To start off, thank you for your responses! There is still a conversation going in my last post's comment section, thanks to an anonymous poster who helped me see that I let my anger get ahead of my true feelings. Thanks.
Now to the question... What are you first and foremost? Are you an American first or a Human first?
What is more important? Your country or the world as a whole?
Lets not be idealist, we must defend this country right? Damn everyone else, God Bless the U.S.! May He grace us, and his shadow be cast on the rest of the world.
One of our major political parties slogan is "Country First"
Country First. American First. Patriotism at its finest.
What makes us American? Our citizenship? Let's talk about my citizenship.
I was born here. Bam, citizenship for me. Did I choose to be born in this country? No, of course not. I just happened to be, and I just happened to become an American citizen without my knowledge or consent.
So is that what makes us American? What is America? It is a country to be sure. What is a country than? A section of land. A section of land with arbitrary boundaries. Before the lines were drawn was there any difference between this land that we call America and the land we call Canada? Mexico? Climate to be sure, but there are both extremes of weather in this country.
So, me being an American has to do with the land you live on. At its most basic level.
Of course, then we must discuss the U.S. as a nation. I love the freedoms we enjoy to be sure. I wish every nation in the world guaranteed habeas corpus, and the rights granted by our Constitution and it's amendments. These are the good things about my country. Things I love. Things that should be considered normal all around the world.
Of course, then, there is this countries horrible history. The genocide of the Native American. The legacy of slavery. The denial of suffrage to non-white males. The restrictions of freedom that have been cast on us in war time. The internment of Japanese-Americans, the jailing of anti-war protesters in the first world war. The red-scares. The corruption that has been evident throughout our history. The poverty. The pollution. The wars. The hate.
Our country has had a bloody hateful history. This is the history of our democracy. Is this what we are told to love? Regardless of our own feelings. No matter how much you disagree with your leaders, always love this country!
Really? Love a piece of land with invisible boundaries? Love the people who's policies you hate? That you are willing to spend the rest of your life to fight? Love them?
Country first? Why country first? Why not humanity first?
Why not care more about our fellow man no matter where he/she was born than we do for this abstract/intangible idea of a nation.
We have been taught that our country is always right. We have been taught, indoctrinated, since our very first days of school that American lives are inherently more valuable than those born somewhere else, or belonging to another country.
That one American death is worth more than 1000 Iraqi dead.
That we should honor the deaths of our fallen in war but not people our soldiers killed?
At the root of it all, aren't we all just people? My American citizenship is a legal fact, not a personal characteristic.
Don't we all have more in common with all of humanity than with just our fellow Americans?
Those who fight and die for this country are the same who fight and die for another. They just have different ideologies.
They are just doing what they think is right.
They don't think they are murdering another human being.
They are doing their country proud. Their ideology proud.
Nationalism is taught to use throughout our life.
Nationalism is how our government and other governments(and leaders of ideological groups, example: Al-Qaeda) get us to believe that killing a citizen of another nation isn't murder.
It is heroism.
That we are not members of the human race. We are citizens of our countries.
Country First.
God Bless America.
Disclaimer:
I covered some aspects of my pacifism in this post. I don't wish to paint soldiers as murderers. I don't believe they think they are actually murdering people. They do not have this intent. They just want to survive and protect their families. I believe they are misguided.
I don't say these things easily. My grandfather served honorably in the Vietnam War. He is dying of cancer right now. I love him with all of my heart, and I have no malice towards him for serving.
I have more to say about nationalism, but I would like to get responses to this first.
Thank you
With love,
Mark
P.S.
I must give credit where credit is due. Kurt Vonnegut had a lot to do with my turn to pacifism, but so did the wonderful Sarah Goth. She has also strengthened my belief in the cause of peace around the world. Thank you for that.
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5 comments:
Pacifism is great, sure...but what would happen if everyone in this country thought the way you did? We wouldn't last a week. War is nasty, and soldiers would be the first ones to tell you that. But there is no alternative. The only way pacifism can work is if every single person on the face of the earth becomes a pacifist - and that's a fantasy.
You can say that pacifism is a fantasy, and I admit that war does seem inevitable. However, as a pacifist, I will spend my entire life speaking out against war. I will do my small part to prevent war and spread the idea of world peace.
Death is also inevitable, but there are doctors who seek to prolong it as long as possible.
I don't think it would take every single person to become a pacifist, just a lot of us. The aggressors wouldn't have anyone to fight for them, and they wouldn't have a cause.
Also, if we stopped killing people, perhaps the world wouldn't hate us so much. I believe most people in the middle east don't hate us for our freedoms, they hate us for our air strikes. If you kill people, you won't be popular.
Well, I agree to some amount with both of you. I believe that war is inevitable, and that it is a great tragedy for a country to be caught in a war it is unprepared to fight. I agree that in many cases, war is inevitable, and must be fought. However, I agree a lot with Mark's point about death: death is also as inevitable as war is, but there are doctors who spend their lives trying to fight it. We should fight for peace when we can, and fight for war when we have to. However, it is the narrow line between the two options that could be difficult to determine and negotiate. Many people said that the war in Iraq was a necessary fight (and many still do). We will never really agree on this. It is subjective whether a war is necessary, and this is just one more reason why it should generally be avoided. It's much too easy to err on the side of war.
I think nationalism is nothing more than an ideology gone out of hand. For example, we could pride ourselves and how great we are for being pacifists, if we were a nation of pacifists (boy, that would be strange). I wish I had the ideological balls to be a pacifist, but I am sadly too cynical for it. I am an isolationist. It is closer to the way things realistically shoudl be. Leave each other alone until you attack me.
Nationalism does have benefits, though. If it were not for a nationalism, then a country (which is nothing more than an ideal, as you said) would dissolve under the slightest of pressure. In a way, nationalism is part of you, because you want this nation to be improved. The same goes for a conservative who feels we must defend our freedom. You just don't agree with his view.
Also, Vonnegut has influenced me a great deal with things like this. He has pretty much made me as clear thinking (I hope I'm clear thinking) and liberal as I am today. Also, he's greatly influenced my deduction that I cannot classify myself as a pacifist as I did in years past.
& I was so happy while I read that. I agreed with everything.
& your response to Matt was exactly what we've talked about. Sure, there could always be war. But I think humans can evolve, evolve into something better than the hateful creatures we can be. I think that one day, we will be free of genocide. That'll be a step. & like you said Mark, I will do what I need to day by day, to create peace in this world.
Pacifism can work. Maybe not soon, but it can. There will always be bad people. Sometimes they run governments. But if there are enough people committed to peace, then this arguably would not happen.
& thanks Mark. You've helped me become ever more so liberal. :)
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