Nationalism - Tumblr Posts
There never has been and never will be a nationalist who actually “loves their people”; almost as soon as they make this claim, they will start rattling off subgroups of “their people” that they, in fact, hate. What they really mean is that they love themselves and are expanding their own sense of self to the nation as a whole.
The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his fellowmen. The man who is endowed with important personal qualities will be only too ready to see clearly in what respects his own nation falls short, since their failings will be constantly before his eyes. But every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud adopts, as a last resource, pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and glad to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.
-Arthur Schopenhauer
How does one hate a country, or love one? Tibe talks about it; I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills, and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain ploughland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it's not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That's a good thing, but one mustn't make a virtue of it, or a profession... Insofar as I love life, I love the hills of the Domain of Estre, but that sort of love does not have a boundary-line of hate."
Therem Harth rem ir Estraven, THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by Ursula LeGuin
i want to make something clear: the reason Biden and other centrist Democrats support Israel has little to do with Jewish people, at least not American Jews. we are a tiny population. our votes do not sway presidential elections. our votes barely ever sway anything at all outside of NYC politics. and, contrary to semi-popular belief, we do not control the media.
the first big reason Biden and other Democrats support Israel is because of evangelical Christians. a huge number of American hardline supporters of Israel do so for religious reasons. the second big reason Biden and other Democrats support Israel is because of the military, because Israel is our proxy in a long-term engagement against Iran that we've been involved in ever since American and British intelligence overthrew their democratically elected government in 1953.
not only is it disguting - in an ethical sense - that the core of the liberal base seems more shaken up by a mediocre debate showing than they do support for genocide, it's also terrible strategy. the vast majority of American supporters of Israel are Christians or nationalists (or both) who are going to vote for Republican choice no matter what Biden does for Israel. Chasing their votes is a fool's errand.
there are other paths. there are millions of voices going unheard. and there are is a lot of potential support in places other than the current target, a fictional "middle ground" between the status quo and outright fascism.
Quote about the modern transformation of Jesus by Rin Wilson.
When I went to school in The StatesTM i would join in the pledge of allegiance because it was funny as shit, but i would always skip the "under god" part.
Cause fuck that guy
