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PATRIOTISM AS PATHOLOGY

by Tim Wise
10.23.01

IT HAS BEEN MY EXPERIENCE that most Americans fail to appreciate irony.

As such, it may be impossible for us to acknowledge how fitting it is—and how typical—that we launched a "war on terrorism" just in time for our own national celebration of one of the most prolific terrorists in modern history: Christopher Columbus. Still reeling from the terrible attacks of 9/11, New Yorkers turned out recently to commemorate the "peerless" explorer—who by all accounts oversaw the slaughter of Arawak and Taino Indians on Hispaniola—and to "demonstrate support for what our country is doing."

The failure to recognize the inconsistency of condemning terrorism while celebrating one of its most dedicated practitioners is predictable, and explains much about why others the world over view the US as a bastion of hypocrisy.

Like our lack of historical perspective, our foreign and military policies are utterly predictable, as are the likely consequences. With bombs pummeling the barren landscape of Afghanistan, turning rocks into smaller rocks and searching in vain for any buildings over two stories tall to wipe out, the President insists that the collective will of the world is behind his announced "war on terror." Yet, deep in the pit of one's stomach, the distinct feeling emerges that, by our actions, the US has sealed the fates not only of thousands of Afghans, but also those of US citizens who may one day feel the wrath of those seeking revenge.

If history is any guide, these airstrikes will do little good. Such actions will, as always, rip up the infrastructure of villages and cities, kill innocent people, and do absolutely nothing to end or diminish the extant threat. Indeed, our current path could easily make things worse, even igniting enough extremist militancy to topple the Pakistani regime: a member of the nuclear club, and one that is seen by Osama bin Laden's supporters as far too accommodating to the strikes on Afghanistan.

To expect that we might, just this once, learn from history would of course be asking too much. Supporting one set of autocratic thugs so as to combat another—who used to be our autocratic thugs after all—may seem logical to those whose vision extends no further than that required by the next election cycle. But to those who know history, or who seek an end to the global spiral of violence such actions entail, it makes no sense whatsoever.

Of course, to most Americans what fails to make sense is that the dislike toward our country by so many others. Being almost completely unaware of the US's role in the region, most have found themselves asking "Why do they hate us." even as children lay dying from bombs we drop in darkness. If we could see the devastation and had to view it daily as those in Kabul do now, or as those in Iraq have done for the past decade, that question wouldn't enter our minds. "They" hate us for the same reason we hate those who turned the World Trade Center into a pile of twisted metal, concrete and glass.

Blue, Red, and Whitewash

The flags keep going up, even higher than before. Perhaps the yellow ribbons that were war chic under Bush the First will find themselves tied tightly around the trunks of trees again. Testosterone-addled ex-soldiers like David Hackworth, for whom bloodshed is like Viagra, will insist on national television that those who question the wisdom of this course are treasonous. Cries of "support the troops" will rise from around the kitchen tables and water coolers of American homes and businesses. And in this environment it will grow especially difficult for many to maintain their opposition to war.

I must confess that I have never been a patriot. I have never been comfortable waving a flag, or pledging allegiance to one. Nor have I ever found myself misty-eyed at the sight of Old Glory flapping in the breeze, nor during the playing of any of a number of patriotic songs. Long before I was consciously political, I felt that pride in my country made little or no sense. I had done nothing to deserve being born here, after all, so to be proud of my country would be no more logical than to be proud of my white skin or the mix of X- and Y-chromosomes that render me male.

And since children elsewhere are presumably taught to be proud of their countries too, and to think that their nations are "number one," it always struck me as especially absurd to cleave to national identity. We can't all be number one, and since there's no objective judge or jury to sort out real greatness from mere hubris, what's the point of such vapid aspirations?

Draping the Flag over Missteps

The patriotic thought it wise to go to war against Iraq, and insisted that the rest of us line up behind President Bush the First, even though doing so not only failed to topple the regime of our former friend, Saddam Hussein, but has also led to the blowback of increased Wahabbist Islamism—à la bin Laden.

Those who supported the toppling of the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953—leading to the vicious reign of the Shah and then his replacement by the fanatical Mullahs—no doubt would think of themselves as patriots. Yet look what havoc and misery they wrought in the wake of their ill-conceived actions. So on this level alone, patriotism seems to be hardly, if at all, related to the real well being of one's nation. And caring for the nation and its people, as I most certainly do, has almost nothing to do with being patriotic.

Patriotism's Putrid History

Patriotism asks us to reify authority as manifested in national governments, and to believe—or act as if we do—that those who seem to stand in the way of our supposed national self-interest should be brought under heel. That we only end up in the nation we do because of historical happenstance—the luck of God's lottery, or perhaps nature's—becomes irrelevant as patriots assume they somehow earned their status as the chosen.

If patriotism is to mean—as it inevitably does in practice if not theory—an uncritical, reflexive defense of one's nation, über älles, then those Chinese who applauded the crushing of dissent in Tiannemen Square, or those Soviets who went along with Stalin's purges, or those good Germans who gave their assent to mass murder by their silence and support for Aryan lebensraum, would have to merit respect on par with patriots of the American variant.

That we might not like that uncomfortable fact does not make it less true.

What's more, flag-waving patriotism serves to paper over the very real divisions and disunity that continue to plague our nation—claims of our togetherness notwithstanding. It allows us to forget or push to a shadowy region of our consciousness racism, poverty, unequal health care access, crumbing schools and police brutality, corruption and misconduct that has gone largely unchecked in city after city for decades.

Patriotism promotes the lie that we are all in this together, when in fact our interests are not always the same. In a nation where stock prices—and thus shareholder profits—go through the roof whenever a company lays off a few thousand workers, we can hardly pretend that the interests of all Americans are similar, or that the dream of America is a shared one for all.

Majority-Rule Symbolism

Yes, I know there are those who insist one can reclaim symbols like the flag, or concepts like patriotism; that one doesn't have to accept the limited, supremacist interpretation of either one. There are those who are convinced that one can wave the flag as a symbol of potential and promise, in hopes of what America could become, despite our failure to live up to our vaunted principles thus far.

While that may be true on an individual level—persons can, after all, decide what symbols, words or concepts mean for themselves, irrespective of what others might think—the fact remains that in the court of public opinion, reclaiming icons en masse is more difficult.

In those few cases where symbols have been effectively reclaimed—such as the pink triangle by the gay rights movement— circumstances were far different. Transforming the triangle from a symbol of Nazi repression into one of liberation and equity didn't require activists to contend with others seeking to use it in the historically traditional manner. The pink triangle had long since ceased being an active symbol of anti-gay bigotry, so "reclaiming" it was less about trumping another interpretation, than merely picking up a symbol with which many were not even familiar and turning it to good use. Doing the same for the American flag would be infinitely more complicated.

The simple truth is that talking about the deep flaws in the American experiment and the hope of transformation to a more equitable and just republic requires one to criticize and even to condemn the actions of one's government. And to expect to be able to do those things and still be viewed as patriotic is asking for a much more nuanced understanding of national pride than that which is likely possible in a soundbite-dependent society that favors easy answers—especially at a time like this.

It may just be that new realities require new symbols, new concepts, and new slogans. For those of us who seek peace with justice, in the Middle East or right here at home, that means giving up the fight for the flag, and instead engaging in the more meaningful struggle for the soul of America. While not denigrating the flag, or ridiculing those who find value and virtue in patriotism, we should yet not be fooled into believing that we have the power to turn patriotic chants into something other than what they are: a dangerous projection of nationalistic machismo, likely to precede more bombing, more retaliation, and more death.

For me, the only way to accept patriotism—and this war that the patriotic seem to think is so necessary—is to accept that American mothers and fathers love their children more than Afghan mothers and fathers do. And that is not something I am willing to do. [ L i P ]

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