|
Nationalism gives me the heebee jeebies. I think it's sad the Dixie Chicks got such a hard come back for all that... personally, I was impressed they said it. Doesn't make me want to listen to their music anymore but.... eh. But given they are country music stars this was a big mistake to say out loud. I'm not sure there is any particular virtue at all in patriotism.. or at least no more virtue than rooting for your state football team.
If there is a valuable patriotism, it's being critical of your government and holding it accountable to the virtues it espouses. Whether Iraq and Bush is all that is up for debate, of course, but if they felt it was in violation than I am proud they stood up and said it. Patriotism has to be more than "I happened to be born in this part of the world" to be valuable. If it is virtues such as freedom of speech, religion, etc. that make this country great than it is vital that we USE these freedoms and be able to use them against the state.
The founding fathers didn't allow freedom of speech so that we would be free to be critical of our neighbors, it was to be able to be critical of the state. Standing up and saying "The king sucks" was getting their buddies hung. We always should, and absolutely should when we need to, say our politicians and leaders suck when they suck. And yes, that's up to each individual and each individual has the right to not agree with it.
It's kind of like that nonsense about liberals not loving their country, they love their country they just love it too much to let it stay the way it is sometimes.
As to the Native Americans... it wasn't a COMPLETED genocide, but it was sure as hell an attempt. Just because Hitler didn't manage to wipe out the Jews doesn't mean it wasn't a horrible, godawful thing and what we normally call 'genocide.' The American government was more successful than Hitler, but still didn't quite finish the job. I don't think you get 'national guilt' for such things. It's no more mine or your fault what the government did 100 years ago than it is your average German's what Hitler did 70 years ago. It's a horrible passage of history and should be acknowledged as such... not sure what else you can do.
|