On 11 Feb, 13:44, 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?©
I think you should support Millwall. That would be quite local and it would fill you with enough shame that you'd never worry about patriotism again. ;-) The detesting of London, I expect, is from the old: familiarity breeds contempt. The fact that you perk up when hearing a local accent is because you feel a strange form of 'kinship' that comes from knowing that you were brought up near enough to one another that you feel a closeness. Of course, that closeness is not 'familiarity', as you don't KNOW the people on the TV or the singers of the songs; so, the contempt that comes from over-familiarity isn't present. As far as the country goes, the country has not achieved anything...it just sits there underneath the people that do the achieving. Now, if you knew that you were related to Isaac Newton, or something like that, you might feel a bit more pride in HIS achievments, and, through that direct relationship, the country...perhaps. Maybe you should look into your family tree and discover the achievments of those from whom you came rather than trying to form a link with the ground over which some of them walked. Of course, in your case, some of your lineage stretches to the Indian sub-continent, if I remember correctly. And there may be some interesting finds to discover there. Wouldn't it be intersting to discover that a great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather grew up in Amritsar, for example? Then you can have TRUE patriotism that you come from Earth and know more about your own roots that spread across the globe and not just the area under your own feet. -- 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.
