Friday, July 17, 2015

"PATRIOTISM IS THE LAST REFUGE OF THE SCOUNDREL" SAMUEL JOHNSON.

An interesting article, fit to drive the flag waving bigots daft or even dafter. 

2015 Thursday 16TH posted by Morning Star
Of all the things to be proud of in life, an accident of birth isn’t one of them, muses JON TAYLOR
Across Europe the tide of nationalism is on its way back in after a low period, and it seems to have picked up the traditional flotsam of jingoism, xenophobia and casual racism from an outflow pipe en route. But, unpleasant though these are, what’s really confusing is that somehow a default position has developed whereby we’re all supposed to be proud of our nationality.
Why on earth would you be proud of being British? I don’t mean that being British is a bad thing — clearly it’s fantastic, in a relative global sense. Most of us aren’t ever going to risk starvation, drowning in a typhoon, having our tongue lopped off for criticising the head of state or being eaten by a bear. We live in a developed country, with some public services that are almost up to scratch — though subject to change during the next five years of Tory rule.
But to be proud of a nationality acquired through accident of birth? Really? How little must you have to be proud of in your own life that the act of being born in a particular place is a source of pride to you? I’m British. I’m also 5'10" tall. It would clearly be ridiculous to be proud of my height, but I had about as much control over my height as I did over my nationality. To put this into perspective, I gained my nationality before I gained control over my bowels.
You can be grateful you were lucky enough to be born British. You may well feel you have a lot of shared ground with other Brits. You might even support one of our uninspiring national sports teams, but surely you should save your pride for something you’ve achieved yourself, something you’ve fought for, or at least something to which you’ve contributed more than carbon dioxide and other bodily waste products.
If you’re proud to be British, would you have to feel ashamed if you lived somewhere less fortunate? If you hold a Syrian passport, should you have to accept some sort of blame for the fact that the country now resembles a piece of Swiss cheese dropped on the beach at Fukushima (by which I mean it’s sandy, full of holes and probably lethal to humans within 20 minutes)? Of course you wouldn’t feel ashamed, unless you’d in some way contributed to the bloodbath.
In fact, if you accept that pride should be reserved for achievements over which you should have some control, you’re left with this conclusion: the only people with any right to national pride are immigrants.
It makes perfect sense. Only an immigrant has taken a conscious decision to earn or claim nationality. In many cases they have taken great risks to come here, leaving family and friends behind them to be faced with outright hostility on arrival, with newspapers printing front-page headlines like: “NOW IMMIGRANTS ARE MAKING OUR CURRY.” In fact, the costly and bureaucratic tangle involved in the citizenship application process alone means that anyone who gains British nationality today really has to have earned it.
The irony is that those people with the most extreme sense of national pride are those most opposed to anyone else earning the right to share it with them. And, in most cases, they are people who earned their citizenship with no more conscious effort than I did, by arriving landing on a bit of ground that happened to be governed by the British Crown.
In fact, I’d like to see some kind of legal ruling that national pride may only be publicly expressed by those who’ve gained their nationality through their own actions, if for no other reason than that pathetic right wing newspaper editors like Paul Dacre, Richard Desmond and David Dinsmore would have to print the headline: “NOW IMMIGRANTS HAVE STOLEN OUR PATRIOTISM,” and then dissolve into a puddle of waxy sploodge from pure rage, like the bad guys at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In the meantime, I’ve decided to base my own feelings of pride purely on the achievements or failures of people who are the same height as me. It seems to make as much sense as the nationalist approach, and would give me an exciting new choice of people with whom to associate.

Jon Taylor is a freelance journalist, writer and comedian, visible to the world at jonnalism.co.uk.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like most SNP supporters Terry I agree with the article wholeheartedly not only is nationalism a disease but it is a dangerous disease. British nationalism has put us in a position where we are synonomous with the trouble in the middle east as well as the atrocities we perpetuated across the world in the name of empire. Those atrocities and that nationalism has come from the upper echelons of our society. It is taught on the playing fields of Eton and the lecture halls of Cambridge.
We in Scotland who are in favour of self governance must distance ourselves from that rabid disease of nationalism that now controls Westminter. We must take our independence and form a democratic socialist government and co-operate with the other democratic socialist countries that surround the north sea.
We must break free from the Nationalism and imperialism of Great Britain and strike a blow against neo liberalism while we still can, without resort to bomb and gun. We can't be like the IRA and put nationalism first we need to put democracy and socialism at the front of our battle. Come join us Terry, we will prevail. The stench of Nationalism will not halt us.

cliff mccabe

Anonymous said...

“Labour MPs are plotting to mount a coup against Jeremy Corbyn before Christmas, if he wins the leadership in September."

What do you think, Terry? Does this sound like a party of the left?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Anonymous said---Sunday, July 19, 2015 6:28:00 a.m.

The nationalism referred to in the article Mr. McCabe is taken from ‘The Morning Star’ the newspaper of the Communist Party which supported the Better Together campaign against independence. The nationalism referred to is ethnic which also describes the snp’s nationalism perfectly and, the creation of that British Empire with all its evils was eagerly supported by the people of that part of Britain known as Scotland. Scottish nationalism is a disease like the others; it is narrow, fascist, racist and backward. It is fueled by hatred of others, particularly the English. It has a disgraceful history which reaches right up to the present day and I would no more join them than I would join UKIP or The BNP. It will never prevail, history teaches us that such outbreaks of the nationalist disease have come and gone before with disastrous consequences for the people of the countries where they took hold. This aberration will eventually pass once it has done its customary damage and spread its customary hatred, future Scottish children will be the people who will have to live with the shame of it all, just as The Germans, The Italians and The Spanish have had to do.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Anonymous said...Anonymous said...Sunday, July 19, 2015 12:14:00 p.m.

There probably has never been a time when Labour Party members weren't plotting a coup against each other, that goes for all political parties except the snp who are not allowed let alone plot.



Anonymous said...

Thanks for answering my earlier point, Terry. But the point I was making is that the mainstream of Labour seem to be rounding on the only contender who could possibly be described as 'of the left'.
Would you be happy with Liz Kendall leading Labour, Terry? I wouldn't.
It seems that Labour MPs with progressive instincts are persona non grata in the party at the moment. WTF has happened?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Anonymous said.Sunday, July 19, 2015 8:42:00 p.m.

"the mainstream of Labour" are plotting against Corbyn? it looks like the mainstream of Labour are giving Corbyn fantastic support and ditching the most right wing candidate Kendall. In my time in the party there has only ever been one leader that I actually voted for and that was Michael Foot. Corbyn is proving that the left are not 'persona non grata'.

Anonymous said...

The mainstream of the PLP is having kittens at the thought of Corbyn becoming leader, Terry. And it seems to me that the mainstream is prepared to expunge any vestige of socialism from the party.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...Monday, July 20, 2015 8:58:00 p.m.

"it seems to me" that you have no idea what you are talking about.

Anonymous said...

still censoring comments for which you have no answer Mr Kelly. That's why your party is dead, you refuse to be accountable for your bile.
bye

Cliff McCabe

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Anonymous -- Tuesday, July 21, 2015 10:59:00 a.m.I don't care if you are Cliff Richards, if you don't abide by the rules you don't get printed. You are not dealing with the snp now, this is not a Nuremberg rally.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Anonymous -- Tuesday, July 21, 2015 10:59:00 a.m.I don't care if you are Cliff Richards, if you don't abide by the rules you don't get printed. You are not dealing with the snp now, this is not a Nuremberg rally.

Anonymous said...

I remember when the party used to fight the Tories. Now we're fighting those on the left of our own party. WTF is going on? I'm mortified.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Any political party which does not have internal differences is not a political party it is a conspiracy, like the snp.