"So, swami jesus, are you going on the Hajj this year?"
On pride
I am Sottish, Irish, British and French in descent. Am I proud of it? Well, definitely not the latter two. I couldn't tell you that I'm proud to be descended of the British or the French at all, for a few simple (and I use 'simple' very loosely) reasons. Colonialism, the slaughter of 50 million Africans during the slave trade (absolutely no hyperbole or 'exaggeration' for those you who never paid attention in english) The Crusades, the years of bloody war between each other, the colonization of India, The colonization of Algeria, The colonization of Africa, The opium wars, The occupation of what is now modern day Iraq, The colonization of the Caribean, The colonization of Australia and the genocide against it's native inhabitants, and I could go on for pages but not the very least of which falls in at the end: The colonization of north America.
Two things I AM proud of: The Magna Carta
The French revolution
And these two events that shaped the world we know today and did amazing things for 'We, the people,' evidently had nothing to do at all with our governments, in fact they were in oppisitions to them.
There is always an interesting comparison found between the world in the eyes of the opressor and those who are at the longer end of the club/lash. And those who feel the whip often have a much clearer interpretation of what's really going on. Scotland and Ireland never tried to take over the world. They just got fucked in the ass by the British.
When it comes down to it, my pride in what my nation, and the nations of my ancestry have done is minimal to non-existant. Hell, I'm grateful as fuck to be a Canadian, to the point where words can't begin to express it. But asking me to be proud of Canada's past is another thing. I have many Canadian heroes who never held a position in government or lived in a mansion. that's the point. I am proud to be Canadian despite my government, I am proud to be British despite the monarchy and the government. Because my family was never of noble blood, we were never generals or commanders, we were simply everyone else. See, beyond all the bullshit of nations and states and nationstates if you will, I find what really divides people more than anything is inevitably class -- those who have money, and those who don't. Those who call the shots and those who take them in the ass.
It's an intriguing perspective to take; and it teaches us many truths about the world we live in today; 97% (and growing) of the people on this planet are the victims. The remainder is where the power lies. We as a collective are the victims of what the powers that be decide to fill their agendas with. ya dig? power continues to centralize and the gap continues to grow, meanwhile the cowards (and middle class) spread plaster over the cracks spreading through the monolith. There is so much more that's worth being proud of that we aren't taught in school.
Long live Cochise, the last American hero.
Peace.