Patriotism

Yes, I know, I know (hanging my head in shame). I either have too many ideas or none at all. And worse yet, I don't know how to be short-winded. Answer first whatever you like.

I actually 'got' it that Americans haven't a clue what people in other countries are talking about with regards to patriotism on a debate board I read, in which an American was saying something along the lines of how 'everyone' feels their nation is the best, and so what is wrong with Americans feeling the same way about theirs? And an Irish national said she was wrong - she was ashamed of her country and its history. That was when I realised, that yes, Americans and a lot of the rest of the world are talking about two different things.

What Americans don't think of, I think, is that in most other countries, what people are connected ethnically. It is sharing the same ethnic backgrounds that produced most countries and that is just what they are - it isn't something that they have to wave a flag about. Their borders are defined by their ethnicity. I have lived in a few countries including France and Germany, and while the French are unmistakably French and the Germans are unmistakably German, being French or German isn't something that you can express a patriotism about since it just happens to be what you were born. It isn't a choice.

Is there pride in some of their nations accomplishments and great men? Yes, certainly. There would be no US or Canada at all if it wasn't for the great thinkers and explorers of Europe. I am not sure how to explain or express this, even this pride - and I am not sure that 'pride' is the right word at all - is different than what Americans understand or how they express their patriotism.

Germans have a great deal of problems with the whole notion of patriotism due to their recent history in the first and second world wars. German patriotism is usually expressed in the form of nutcases, neo-Nazis, who don't know how to be Germans, don't know how to come to terms with the past, and I think, therefore want to embrace it and pretend that the bad history was actually not that bad.

First of all, I hate to speak too much about patriotism in many countries that I have never lived in, or haven't had associated with many people from those countries. Even in speaking of patriotism in Canada, it is always a mistake to assume that one's personal experience is the norm. Now this is where comments from different nationalities on how patriotism is expressed or seen in their countries would be really helpful.

One of the things I've noticed is that even among speakers with a common language - words do not necessarily mean the same thing at all and it's first important to clarify what exactly a person means by a word or an idea. Misunderstandings often arise out of completely different understandings of an idea, when in fact people aren't really in disagreement - they are just expressing it differently.

My definition of patriotism is that it is a love of country - a love of country that has to ultimately define an "us" and a "them." The "us" would be whoever is a citizen of our country. The "them" would be whoever isn't. The "us" takes the attitude of 'my country, right or wrong. The "us" may in fact say that they will oppose things in their country that they disagree with, but if push comes to shove, right or wrong, they will take their country's side even if they believe the aims are wrong. Patriotism says my country comes before other countries. I can't think of anything more unchristian than that although for the sake of keeping ideas to a manageable level, I will try not to talk about what I find wrong about patriotism in this post, but rather talk about what patriotism means to me, and where I can find links, or have a personal insight, in other countries.

Patriotism is always about an 'us' and a 'them.' It started back in caveman days, when we protected our cave against other caves, and wanted to make sure that our cave had enough to eat even if the other cave didn't. It wasn't necessarily that we were against the other cave people - but we were first going to take care of our own.

You see the same dynamic in families and there are families who take that so far, they would cover up a really bad thing that a fellow family member did.

From there, that desire to bond in little groups, goes on to villages, towns and cities. From there to people who speak a language in common with you. And from there to nations.

Here is a link specifically to Canadian patriotism in a pdf format: http://www.acs-aec.ca/oldsite/Polls/Poll40.pdf

Now first of all I will address Canadian patriotism. Canadians are a self-deprecating people. We tend not to be flag wavers or to wave our accomplishments as a nation around. As a nation, generally, we consider it rude.

We have long had an identity crisis. We don't know how to define ourselves. We generally define ourselves by what we are not as opposed to what we are. Because our nations have many superficial similarities, one of the first ways we tend to define what we are not, is that we are not Americans. We're happy enough to have Canadian passports and when we wear the flag on our backpacks or sweatshirts, it's because no one is mad at us and when travelling in other countries, we want to make sure that no one mistakes us for Americans and shoots us. It isn't because of national pride.

The American motto of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is nothing that is important to Canadians. We aren't generally even sure what you mean by that. It sounds very geared to the individual and therefore selfish by our ideas. The Canadian motto is peace, order and good government. We value people getting along.

We are a country carved out of two nations, the English and the French. For many years the English dominated everything in Canada. If your last name wasn't English, your chances of getting into university or higher positions was severely limited. I should reiterate here that I am neither French nor English.

Some of this went on in the US as well, only under different names. The discrimination against the Irish and the Catholics for example.

Just as you have your self-proclaimed Mayflower bluebloods, we have the occasional pack of old biddies called Daughters of the Empire who show up to wave the British flag every time Her Majesty drops by for a cup of tea.

So that is an abbreviated history. Now in my lifetime, I remember how school always started with us singing God Save the Queen and we had glorious war stories of Mother England in our history books, and very little of Canadian history at all. But of course with 'the pond' between us, we really had not that much in common with Great Britain after a while. Like yours, our country is a country of immigrants from all over the world.

There was a brief spurt of why-aren't-we-more-like-the-Americans-and-why-don't-we-wave-the-flag-and-toot-our-own- horn-more-often. I am not sure whether that happened in the 70s or the 80s. Maybe it was even the 60s.

But the fact was that such nationalism just isn't in our character and the brief idea of tooting our own horn more just sort of petered out. Statistically Canadians travel abroad more than Americans and I think that nationalism, when you have seen other cultures, diminishes because you can't bullshit yourself that your nation is so special or unique. You can't bullshit yourself as much.

Canadians also tend to identify themselves by their ethnicity, hence there is a term for that - hyphenated Canadians. German-Canadians, French-Canadians, Italian-Canadians, etc. We seldom, when asked our identity call ourselves just Canadians. I think that is changing insofar as young people who are third or fourth generation Canadians often don't know that much about their backgrounds.

But we are a multicultural society. I think most people prefer it that way although you do have your groups of WASPS who would prefer Canada to have an entirely WASP makeup. But I don't think it is the norm. You do have large numbers of Francophones who say they do not identify with Canada at all. But that is not to say that they identify themselves as French citizens. They identify themselves as Quebecers.

No, I don't love Canada. Why would I? I can think of plenty worse places to live and plenty worse situations but love an abstract notion such as a nation? No. I am not in love with my toaster either. I am glad that I can say what is on my mind but I don't think that is necessarily what every nation in the world wants. Per capita this is where Canada ranks on the giving of foreign aid - higher than the US, but not number one. And this is where Canada ranks in per capita terms of net immigration - again, higher than the US. And this is where Canada ranks in terms of refugee hosting - higher than the US.

Should I, as a Canadian be proud of that? I haven't hosted any refugees personally, although I am involved in helping immigrants here on a personal level. I am glad that Canada is a generous nation, but to me, to be proud of something means that a behaviour is somehow exceptional. Canada should give foreign aid, it should allow in immigrants, it should host refugees. Those are all things it should do. I happen to think that those things coincide with how God wants us to behave. So I am glad of that. I do not mistake the fact that a 'kingdom of this world' is doing some good in the world for thinking that it is the kingdom of God or that we are somehow especially blessed by God, or 'special.'

I am glad when people anywhere, Canadians, Americans, French, Greeks, Britons do what they should be doing. I am no less happy when any nation or individual does what they should do. It makes no difference to me what the nationality is of someone who does good. I am first and foremost a member of the human race, not Canada.

So why should I be proud that the country I live in is doing what it should do? It should do even more. I am glad that it does what it does but I don't think countries or people deserve pats on the back for doing what they should be doing.

Do I feel superior in some way or think that my country is superior to the US if in some things it looks like the country I live in does more? No. Not at all. Yet that is what nationalism/patriotism is about. It is about being happier or bragging if your country is higher on the list of do-gooders than another country and I couldn't care less about that. I am happy for every single individual who does something that is a good thing. And for all of us, there is always room for improvement, isn't there?

As a citizen, I pray for those who are in government but I no longer vote. I no longer vote because the very definition of a democracy is that you end up voting not for what you believe in but for the person who offends you the least. There are things that I believe are right or wrong as a Christian but I am pragmatic enough to realise that I do not want to live in a society that is run by my views. That would be denying others free will, the very thing God gave us. It is denying others the right to choose.

In voting I feel I am serving two masters since no politician in this world is capable of truly running a just society. So I am making a bargain with the devil. If I vote I am maybe voting for someone who believes in something that I as a Christian feel is very wrong, but in some areas, I feel he is right. So I am torn between the two.

As a Christian I want to be the mouthpiece of anyone who suffers injustice anywhere in the world, without regards at all for what the country I live in happens to believe or whether the person I am helping is part of a nation that is my enemy.

Well, this is such a long post, and I have been searching for statistics for so long. I can't remember now if I answered your questions about patriotism and how I see it. If not, let me know and I will try again. It seems like even a 'simple' topic always turns out not to be so simple - at least not for me.

your unpatriotic friend

Layla