Patriot is a real missile and a metaphoric word of mass destruction
Bloody Hell!
I’m tired of looking into the same sun and getting my eyes burned.
I’m not Catholic so I’ll confess it here… I listen to far too much CNN.
It’s an anti-Trump thing and a nasty addiction. Someday I’ll go back to cocaine and chocolate-coated popcorn.
Now it might not be cable news per se, but I hear the word patriot bandied about a lot.
Uh-oh…. it’s coming up…. yup… here it comes… Rant time… here goes…
I have a few pet peeves, and the word PATRIOT is on my Top Ten list.
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You hear Patriot, I hear Polarizing.
Samuel Johnson: Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Patriotism sets up a ME vs YOU scenario. Good witch vs Bad witch. You are or you aren’t.
Patriotism is a rebel statue that implies separation under the guise of unity.
Patriotism suggests that if you reject anything emanating from “the other” (gun control, abortion, BLM, LGBTQ rights, gender equity, socialized medicine, etc etc) side of the ideological fence, then YOU are not a patriot.
Patriotism is a patriarchal word. Men make fists and pound desks and shout aloud.
Women understand. How many women use the word patriotism? Most women play games where everyone wins: no losers, fewer battles, fewer monuments and statues to war “heroes”.
Do we call the (former) Dixie Chicks unpatriotic because they reject a war? Is kneeling during an anthem as bad as mixing pickles and peanut butter on your sandwich? Is protesting an oil pipeline a sign of unpatriotism or … perhaps… just an expression of a firm belief?
Oscar Wilde – Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.
Patriot has become a bitter wedge that divides.
A wedge and a wall that separates the good guys from the bad guys.
Is building walls the answer to our global problems?
A hungry person in Sudan, or Syria, or… even in my own town, is a hungry person in my eyes, regardless of borders or continent.
The answer to the question is not segregation and a simpleminded it’s your problem, deal with it.
Did we learn anything from segregating black children into ghetto schools and backs of buses? Or hijacking indigenous kids into residential schools?
The world is so interconnected now that I wonder how we can continue to look at the sun and not get burned.
We all need to be ready to do what we can to think of doing the stuff that is necessary and restorative.
It’s difficult, complicated and messy – change of action and thought always is – but compassionate human minds can and do find answers. It’s the reason humans are still walking this planet.
Can we agree to find a kinder, gentler solution without resorting to “patriotism”?
It’s not a big answer, but a tiny step forward…
Every year we add a host of new words to our lexicon. Social isolation and COVID will be a part of our dictionaries next year.
Language evolves and the strong and meaningful survive. Patriot is a word that has lost its usefulness in the earthbound web of humanity.
Run up the global United Nations flag of inclusivity and equality.
Patriot(ism) … It’s time to set it on a boat and push it away into a gentle sea along with my other pet peeve words moderation and retirement.
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Post Script: I’m a slow learner… after writing all of the above, while looking up the definition for PATRIOT in the Oxford English Dictionary, I found this:
“2017 – Oxford University Press have confirmed that the word ‘patriot’ will no longer feature in future editions of the Oxford English Dictionary.
The words ‘patriotic’ and ‘patriotism’ will also be removed, due to concerns that they have become synonymous with racial hatred and xenophobic buffoonery.”
Man On The Fringe 
Jul 05, 2020 @ 16:46:56
Great blog Larry. Thanks for sharing. A psychiatrist friend of mine with >30 years of expertise working with survivors of genocide in war torn countries has developed a program called 21st Century Conversations….the program has 3 foundational themes that set the stage for deep discussion on the prevalent discourses of society such as racism, nationalism, equality…etc. The 3 foundational themes are akin to some of the insights of today’s blog…..the 1st is the need to expand one’s circle i.e. to forge wider bonds of unity rather than retracting into cliques…..when we retract into our religion, race, gender, politics, etc it can be like opening a gate to scapegoatism and “otherism” i.e. “all of my problems are YOUR fault or THEIR fault” and it opens the door to blaming OTHERS which then opens the door to persecuting OTHERS….easy to retreat into those rigid identities and cast blame on everyone different than me; 2nd theme is to learn about our personal habits of thinking, behaviours, perceptions, beliefs and to consider honestly our personal BIASES and be willing to acknowledge these and be willing to adapt our personal viewpoint based on new facts, new insights, new info…this is called fairmindedness……this is so very challenging for all of us but so very important to building unity; 3rd theme is developing tools for effective communication….its hard to focus on unity or to dialogue with others while looking honestly at our own biases if we cannot communicate effectively with others!!!! Anyways…..these 3 themes-unity, bias/fairmindedness, and effective communication- set the table for additional conversations on any challenging topic….if all approach a topic with training in the 1st three themes it sets a tone of respect, safety, etc and people feel safe to share their deep heart feelings which allows for honest engagement in these vital discourses.
Lastly….I recall a Canadian Baha’i friend many years back giving a talk on ideology. Bill Hatcher shared that any philosophy which holds that certain IDEAS are superior to HUMAN BEINGS themselves is considered an ideology…..not the idea itself BUT THE BELIEF in the idea!!!! Your blog really touches on this I think re: patriotism. Here in the states I have seen such political polarization and divisiveness revolving around who is or is not a true patriot…..it is unlike anything I’ve seen during my time living here over 40 years. One can see the ideology coming front and centre as politicians seek to destroy opponents by casting doubt on their patriotism. I see the IDEAS of politicians presented as being superior to the citizens they are supposed to serve! Once a person (especially a politician with power) submits to the belief that a concept or idea is superior to the human beings themselves it then opens the door to SACRIFICE human beings for the sake of the idea i.e. to propagate the idea…..thus…..ok to shoot or kill unarmed black people in the fricking streets, to put immigrant children in a fricking CAGE, to marginalize women, to cheat on elections, etc etc etc…..that is how Nazism started….that is at the heart of systemic racism….a black man is barely 3/5 of a white man….women are not equal to men….my religion is right and you all (the OTHERS right!!!) are going to fricking hell!!!
Anyways…..I’ve babbled on enough but the blog really touches on some very pertinent issues and I felt I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least launch into some verbal diarrhea on the themes you weave throughout the blog.
Peace
Jim
Jul 06, 2020 @ 13:54:56
YOUR Verbal diarrhea (VD) is ALWAYS thoughtful and welcome here Sir James. Your outline of a number of important areas feeds my thinking (and others) going forward. The time and effort you put into your response is a blog post in itself. Humankind (like my stock market graphs 😉 ) traces an uneven line but hopefully in the medium- to longer-term is on a path of progress. I use Bill Gates (who knew 30 years ago I’d respect and admire Bill Gates one day) as a rational thinker and speaker for the positive (but often too slow) momentum. I will always be hopeful and optimistic and I so appreciate your thoughts and actions that propel us all in that direction. Just a couple of WILD and CRAZY YK guys, eh Uncle Jimmy?! 🙂 LOL