Doesn't one have to be at least a little bit "nationalist" in order to celebrate Veterans' Day?
I consider myself unnationalist. Also I'm not patriotic in the usual sense of the word. I might appear to be anti-war, but I'm not anti-all-wars, just anti-some-wars. I disagree with part of the article. R. Higgs says, "As religion’s hold on the Western man’s mind has diminished during the past several centuries, replaced by a cold scientific sense that, at bottom, everything is just a lot of lifeless particles and electrical currents or, in many cases, replaced by nothing at all, this empty space has dilated." I suppose it's probably true that religions' holds on Western minds has diminished during the past several centuries. And yes, it is _partly_ replaced by what could be called a "scientific sense". However, I disagree with the way he characterizes the result. A scientific sense, and a diminishment of religions' holds, do not have to be "cold" and do not have to lead to the conclusion that there's a lifeless nothingness to everything. And they do not have to lead to ethical blankness either. What I believe is that, as people learn more about a variety of cultures, they question religions more, and they learn to think for themselves more. I think this is generally a good thing. Given time, the thoughtful person will eventually come to some of the same ideas that were in the religion(s), but will de-emphasize or forsake the more wrong parts of religion(s). For example, a person might realize that life is more satisfying when treating outsiders with respect or kindness. (It's not always feasible, but one can try to do it more and more.) A similar principle was in the religion. But now he understands it in a different way. Meanwhile, he de-emphasizes or even stops doing things like burnt-animal sacrifices or Spanish Inquisitions. All these things could be described in science-y ways, but I'd say it's really just thoughtfulness, that is, thinking and trying to do the right things because they make sense in one's own mind. And I think it's exposure to _different_ ways of thinking (more than one way of thinking) that leads to this kind of thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness and good behavior can happen in religion, but I think that for many people, including myself, they work better with the less-religious thoughtfulness. -jrl On Monday, November 11, 2013 7:29:46 PM UTC-8, MJ wrote: > > > > *Nationalism -- the Bane of the Modern Age *By Robert Higgs > Saturday April 27, 2013 > > Everyone, it seems, has a hollow space in his makeup. Perhaps he has no > faith, no hope, no charity; no sense that he is basically a lord or a > priest or a peasant; no comfort in knowing his personal latitude and > longitude in the great scheme of things; no ethical compass to give him his > bearings and help him navigate between what is right and what is wrong, > what is good and what is bad. > > As religion’s hold on the Western man’s mind has diminished during the > past several centuries, replaced by a cold scientific sense that, at > bottom, everything is just a lot of lifeless particles and electrical > currents or, in many cases, replaced by nothing at all, this empty space > has dilated. Into the vacuum of ethical emptiness and absent personal > identity has rushed nationalism. More and more people answered the > question, “What are you?” by saying “I am a Frenchmen,” or a German, or an > American, or whatever. State rulers, of course, actively strove to > encourage such mass identification because it rendered the masses easier to > exploit, plunder, and command. The culmination came in the world wars, when > scores of millions submitted to kill and to die in the service of > nationalism. > > Americans, perhaps more than any others, are immersed in nationalism, > drenched to the bone. It follows them everywhere to school, to work, to > their amusements and entertainments, even in many cases into their > churches. They wallow in it, and they wallow happily. The merest village > idiot takes pride that “We are #1,” whatever such a declaration might mean. > Usually, sad to say, it means only that the idiot’s rulers in Washington > have their hands on the levers and buttons that allow them to dish out > violent death and effective intimidation on a global scale. Hooray for us, > he proclaims; we’re the biggest, baddest bully in the history of mankind. > Yet, this pathetic individual, and the hundreds of millions who resemble > him more or less, are really nothing at all. Their inner selves are > entirely ersatz; their moral core is devoid of real substance. They have > effectively surrendered their souls, their minds, and their capacity for > living a moral life to politician/rulers who shamelessly pull the strings > of their identity. > > Nationalism and its fruit the powerful welfare/warfare nation-states > that now infest virtually the entire planet are the banes of the modern > age. Their fundamental resources are violence and fraud, and their most > indispensable fraud is the conviction they have inculcated in their > subjects that the people’s very identity, the very essence of who they are, > derives from and depends on the nation-state that dominates their lives. > > http://blog.independent.org/2013/04/27/nationalism-the-bane-of-the-modern-age/ > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
