Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 21:39:44 -0800 (PST) From: Maldoror <insektus-AT-yahoo.com> Subject: Re: amerikan hegemony > Been to England lately? Or France? Germany? The > US government may have > the bombs and guns, but as a people, we're not ahead > of anybody in the > school of cultural chauvinism. for what it's worth, my wife studied in spain, england, the U$, and tunisia and she said basically the same thing dave had said, which was that in her travels she'd never seen the amount of patriotism for a country that she's seen in the U$. if the masses don't believe in the country's gov't why wave the flag? when it comes down to it the flag represents the gov't that created it. the ppl who make up the country are irrelevant, though the gov't says it's ppl's patriotic and nationalistic duty to support the gov'ts policies by waving it. is this not worthy of suspicion? i think a more important question is why is anyone proud to be a member of a country? because one's family is there? because they have roots there? it's like ppl in the U$ thought 9/11 was such a tragedy because americans whom they never met died but yet don't give a shit if a million iraqis died in the sanctions since the gulf war. why? what is the connection to their american 'brothers' they never met. they never met the iraqi who died in the sanctions nor the american who died in the trade center yet they rally like a bunch of sheep around the american flag when 9/11 happened. this is my big problem with nationalism is that it creates these divisions whereby one person suffering is elevated above the others suffering. nationalism in many ways is a very dehumanizing apparatus that serves no other purpose than to fill a void. it's akin to religion in that way. empty constructs the masters' perpetuate to serve the power structure's goals. gr3g ==== "It is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy: all you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, at the Nuremberg Trials __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/
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