This assignment has been quite the ride. Originally I started out with some general, warm and fuzzy ideas about how we should be more accepting of people coming to our country in search of a better life. I thought the dogma I was attacking was racial haughtiness mixed with overzealous nationalism. Since racism is talked about a lot I wanted to discuss something fresh and dug a little deeper.
Illegal immigration has opinions ranging from intolerant to permissive to hateful to accepting to you name it. After getting to see a personal side of the issue by getting to know people in Mexico, the “illegals” crossed that way because the legal process is out of their monetary reach. I saw that the majority crossing were seeking prosperity, safety, and new life. That’s noble right? It sounds to me a lot like the “pursuit of happiness.” If that’s not “American” I don’t know what is.
I asked myself, what is an “American” anyway? If an American is someone seeking a better life, trying to provide for their family etc. then aren’t they Americans? But wait, as mentioned in the comments to my original post, being American has a lot to do with citizenship and you can’t say we’re ALL Americans simply because we think alike. You are associated with where you were born and you can’t get away from it.
I looked up more about this automatic link with where you are born. The authors that I found wrote that nationalism is the identification with country and that patriotism is the love of country. I looked up different thoughts on patriotism and started sifting through them. It was quite the journey let me tell you. I went from the “oo-rah” gun-totin’ American to the “I don’t care” American to America’s Communist Party to a writer named William Blum. By then I was questioning every assumption. The last man, William Blum, hammered patriotism. He demonstrated that the great mass murderers of history fell on the concept, “What I did, I did for my country.” Whether it was Hitler or Stalin, they fell on patriotic knee. It started to resonate with me. Patriotism made people biased against outsiders and oppress them!
To make a long story short, I seriously considered that patriotism was evil, intolerant and self-righteous. If patriotism was the dogma to be overthrown, what then? Then all heroic deeds done by soldiers and civilians in the name of patriotism are vain? That thought was disturbing.
Then like an epiphany! No no no, Mr. Blum, patriotism’s core is the innate desire to protect family and friends. This is not evil rather it’s what makes us human. Patriotism is simply its extension to people in your country and protect one another because of it. Patriotism is not the issue. Stalin, Hitler, and the others hid their hate and fear in the cloak of patriotism and haters, bigots, diehards, murderers, whatever you want to call them, use patriotism as an excuse. They take that noble part of the human family and twist it to validate their evil.
Interesting thoughts. I'm still not 100% sure as to what method of thought you are questioning, and more importantly what changes (frame of references for example) are necessary to change this thought or dogma. Other than that though that was a very informative and explorative process you described. I too felt as if I was questioning my own country and my "patriotism" until the end when the real "culprit" was exposed. I'm interested to know what changes I should make to avoid (obviously in a much less dramatic fashion that Hitler) looking down on other peoples from different places.
ReplyDeleteI think you've found a potential problem, or dogma, that could be the issue here. Sure, there could be other reasons for being against immigration, but this is an interesting idea.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have to wonder if Hitler and Stalin and others like them really did believe that what they did was for the good or betterment of their countries. I'm not totally convinced that this is the end all reason for why people are mass murderers, or why people do other terrible things.