Little Tolerance
I find that I have little tolerance for some of the shapes Nationalism takes. If I were Janet of ballad-fame, and my countrymen* were Tam Lin, sometimes the sad fact of the matter is I'd probably let go out of disgust. I think one of the most loathsome shapes I've seen take it is the "Eh, it's happening over there, they'll be fine" shape. The "we'll worry about our own" shape, when it's being worn to avoid caring rather than to actually "worry about our own." A really close friend of mine, someone I've almost grown up with, said something dismissive about Canada, calling it 'just our hat.' I don't even remember the conversation. I just remember being so taken aback by the lazy arrogance, the I don't care callousness of the comment. I don't even remember what I said. And am I just taken aback by it because I actually happen to quite like Canada and to have numerous friends in that country? If I'd never looked outside the borders of my country, would I care? I like to think that I would.
Whenever some natural disaster strikes near my home, I have people asking me if I'm okay, sending e-mails or messages, and these people are from other states, are from other countries, other continents. And you know what? I like it. I like knowing that, should California be obliterated from the map (or at least definitely scarred and scratched over, necessitating a new map, with "The Scorched Crater of Once Upon Was California"), people would notice and care, because it ties me into the world, it ties a knot of community across the globe. Even when I'm at my absolute lowest, my most despairing and suicidal and wishful of self-obliteration, it's good to know that there are people who exist and are awesome, and they don't all need to be from the same background with the same beliefs in order for them to be awesome and to be a vital part of my experience as a living human being. I wouldn't give the people I know up for anything, and a world where any of them are lesser than I am because they're not from around here is worse than fiction**: It's bad fiction.
I don't understand not caring when some other portion of the globe is stricken by, say, terrible flooding. But that's just the reaction my mention of Australia brought out of an aquaintance today, and it was followed by remarks along the lines of, "Eh, who cares, it's just Australia, what's in Australia except for kangaroos and tourists." This is from someone who has expressed the desire to go to Australia on more than one occasion. Why would you want to be a tourist to place that wasn't even real enough to care about? I hate how Nationalism fictionalizes the rest of the world when it takes some of its more awful shapes. How it says: Look. You matter. You are awesome and amazing, and everybody should care about you, but everybody's just an audience or an enemy, get it? They're not worth a moment's thought.
And the thing is, when I find myself unexpectedly facing this particular kind of attitude, I often find myself at a loss for words. Because it's hard to respond to without getting into an endless arguement, and without the person wearing ugly-shaped Nationalism (as opposed to pretty-shaped Nationalism - and I do think it has some lovely bones, that there's good in loving one's country or culture or whatever it is one loves with Nationalistic Fervor) just slamming their mind shut. This is usually when I'm called, dismissively, a hippy or an idealist or a liberal. And, quite frankly, it's hard for me sometimes not to slam my mind shut, and go, Damn, ignorance.
A hippy? I don't even know what that is. An idealist? I hope so; and isn't Nationalism, in all of its shapes, ugly and not, supposedly based on ideals? Even if the ideals are as simple as "We deserve to survive, because we are the best" "Us against them"? When did it become a bad thing to become an idealist? I find it interesting that I'm generally only called an idealist as a dismissal of my attitude, honestly, because entertainment loves an idealist. Even cynical characters in a movie or a TV show or a book usually reveal a streak of idealism at the end, which makes us like them more. I'd argue that one of the easiest ways to make a villain somewhat sympathetic is to give them ideals and explain why that character follows those ideals, make it a question of belief, rather than a cold blooded pragmatism. (I also find it interesting that belief for belief's sake is so often looked upon more favorably than skepticism until reasonable proof is manufactured, but that's probably for another blog post). And - liberal? Why is being liberal with the things one's conscience is moved by a bad thing?
I have no final thoughts, here. This is an ongoing argh for me.
*I am using this term to denote all possible genders.
**Okay. I quite like fiction, actually. Although, dear Lord, the pomposity! Atonement, I'm looking at you.
Whenever some natural disaster strikes near my home, I have people asking me if I'm okay, sending e-mails or messages, and these people are from other states, are from other countries, other continents. And you know what? I like it. I like knowing that, should California be obliterated from the map (or at least definitely scarred and scratched over, necessitating a new map, with "The Scorched Crater of Once Upon Was California"), people would notice and care, because it ties me into the world, it ties a knot of community across the globe. Even when I'm at my absolute lowest, my most despairing and suicidal and wishful of self-obliteration, it's good to know that there are people who exist and are awesome, and they don't all need to be from the same background with the same beliefs in order for them to be awesome and to be a vital part of my experience as a living human being. I wouldn't give the people I know up for anything, and a world where any of them are lesser than I am because they're not from around here is worse than fiction**: It's bad fiction.
I don't understand not caring when some other portion of the globe is stricken by, say, terrible flooding. But that's just the reaction my mention of Australia brought out of an aquaintance today, and it was followed by remarks along the lines of, "Eh, who cares, it's just Australia, what's in Australia except for kangaroos and tourists." This is from someone who has expressed the desire to go to Australia on more than one occasion. Why would you want to be a tourist to place that wasn't even real enough to care about? I hate how Nationalism fictionalizes the rest of the world when it takes some of its more awful shapes. How it says: Look. You matter. You are awesome and amazing, and everybody should care about you, but everybody's just an audience or an enemy, get it? They're not worth a moment's thought.
And the thing is, when I find myself unexpectedly facing this particular kind of attitude, I often find myself at a loss for words. Because it's hard to respond to without getting into an endless arguement, and without the person wearing ugly-shaped Nationalism (as opposed to pretty-shaped Nationalism - and I do think it has some lovely bones, that there's good in loving one's country or culture or whatever it is one loves with Nationalistic Fervor) just slamming their mind shut. This is usually when I'm called, dismissively, a hippy or an idealist or a liberal. And, quite frankly, it's hard for me sometimes not to slam my mind shut, and go, Damn, ignorance.
A hippy? I don't even know what that is. An idealist? I hope so; and isn't Nationalism, in all of its shapes, ugly and not, supposedly based on ideals? Even if the ideals are as simple as "We deserve to survive, because we are the best" "Us against them"? When did it become a bad thing to become an idealist? I find it interesting that I'm generally only called an idealist as a dismissal of my attitude, honestly, because entertainment loves an idealist. Even cynical characters in a movie or a TV show or a book usually reveal a streak of idealism at the end, which makes us like them more. I'd argue that one of the easiest ways to make a villain somewhat sympathetic is to give them ideals and explain why that character follows those ideals, make it a question of belief, rather than a cold blooded pragmatism. (I also find it interesting that belief for belief's sake is so often looked upon more favorably than skepticism until reasonable proof is manufactured, but that's probably for another blog post). And - liberal? Why is being liberal with the things one's conscience is moved by a bad thing?
I have no final thoughts, here. This is an ongoing argh for me.
*I am using this term to denote all possible genders.
**Okay. I quite like fiction, actually. Although, dear Lord, the pomposity! Atonement, I'm looking at you.