Patriotism is a Harmful Construct
It Breeds War and There’s Always Another War
Our insistence on inspiring patriotism continues. Our number one method of conflict resolution is war. The two are inextricably linked. We have evolved technologically but not socially. Within us lies a primal nature that is controlled by instinct, not logic. Add to that an insatiable need for more, more, and more. I surmise this need exists at such startling intensity because we are endowed with a strong drive to survive. It is no surprise that we’re still killing, stealing, raping, and lusting.
Patriotism is a construct built upon many of these inherent tendencies within humans.
We love to tout phrases like “the greatest country in the world” and “land of the free,” but 13 of our presidents owned slaves, women didn’t get the vote until 1920, indigenous people were exterminated, Japanese internment camps were constructed, and children were taken away from their parents at our borders.
That’s a short list of heinous crimes.
People have to stop this nonsense called patriotism. It’s tribal, non-inclusive, dangerous, and quickly turns to nationalism. It’s designed to convince our young to fight our never-ending wars. It’s promoted by parents who continue to raise their children to believe that it’s a noble cause to lay down one’s life for their country without question.
It’s the “without question” part that humans are inevitably expected to embrace.
We’re told we must show loyalty to our country above all else. War propaganda is particularly good at stirring up emotions, and once our emotions take over, logic goes out the door. We are then expected to proceed without caution for a cause greater than ourselves. In my lifetime, however, we have lost hundreds of thousands of lives in undeclared wars that went on for years without a clear victor.
The explanations for why we should sacrifice our youth to these endless wars were confusing at best.
So often, the noble cause is presented as saving democracy. But it would behoove us to consider saving democracy within our own borders instead; often, the enemy is from within. I don’t say that lightly. Since the days that serfs fought for the king to enrich his coffers, war has rarely been for a noble cause but instead profit and power.
I have never had a patriotic bone in my body.
I’ve lived all over the world and soon discovered that every country thinks they’re the greatest, with the most desirable cultural expectations. I am always against the next war. I ask questions, and rarely do I get satisfying answers as to why our best recourse is to start another war.
I also grew up in a religious cult which prepared me for being different.
We were told that we weren’t part of this world. That we were just passing through. Our real country was in heaven and our time spent here was a test to see if we did indeed deserve to dwell in the celestial city after we died. We rendered unto Caesar what was Caesars but in all other instances remained outside the fray, walking a chosen path that led us to God.
Later, I left my religious upbringing behind to embrace a secular life, but I still never really felt like I belonged, not completely, that is.
I always felt like I was outside looking in. What I saw was another version of my upbringing. In order to belong, I had to conform. That was something I was unwilling to do any longer. Patriotism seemed like just another way of getting me to blindly follow the culture I was gifted at birth. My childhood made it much easier for me to question the civilian life I encountered after I left home, however.
Like Thomas Paine, I soon considered myself to be a citizen of the world.
Whether we like it or not, we’re all citizens of this one planet. Our imaginary borders can’t be seen from outer space. Those in power want us to believe otherwise. It is to their benefit, not ours. We outnumber them, but we’re so susceptible to propaganda that promotes tribal norms and often utterly ridiculous expectations that we’ll vote against our best interests.
We embrace beliefs that harm others without the tiniest prick of conscience.
Our culture is built upon deep-seated beliefs that God ordained the white man to rule the earth. Our religions themselves promote and protect this deeply rooted belief system. Our laws have also protected these beliefs, and our citizens have embraced them. The very fiber of who we are was built firmly upon an oppressive, violent, and non-inclusive way of life.
Horrendous things happen; we blink, and then go back to business as usual.
Our hearts tell us that our culture is diseased, but our emotions convince us that we’re the greatest country in the world. Yes, this may be primal man at his best. This may be in our DNA. We may be cavemen with cell phones, void of free will and at the mercy of our tribal instincts and the wiring of our brains. We may be programmed to produce and then destroy. It certainly appears that way at times. We’re in dire need of social evolution.
The future looks bleak in spite of our amazing technological progress, but we can’t give up.
Teresa is an author and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
