O:9:"MagpieRSS":23:{s:6:"parser";i:0;s:12:"current_item";a:0:{}s:5:"items";a:1:{i:0;a:13:{s:2:"id";s:70:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6039290182410893417.post-7584820789046608476";s:9:"published";s:29:"2007-02-10T22:09:00.000-08:00";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2007-02-10T23:58:19.505-08:00";s:5:"title";s:34:"Patriotism = The menace to liberty";s:12:"atom_content";s:5086:"This is my first blog posting ever... Mostly, I created it to vent and hash out writing ideas with myself. I write opinion columns for a local daily, and hope to free-lance someday. I was born and raised in Utah and am a political science student at the University of Utah. I realize that my ideas do not really fit into any contemporary political label and that it will probably be viewed as extreme and radical by most. However, as Mencken said, "<span style="color:#cccccc;">The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair." </span>Indeed.<br /><br />In July of 2005 I authored a column on the true meaning of patriotism (a fictional evasion for those with no independent thought), but instead my editor thought it best to write about the patriotic nuances of grassroots protest. I am always involved with local protests, whether it is with Amnesty Int., local unions, or Jobs with Justice and I cannot help but contemplate how notions of patriotism really inhibit people’s ability to internalize global issues and act to solve them. Many people term the word patriotic with other positive ideas- like freedom, representative democracy, and human rights. Alternatively- people place equal amount of importance on the term patriotism and its association with battle, destroying enemies, and the military. Either one of these modus operandi leave impressionable minds, empty and devoid of any meaningful solution.<br /><br />Removing notions of patriotism from our hearts and minds is the starting point to protesting and fighting against global threats- like poverty, corporatism, and war and peace. Until we can stand- authentically- united with Iraqis, Vietnamese, Pakistanis, and indigenous Americans, without self-conceived ideas of bordered identity then we will never eradicate the social ills that plague us all.<br /><br />Emma Goldman eloquently spoke:<br /><br /><span style="color:#cccccc;">“What, then, is patriotism? “Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of scoundrels,” said Dr. [Samuel] Johnson. Leo Tolstoy, the greatest anti-patriot of our time, defines patriotism as the principle that will justify the training of wholesale murderers; a trade that requires better equipment in the exercise of man-killing than the making of such necessities as shoes, clothing, and houses; a trade that guarantees better returns and greater glory than that of the honest workingman…<br />Indeed, conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others. The inhabitants of the other spots reason in like manner, of course, with the result that from early infancy the mind of the child is provided with blood-curdling stories about the Germans, the French, the Italians, Russians, etc. When the child has reached manhood he is thoroughly saturated with the belief that he is chosen by the Lord himself to defend his country against the attack or invasion of any foreigner. It is for that purpose that we are clamoring for a greater army and navy, more battleships and ammunition…”<br /></span><a href="http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/emma_goldman_patriotism.html">http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/emma_goldman_patriotism.html</a><br /><br />Instead of importing ideas of social democracy, participatory democracy and human rights- the west is busy importing packages of unhappiness, commercialism and consumerism.<br /><br />As Arundhati Roy says, the only group of people that can effectively stand up against the American government- is the American people.<br /><br />The greatest gift that the Left can give to the world is ideas- not steeped in ugly nationalism- but our faith in human kind. This idea is already in the social construct of people's minds. When we say "America is a model for the world", or "America is a gift to the world" we are <em>really</em> saying that "Democracy and human rights is a gift to the world," or "Our labor laws which created the middle class, is our model to other governments."<br /><br />The strength of America does not come from the flag, the military, or even our government. The strength comes from the people- who are fundamentally good and just. Once we shake off our myopic nationalism, then our minds will open- and the subsequent honorarium will envelope the world, and all humankind will be our bond in peace.<br /><br />Vincit omnia veritas,<br /><br />Ambedkar";s:12:"link_replies";s:164:"http://libertaspublica.blogspot.com/feeds/7584820789046608476/comments/defaulthttp://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6039290182410893417&postID=7584820789046608476";s:9:"link_edit";s:82:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6039290182410893417/posts/default/7584820789046608476";s:9:"link_self";s:82:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6039290182410893417/posts/default/7584820789046608476";s:4:"link";s:77:"http://libertaspublica.blogspot.com/2007/02/patriotism-menace-to-liberty.html";s:11:"author_name";s:11:"Goodluck Oh";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/04287356192449584737";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:3:"thr";a:1:{s:5:"total";s:1:"3";}}}s:7:"channel";a:13:{s:2:"id";s:45:"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6039290182410893417";s:7:"updated";s:29:"2018-03-05T22:59:35.051-08:00";s:5:"title";s:11:"Res Publica";s:8:"subtitle";s:33:"The best politics is right action";s:42:"link_http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed";s:55:"http://libertaspublica.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default";s:9:"link_self";s:71:"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6039290182410893417/posts/default?alt=atom";s:4:"link";s:36:"http://libertaspublica.blogspot.com/";s:8:"link_hub";s:32:"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/";s:11:"author_name";s:11:"Goodluck Oh";s:10:"author_uri";s:51:"http://www.blogger.com/profile/04287356192449584737";s:12:"author_email";s:19:"noreply@blogger.com";s:9:"generator";s:7:"Blogger";s:10:"opensearch";a:3:{s:12:"totalresults";s:1:"1";s:10:"startindex";s:1:"1";s:12:"itemsperpage";s:2:"25";}}s:9:"textinput";a:0:{}s:5:"image";a:0:{}s:9:"feed_type";s:4:"Atom";s:12:"feed_version";N;s:8:"encoding";s:5:"UTF-8";s:16:"_source_encoding";s:0:"";s:5:"ERROR";s:0:"";s:7:"WARNING";s:0:"";s:19:"_CONTENT_CONSTRUCTS";a:6:{i:0;s:7:"content";i:1;s:7:"summary";i:2;s:4:"info";i:3;s:5:"title";i:4;s:7:"tagline";i:5;s:9:"copyright";}s:16:"_KNOWN_ENCODINGS";a:3:{i:0;s:5:"UTF-8";i:1;s:8:"US-ASCII";i:2;s:10:"ISO-8859-1";}s:5:"stack";a:0:{}s:9:"inchannel";b:0;s:6:"initem";b:0;s:9:"incontent";b:0;s:11:"intextinput";b:0;s:7:"inimage";b:0;s:17:"current_namespace";b:0;s:4:"etag";s:70:"W/"848e894d8338655b744d9592119f67e96cb3680d7319a5764b5bcc90f567b01d"
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