Patriotism
Okay, I absolutely hate patriotism and nationalism. These concepts are absolutely superfluous and fractious. “Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” ~ George Bernard Shaw [1]. This quote basically sums up my feelings on the issue. I can understand the feeling that one’s nation should be free and not raped by imperialism (the United States currently colonizes Guam and Puerto Rico by many standards [2]), but the absolute belief that the country into which one was born is the best on the planet and should be “as a city upon a hill” [3], or a moral standard for all the rest of those poor, deluded creatures unfortunate enough to be born in other countries, is ineffably ridiculous. Each country has its faults and flaws, freedoms and restrictions.
Many, many wars could have been prevented if not for patriotism. World War II could have been prevented if the German people didn’t have a strong sense of nationalism that Hitler manipulated, allowing the rise of fascism, as also happened in Japan at this time [7] [8] [9].
Chauvinism was a major cause of the Cold War and led to the overthrowing of multitudinous democratically-elected governments by both the USSR and the United States [4] [5]. These actions led to several of the diplomatic problems the United States currently faces, such as hostility from Iran [6]. Our world would be a much different place if these two powers had remained allies following World War II rather than battling over ideological differences.
In my humble opinion, we as a globe need to eliminate overbearing patriotism to ever achieve a semblance of peace, an undercurrent of tranquility, or a future with hope.
***I may possibly edit this later***
1. http://www.dreamslaughter.com/BTB%2001.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony
3. http://www.kosmicki.com/234/cityhill.htm
4. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/US_Interventions_WBlumZ.html
5. http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppet_state
6. http://www.iranian.com/History/2000/April/CIA/
7. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/6916/unification.htm
