Saturday, October 06, 2007

OK, Maybe I Will Question Your Patriotism

I believe that once you say, "the world would be better off if the US lost a war" you can't call yourself a patriot and your statement to that effect is a valid and reasonable basis to question someone's patriotism.

There's a subtle point here. Consider the following conversation:
A says, "The US would be better off if we lost this war."
B replies, "Yeah, the world would be better off if the US lost this war."

A's statement provides no basis to question his patriotism. However, B's statement expresses no concern for the interests of the US, but of "the world." His silence about what would be good for the US provides the basis to question his patriotism.

We must be clear that though the US is a part of "the world" the interests of "the world" and the interests of the US do not necessarily coincide. If you put the interests of "the world" ahead of the interests of the US, you are no patriot. If you act accordingly, those actions are treasonous.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your comments reflect that of all those immature and selfish athletes that get mocked for their selfish behavior.

"Give me the damn ball." Doesn't matter what's better for the team or not as long as you put up your stats.

That's some mighty big thinking there you got.

Steve Poling said...

I'm sorry, but you'll have to elaborate a bit or I'll dismiss your comment as non sequitur.

It appears that you seem to regard war as part of some kind of sporting event so that winning-or-losing a war is akin to being a ball-hog. I must admit this has never occurred to me, but I see no reason why it follows from anything.

What exactly constitutes patriotism? I've thought it means putting one's nation ahead of one's own selfish interest. At no point I can discern does this concept touch upon your comment.

If you can't even articulate what you mean by patriotism, then perhaps you might want to question your own patriotism.