frigidweirdo
Diamond Member
- Mar 7, 2014
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I've been thinking about this, and another theme which is hope, for a while, and want to refine my view of it as it's still bitty around the edges.
Patriotism is the love of country. Often however it's the right wing who use patriotism and make it their own. The love of the country in THEIR VISION. Surely a Communist who loves their country so much that they are willing to fight for it to be a Communist country is also a patriot.
Often what patriotism seems to be is hope. Hope in an entity which is greater than yourself. If there is no hope at home, you have another outlet.
Sport, for example. You can see in the Euros how patriotic people become when it comes to international football, or rugby or other team sports. The US doesn't really have this as sport is mostly internal with the exception of the fourth sport ice hockey and the fifth which might be soccer (or is it behind athletics?), the Olympics is where the US probably has the biggest patriotic fervor.
Patriotism in powerful countries takes on a different, and often nasty side. Patriotism in the US often goes towards "we can kick the Arabs' ass" kill kill kill bomb bomb bomb. China is moving towards this, the Russians are just naturals at it. The EU isn't there, but it could be in 50 years time.
Smaller countries don't have that side to patriotism, the feeling that they're somehow better than other people because they have a bigger army. The need to feel important may also be down to hope. The desire to achieve something, to reach the pinnacle of success is in human nature, and we believe once we've arrived then we're important and we have hope for the future.
So what do smaller countries do? Maybe they just try and improve their country so that it's a good place to live. Many European countries have been like this, even if they're on implosion watch right now. Hope was going for a great life for the people, something that has actual substance because they couldn't reach the non-substance markers like military power.
Patriotism is the love of country. Often however it's the right wing who use patriotism and make it their own. The love of the country in THEIR VISION. Surely a Communist who loves their country so much that they are willing to fight for it to be a Communist country is also a patriot.
Often what patriotism seems to be is hope. Hope in an entity which is greater than yourself. If there is no hope at home, you have another outlet.
Sport, for example. You can see in the Euros how patriotic people become when it comes to international football, or rugby or other team sports. The US doesn't really have this as sport is mostly internal with the exception of the fourth sport ice hockey and the fifth which might be soccer (or is it behind athletics?), the Olympics is where the US probably has the biggest patriotic fervor.
Patriotism in powerful countries takes on a different, and often nasty side. Patriotism in the US often goes towards "we can kick the Arabs' ass" kill kill kill bomb bomb bomb. China is moving towards this, the Russians are just naturals at it. The EU isn't there, but it could be in 50 years time.
Smaller countries don't have that side to patriotism, the feeling that they're somehow better than other people because they have a bigger army. The need to feel important may also be down to hope. The desire to achieve something, to reach the pinnacle of success is in human nature, and we believe once we've arrived then we're important and we have hope for the future.
So what do smaller countries do? Maybe they just try and improve their country so that it's a good place to live. Many European countries have been like this, even if they're on implosion watch right now. Hope was going for a great life for the people, something that has actual substance because they couldn't reach the non-substance markers like military power.
