in the love of one’s own land and people, love too of the best ideals of one’s own culture and tradition. This company of patriots finds no glory in puffing their country up by pulling others’ down. This patriotism is profoundly municipal, even domestic. Its pleasures are quiet, its services steady and unpretentious.

This patriotism too has deep roots and long continuity in our history. Its voice is often temporarily shouted down by the battle cries of the first company, but it has never been stilled. Jefferson spoke for it, as did Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.

We should not be surprised if this voice is often heard lamenting or rebuking the country’s failures to live up to its own best ideals, which have always been the ideals of the fullest possible freedom and the most nearly equal justice for all. Its specifically political ideal found its finest expression in Lincoln’s “government of, by and for the people,” and the American domestic patriot is often heard calling fellow citizens and their officials to this standard. That call is distinctly a citizenly call, and never more so than when, as Father Mapple’s wonderful sermon in Moby-Dick has it, the citizen stands firm “against the proud gods and commodores of this earth” and calls every violation of the covenant to account “though he pluck it out from under the robes of Senators and Judges.”

What is race? Why is there racism? Will race ever cease to exist?

by | Jun 3, 2020 | Society, What is race? Why is there racism? Will race ever cease to exist?

“Racism is based in Xenophobia. The fear of anything different. This is at the root of almost all forms of racism. We, as humans, have learned to gather ourselves into tribes as a means of protecting ourselves. Tribes lead, eventually, to countries and other forms of large groups of people.

This is the best example I could find, but there needs to be more circles. Right after “you” should be “family/intimate”, the next two are right, but “people you just met” should basically be under acquaintances. And then you get various circles like “local groups, city groups, state groups, country groups”. The further out from the circle you go, the less trust you’ll have for the other person.

When people are divided into groups we instinctively protect and promote our own group, sometimes even at the expense of other groups. So while races are largely an arbitrary definition, it is one that we as a society have accepted. Which makes it so much easier to develop an “us vs them” mindset. Every time you talk about black people do this or white people are that, you are contributing to this mindset and advancing the racist narrative.

So my second reasoning for why there is racism is a lack of knowledge. The more you know about the differences and similarities between the races the more you’ll realize that physically speaking there isn’t that much difference between all of us. The majority of differences will be societal ones. I.e. learned behavior instead of instinctive behavior.

For example, something like “ebonics” has absolutely nothing to do with black genetics, but is instead a completely societal thing. A white person raised by a poor black family is more likely to speak that way than a black person raised by a rich white family.

The secondary reason is why I haven’t really ever been a racist. At first it was because I didn’t really interact with anyone outside of white people enough to be familiar with racism. Eventually though, I moved from New Hampshire to Saint Louis and had to come face to face with all the ugly realities of racism. At which point it didn’t take me long to realize that assholes comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Being black doesn’t make you an asshole and being white doesn’t prevent it. Nor is the reverse true.

However, we can’t solve racism just by pointing out the faults of the majority race. We need to treat all races equally. Which means no quotas, no specific laws mentioning specific races or sexes. They should all be banned and done away with. If a company has to have 20% of it’s workforce be black because that’s the local percentage, than that company should also be forced to have 75% of it’s workforce be white (if that’s also the percentage). In other words, if it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander. We need equality of possibility, not equality of results.”