Some time ago, I came across a collection of sayings about patriotism which make perfect sense. One thing that one can do, as a simple exercise, is substitute "patriotism"/"country" by "religion" and the aphorisms still make sense. So when I hear someone say things like "my country is the best", I get a stomach-ache. (And I don't care if that country is the US, Greece, the UK, Sweden, Russia, or the Republic of Vanuatu.)
“Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.”
- George Bernard Shaw
“Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.”
- Bertrand Russell
“Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.”
- Oscar Wilde
“Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?”
- Blaise Pascal
“Patriotism in its simplest, clearest, and most indubitable signification is nothing else but a means of obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason, and conscience, and a slavish enthralment to those in power.”
- Leo Tolstoy
The grand patriotism of Spain expresses itself in the new rules of civil protection of this year. At the right side, you can yourself estimate the price for either making a caricature drawing of a Spanish politician, or the price for joining one of the opinion groups on social forums, e.g. the pro-life groups. (Spain has also forbidden abortions from now on.)
ReplyDeletehttp://arbetaren.se/artiklar/spanien-inskranker-demonstrationsfriheten/
I am sorry I have no clue of what you're trying to say.
ReplyDeleteI just expressed a disappointed note about the recent political change in Spain, which forbids any criticism of the politics and gives high fines. It's kind of...patriotism... too, isn't it?
ReplyDelete(Check out the "Spanish anti-protest law" or "citizen protection bill", etc. http://www.thelocal.es/20131119/k-fines-for-spains-illegal-protesters-draft-bill)
ReplyDeleteI read that, and, seriously, I fully advocate the USA nuking Spain to exterminate the voters who think that vile criminal unenforceable "law" should be upheld.
DeleteI have already called my legislators many times, asking them to nuke Saudi Arabia for being a theocratic fascist state.
Only those who do NOT have a law in their favor are being oppressed.
DeleteA kind of anti...patriotism, I'd say.
ReplyDeleteBut, seriously, your comment about censoring protests is another example of what is happening all over Europe. Forget democracy, freedom of expression. And, oh, by the way, forget education too. Back to dark ages.
Exactly why one needs to shove that patriotism garbage right back into their faces.
ReplyDeleteSure, I do not really take that patriotism crap seriously. But, since my rightwing opponents do,
then I proudly advocate not only going to War to Free Prisoners, War to Stop Burning Fossil Fuels, War to End Factory Farming,
War Against Wall Street/London Financial Terorrists, but to advocate arresting anyone who opposes this position,
for not showing sufficient loyalty to my causes, for treason.
I'm from a Western English-speaking country.
Get the stupid nations to fight one another. Seriously: I tell Americans: call those stupid ugly Brits scum because they are destroying earth's climate.
And I tell Brits to call those stupid worthless Americans scum because they are destroying earth's climate.
Or Sweden needs to bomb Saudi Arabia. etc
Point is: If they're smart, they'll know I don't give a damn one way or another if they're British or American or Swedish.
I care more about the people in the other country who are on our side of the issue of fighting banking terrorists & fossil fuels.
The stupid morons from any of these countries, who think I really give a damn more about nationalism than ending banker occupation or manmade climate change or factory farming,
can & should go kill each other.
i.e. when the truth fails on morons, lie.
This is also the reason NOBODY should take seriously this GARBAGE MYTH that soldiers & cops have a "hard" job.
ReplyDeleteThis is like a religious dogma to both so-called "liberals" & the conservatives: with no alternative opinion whatsoever.
Soldiers & cops have the EASIEST, NO-STRESS FREELOADING-OFF-THE-TAXPAYER "jobs" in the world.
I cheer & celebrate dead soldiers & cops. They LOVE being killed. Because they are the ones who are SO FANATIC about going to war.
Well, too bad. I have NO obligation to agree with their LIES about the consequences of war.
SHOW ME A MATHEMATICAL PROOF THAT SOLDIERS FEEL ANY PAIN.
They can't. Because they never did a hard day of work. They claim not to be "politically correct". BULLSHIT.
Only when one openly defends the absolute right of free speech, as *I* do, for ANYONE, ESPECIALLY CIVILIANS, to make any bomb / death / torture / rape/war threats
against any government - their own or other - any politician, etc ESPECIALLY those who oppress them & don't do anything for them
but take their taxes - can anyone claim to be politically incorrect. Period.
And, yes - that includes the fact that *I* openly support ANY CIVILIAN (and not just some politician, like the politicians who supported murdering Julian Assange)
to make any bomb/death/torture/rape blah blah blah threat against me.
One cannot just cower like a coward over the words "threat" or "violence" just because one doesn't like those words.
One cannot claim to be for free speech unless one defends it EVEN for speech with which one disagrees but ESPECIALLY HAS NO LEGAL OR POLITICAL SUPPORT.
Period.
As long as there are people out there who don't think humans dumping infinite amounts of CO2 into the air will negatively affect climate,
then they have to accept alternative opinions from me or anyone that there is no scientific proof whatsoever that a nuclear bomb has any negative
effect on soldiers. It's just a different rearrangement of atoms.
All or nothing. Climate science or evolution do not get any privileged status for deniers & religionists to disagree with the experts.
ALL is, or NOTHING is. I don't care what any so-called judge or cop or "legal expert" thinks is illegal or legal.
My opinions about alternative theories of law are just as valid. Judges & cops get rich making up lies about non-existent "crimes".
Being a math PhD and being a math researcher, proving theorems, is absolute the most important & hardest job in the world.
Subhuman trash with no feelings like soldiers, cops, prison guards or judges should be forced to prove all the theorems in graduate level math courses
to learn what a hard day of work is.