That is the thing Slip. I feel neither pride nor shame for as you say: 'We did not make any decisions concerning those events and we as individuals may have made different decisions at the time if we were the head of the ruling class, but we weren't were we?'
The history of my country both good and bad is actualy nothing to do with me personaly. I see no logical reason to feel either pride or shame for things that I have not done. I do feel pridefull for the things that I myself have accomplished, and I do feel shame for the rotten things that I have done also. The future of my country well again apart from my vote I will never have any direct say in what happens. Margret Thatcher brought in the poll tax, which morphed into the council tax despite overwhelimg opposition from the people of the UK, and against the wishes of virtualy everybody. This shows in a very real sense how much control over the running of the country the average man in the street has. So once again we can see that future of the UK is not in my hands, why then would I feel patriotism for it's future? On 12 Feb, 01:19, Slip Disc <[email protected]> wrote: > The question is Lee; does patriotism stem from only good events within > a country's history when there is no country nor any individual that > has a, let's say, squeaky clean history. So in that aspect do you not > have pride in yourself or your country because of the lack of a > perfect track record? We can not recriminate over the activities of > the former ruling class or leaders of our countries. We did not make > any decisions concerning those events and we as individuals may have > made different decisions at the time if we were the head of the ruling > class, but we weren't were we?. America's history is riddled with > horror but the people that perpetrated those horrors are not my > ancestors nor do I have any responsibility for them. England is a > great country if not only for the fact of setting precedents of > civilization for others to follow. It is not England's fault that > others were primitive within the same time frame of history. It is > not the fault of any country that certain civilizations were stagnant > in development and it is only natural for civilized people to > establish dominance over uncivilized people. Be proud to be English > but at the same time recognize and learn from the mistakes you have > identified. It is the future of England that you are patriotic to not > the past. > > On Feb 11, 7:44 am, Lee <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > We have, like most things, had a bash at this here before, but I still > > have unresovled questions so here goes again. > > > I'm not really a patriot, it's not that I hate my country, I certianly > > don't, but I don't really love it either. I don't feel anything for > > the land in which I have been blessed to be born. > > > I don't get patriotism, I simply don't understand how one can feel > > pride in the achivments of ones country without also feeling the shame > > for the shamefull things, and most patriots that I am aware of > > certianly do not exhibit that they feel such shame, whilst the pride > > of any patriot is almost overwhelming. I don't undertand this. > > > What vaule or merit is there in patriotism? > > > In the interest of full disclosure though I must admit that as a > > native Londoner, my heart does skip a beat everytime hear a London > > accent on the TV, or in a piece of music, yet I have come to quite > > detest the city(perhaps this is just my age?). I feel no pride in > > being a Londoner, the footie team I support is a Northen english one, > > yand I certianly can't explain this heart skipping thing at all. > > > What do you think?©- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en.
