Patriotism: Trash or Treasure?

Oh boy.

Takes all sorts, don't it - and welcome!

I thank whatever is thankable that we do not.

Your're welcome.

yes, and Bush was so quick to say that he was delighted, don't you know, to be off to a country in which Democracy was so enjoyed that they could demonstate if they want to. Funny, he doesn't see the protestors in London as "unpatriotic." Do you suppose he uses the term selectively as a tool for attempted corercion?

Why I despise bloody patriotism:


Tokyo Teacher Is Punished for Pacifist Stance
Refusal to Sing Wartime Anthem Comes As Japanese Schools Push National Pride

By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A10

TOKYO -- When the national anthem started playing during a ceremony this year at Tachikawa Daini Junior High School, Kimiko Nezu, a soft-spoken but resolute home economics teacher, refused to stand and kept her mouth shut while others sang around her.

Nezu, a self-described pacifist, said she has done the same thing ever since the parliament designated the World War II hymn "Kimigayo" as the national anthem in 1999. She said she opposes the song because it was the same one sung as the Imperial Army set forth from Japan calling for an "eternal reign" of the emperor.



A Japanese national flag flutters in the wind at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's fallen warriors, including convicted World War II criminals. (By Kimimasa Mayama -- Reuters)


Previously, her protest brought nothing more than harsh stares from some students and parents. But the Tokyo school board issued an order in October 2003 that the anthem must be respected. Since then, Nezu, 54, has been punished by frequent transfers from one school to another and with temporary salary cuts. And in May, shortly after the incident at Tachikawa, she was suspended for a month. Officials warned that another offense could lead to her dismissal after 34 years of teaching.

The school board reaction was part of an effort by Tokyo and other school districts to enforce a new sense of pride in being Japanese. The measures were strongly backed by Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo and an outspoken nationalist, as a way to strengthen classroom patriotism.

The school board's mandatory rule has had a visible effect. At graduation ceremonies in 2004, 198 teachers refused to stand. After a series of fines and disciplinary actions, Nezu and nine other teachers were the only protesters this year.

"They are trying to weed us out of society," Nezu said. "The pacifists, the people who oppose nationalism in Japan. We are gradually being silenced."

The school board action is at the center of criticism throughout East Asia about rising Japanese nationalism. But it is also part of an ideological battle over the role of patriotism in Japan, where people are especially concerned about how the young will view their country.

"It is time our children learned to be proud of Japan," said Hitomi Nakayama, 48, a council member in Tokyo's Tachikawa City district. Nakayama, whose son has just graduated from the junior high school, has called for an investigation of Nezu's teaching practices.

"There is nothing wrong with paying respect to our flag and our anthem or in taking pride in our nation and heritage," Nakayma said. "Most of the world enjoys that right. Why shouldn't we?"

Displays of overt patriotism were controversial in Japan in the decades after World War II. But public discourse has been changing. When the parliament adopted the "Kimigayo" hymn, it also declared the traditional Japanese sun flag, a red disk in a field of white, as the official flag. Until then, the country did not have a legally recognized national flag or anthem.

As Japan has observed the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific this month, nationalist political leaders have gained prominence advocating a stronger role for Japan in the world. In the aftermath of Japan's economic recession in the 1990s, there is a growing popular notion that the country deserves clout commensurate with its position as the world's second-largest economy.

Citing the threat of international terrorism and concerns that North Korea may have nuclear weapons, members of the governing Liberal Democratic Party say part of updating the country's international profile involves military preparedness. They advocate a change in Japan's constitution, which was drafted by the United States after World War II and removed Japan's right to maintain a military or wage war. The change would allow the country to define its Self-Defense Forces as Japan's armed forces.............

The full crapola


But of course, OUR patriotism is benign and "dulce et decorum", no?



Makes me want to be sick.....

Yes, me too.

I note the typical 'barbarians lurking dangerously nearbye' element. Also the parallel drive to militarize (VERY big bucks involved for the large corporate entities who stand to gain from modern militarization).

The two elephants in the room left unmentioned are China and the US.

As the Project for a New American Century adherents, now ubiquitous in the US administration (see Walter's lovely link from a few days past) hold, the proper international strategy for the US is one which suppresses the growth of any other political entity in the world which might rise up to challenge US hegemony. Clearly China is becoming far and away the most serious challenger to such hegemony, economically and militarily.

Thus, even aside from the perceived value to US military planners for containment of North Korea through a remilitarized Japan, there will be seen a further value as regards a local bulwark against China.

I would think, too, that China's incredible economic growth presents a threat to Japan's economic standing and stability, but folks with economic backgrounds could speak to this better than I can.

The Japanese (in Japan) are in fear that China will overtake it economically and militarily too soon.

Fear is a universal phenomenon created by the Bush white house. Many Americans still support our invasion of Iraq for fear Saddam had WMD's that could be used against America and Americans. It doesn't matter that those claims made by the Bush administration has all been negated, and the fact that our invasion increased terrorism worldwide.

Fear also controls the lives of many religious folks, although they claim their god is a loving, kind god.

Logic and common sense disappears.

My god is a kind and loving god. Except when he is pissed. Then it's flame-throwers and murderous disembowelments and plagues of crotch-locusts and that sort of stuff, until he gets to feeling like he's gotten even.

the lord works in mysterious ways.

He even lets some drive without map (because he guides him!).

He does. And he's very big.

Walter


The most dangerous lunatic on the planet.

BBB

Re: Walter


Bad surely, but I don't think Walter is that bad.

I wouldn't touch this one with a ten foot pole.

c.i. : ten foot pole, is that all you can offer up ?

(i thought president bush said that the united states had the longest "poles" in the world - i know that's a bad joke, but it's the best i can come up with on short notice). hbg

hbg, And you have the gall to make fun of my 10-foot pole. LOL

Re: Walter


But rather, Lola, rather bad! (I'll tell you some time, maybe next year) some really bad things about me personally :wink: )

Trash, as far as I am concerned. I believe in individuals, not in collectives; so when I hear people say sentences like "my country, right or wrong", I have a problem. It isn't so much that I find it misguided, immoral, or anything like that -- I find it meaningless. As meaningless as "My blood group, right or wrong", or my hair color, right or wrong, or "my meridian, right or wrong". This aura of glorified meaninglessness is what makes patriotism trash for me.

Patriotism
Just to add this quote from Samuel Johnson (1775):

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel"

with reference to all the tub-thumping, charlatan politicians who invoke patriotism; my country right or wrong or any similar sentiments. Seems to me that if a politician can't hack it in the real world of debate, intelligent thought, and joined-up, coherent public-interest policies they fall back on patriotism every time. Patriotism is simply a distraction to cover their own political deficiencies.