I have been
reflecting on the above matters and have come to a conclusion – Nationalism and
Patriotism come second to Religion in terms of a justification for giving up or
sacrificing our lives.
The more
one delves into these issues, the more idealistic and (sometimes) pompously
moralistic one may become. As these
issues are a source of stability and identity, it somehow allows a person to
moralize, control, and sermon others about it.
There is also this metaphysical and invisible crown that people wear
when they announce themselves as “nationalists” or “proud of their nation” individuals. These very people then remove the crown and
put on the metaphysical wigs and robes of a judge and then pass on judgments on
people who have views that differ.
I am taking
this opportunity to clarify the above issues and hopefully assist my readers in
to developing a better understanding of the matters. It is written in the hope that we all develop
a perspective on these issues and thus understand how and why individuals
differ in society. An
understanding of the above matter begins with the understanding of virtues and
values. Let us begin with virtues.
Virtue is
moral excellence. Anything that is
virtuous is capable of producing moral excellence in individuals or in a
society. Plato, the great philosopher,
laid down piety, moderation, wisdom, courage and justice as the principle
virtues. Aristotle said famously in his book, Ethics, “Anybody can
become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the
right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right
way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.” Here we find that moderation is emphasized as
Aristotle often warned us against extremes.
Ayn Rand had her list - rationality, productiveness, pride,
independence, integrity, honesty and justice.
Martin Seligman and Chris Peterson list courage, justice, humanity,
temperance, transcendence, and wisdom as requisites for a stable personality –
in other words excellent moral behavior.
We now see that all virtues somehow are non-arguable,
universal, and indisputable truths that cut across all nations, religions,
societies, institutions and individuals.
The opposite of virtue is vice. Buddhism
lists vices being Absence of shame and embarrassment, Jealousy, Stinginess,
Lack of Remorse, Drowsiness, Distraction, Laziness, Anger and Concealment of wrongdoing. The Bhagvad Gita lists desire, anger and
greed as the three gates to hell – implying vices. We can now see that all vices too are
non-arguable, universal, and indisputable truths that cut across all nations,
religions, societies, institutions and individuals.
Let us now come down to values. This is where we enter cognitive quicksand.
Values are preferences that concern an action or an outcome. Values tend to
influence our attitudes and behavior towards the world and all tangible and
intangible issues that arise therein. Values are ethical, moral, religious,
political, and social.
Values differ between people, on a larger scale between
cultures, countries, and also between cultures in the same country. Likewise values may be similar across different
cultures in different countries. A well
defined value system leads itself to a moral code and it is this moral code
that individuals or societies accept. It
is these very same moral codes and that bring about differences in individuals or
societies.
Have you ever seen a society, a religion, or a country that
argues and debates on virtues? Does any
country have its constitution that highlights and extols injustice as its
pillar for governing its people?
However, the same cannot be said of values. People born in the same family differ on
values and so what can be said of cultures and citizens of the world? Some values may jump out and call on us (punctuality,
tidiness) and yet these very values may seem unacceptable to other people. Likewise, we may abhor the values that other
people have adopted for themselves.
One other fact may be said of values – values have the
tendency to go to extremes. There is
nothing like too much justice but there is something like being too tidy to the
point that one may defile ones brain with that kind of aggression towards
tidiness. Patriotism has its extreme too – jingoism.
With the above sequence of thoughts, let us now move to the
topic of patriotism. Patriotism is an
emotional attachment that a person may link either (mostly) with his place of
birth or where one had found fulfillment of some sort. This attachment may be due to other values
that the country may represent or its historical background, or the culture it
may demonstrate. The World Values Survey (WVS) is a global research
project that explores people’s values and they too assess patriotism in
their survey as a value.
We now come to an inescapable fact – values are personal
while virtues stand the test of universal applicability. The law may legislate a virtue but the law
does not legislate values or morality.
Countries which have legislated values find themselves out of sync with
the world with its citizens migrating to other countries.
We come now to the topic of hippos with hernia. I use this expression (from The Lion King) to
describe those people who carry patriotism on their sleeve. Their sole desire is
to develop an identity beyond their existing capabilities and create a form of
differentiation for themselves. Somehow
they feel that they can carry a plume on their heads when they go around talking
patriotism.
The case gets bad when they cannot tolerate light comments and
jokes and take offence under the garb of patriotism. The matter gets worse when any criticism of
the government is directly construed as being unpatriotic. One can be patriotic
to the core and still have disdain for the political party in power. In fact, a true patriot would always have an
axe to grind with the government in case he / she is under the impression that
the government is pursuing policies that go against national interest. If that
is the case, the people who love their country step out and express that love
for their country by voting the government out of power.
However, the matter then goes to hell when the only
objective of these patriots is the pursuit of non-patriots and then somehow turn
and twist any fact to label them as such.
This activity seems to keep these patriots busy and under the illusion
that they are doing some service to the nation by trumpeting their patriotic
feelings at the drop of a hat.
What can I now say of people of one country who have settled
in another country and also obtained a citizenship there? These people earn their livelihood in another
country and still tom-tom of their country of birth. This is a disgrace to the country that
granted them citizenship and whose constitution they wowed to protect. I had a relative from Africa who would kiss his
country of father’s birth right there on the airport. Yet, he would bring in gold without paying
the customs duty! Talk of Patriotism!
Let us now come to the concept where great anger and disdain
is shown to those who seem unpatriotic.
This is a violation of virtues.
Here the person expressing anger and disdain has chosen to emphasize a
value over a virtue. This is not only immoral but also illegal. The law does
not account people for their quantum of patriotism - neither its increase nor
decrease.
Patriotism is a value and an
individual has a right to accord any level to the value and the individual does
not have to prove it to anyone – least of all a self-righteous indignant self-professed
patriot. Margaret Thatcher mentioned something
that throws light to this – “If you have to prove you are a lady, you are not”.
Patriotism is a value that must be rooted in harmony and
certainly not one where a person is willing to break the law in the name of the
nation. Taking the law in one’s hands is
probably the most unpatriotic act a citizen can indulge in.
India is a great country. I don’t really care of its faults.
Let us respect our constitution and the laws derived from there. India is our
mother. Mothers need nothing – only respect.
© Nitesh Kotecha
