Skeptical Patriotism

March 17, 2010

As the lights fade on arguably the biggest party Canada has ever thrown, I sat down to write down some of the thoughts I've been musing on for the last few weeks. I guess you could say I was in a unique position. I'm a Canadian, born and raised in Vancouver, and very happy to call this part of the world my home. I'm also a big sports fan. I love the competition, the anxiety, the anticipation, the contest and all the emotions that go along with it. Of course, I'm also a skeptic and a supporter of free speech, I'm well aware of the power emotion has to overwhelm reason.  

So it was with some trepidation that I awaited the Olympics here in Vancouver. Excited because I wanted to take part in the showcase of my city, thrilled to have some of favourite sports take place in my backyard, and fascinated by the changes it would bring to my home city. 

But as a skeptic, I was worried about the increasing financial burden these games would bring, the logistics of having thousands of people in the city, the controversies over security and safety, the battle (both figuratively and literally) between supporters and detractors. And of course, the constant stream of impositions on freedoms and liberties of the people of Vancouver. 

However, I think a hallmark of a good skeptic is (or at least should be) a willingness to confront problems or conflicts. You know the old argument about slippery slopes? To that I say big deal, build a ramp. I was eager to see how things would progress.
I should point out; this isn't going to be a skeptical look at the pros and cons of the Olympics. For that, check out episode 47 of Radio Freethinker. 

I want to talk about something that's been in the back of my mind really for a while now. As I watched the Olympics, on TV and live as a spectator, I could see a trend evolving through the whole event. And as I watched the final days, the closing remarks from the broadcasters and presenters of these games I began to seriously consider something, that being, patriotism. 

Canadians are not known for being very patriotic. Typically we are considered a polite, quiet, humble people who don't advertise our country like it's a brand. (Sometimes the unsaid implication of this is that Canadians don't advertise their country because we have nothing to be proud about.)  

Skeptics and freethinkers have always been a bit wary of any form of the group think mentality. It's where the expression of herding cats comes from. By nature, skeptics and freethinkers are independent, "think for yourself" type people who don't buy into trends and willy-nilly accept truisms like "Canada is the best country on earth." 

However, I wonder if that isn't over blown. Freethinkers are rightfully worried about buying into the hype of any sort of idea, especially something like patriotism. Nightmare visions of the Hitler Youth spring to mind for many freethinkers when it comes to patriotism. But I think we need to be rational and understand that being patriotic does not necessarily lead to fascism. 

I also think we need to avoid becoming simply contrarians, people who simply take the opposite side of the majority view just for the sake of it. If we as skeptics have good reason to take the opposite view of a majority opinion then by all mean, but just because an idea is agreed upon by the majority doesn't make it bad.  

Let's talk about patriotism. What is it? Dictionary.com defines it as "devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty." 

On the surface, there's nothing inherently bad about patriotism. Many people devotedly love their spouses but we consider that a bad thing. Like any philosophy or idea, patriotism depends on its application, it can be used to as justification for deplorable actions, and it could be used to justify positive actions.  

After experiencing the Olympics here in Vancouver, I witnessed many displays of patriotism and my observations have led me to believe that it's the patriotism itself, but the person expressing it that matters. While wandering down the Granville street we'd frequently hear "Oh Canada" bursting out from random groups of people, shouts of excitement from passersby when people walked by dressed up in their countries colors with a flag for a cape. I heard a wide variety of songs and cheers, not just "Oh Canada" but several different national anthems.  

I saw athletes burst into tears as they crossed the finish line, basking in glory as someone from the crowd tossed them a flag which they waved with pride. The celebration isn't that they've crushed an opponent and proved how superior their nation is, but rather their achievement is shared with their nation. 

Patriotism is often associated with pride in one's country. For some, this is seen as something of an obscene notion. After all, what did you do that contributed to the nation so as to feel pride in it? Of course that would be immediately discounted if the person in question was someone who contributed to that nation in a measurable way: a soldier, police officer, politician. 

On the subject of pride, we have to remember that there is no hard and fast rule about what you can be proud of. Parents often say they are proud of their children, and on some occasions, children have even admitted to being proud of their parents. You could ask what exactly did you (the person feeling the pride) do to deserve that sensation? I would imagine that most parents feel their children are extensions of themselves; parents help raise them, educate them, teach them about the world, etc. While it might seem like a nebulous definition for contribution, many could argue that a country does something similar to its citizens. And I think you could argue that many civilians give back to their country, doing what they can to make it a better place to live.
Sticking with pride, there is nothing inherently bad about the emotion of pride. It's a natural feeling that comes from accomplishing something. If I were to build a hotel out of legos, I would have a right to feel to pride at my accomplishment. That's not to say that excessive bragging on my part wouldn't be annoying. 

One of the reasons I think we as skeptics sometimes recoil at the notion of patriotism is its relation to nationalism. 

I think it's easy to confuse patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is about loving your own country. Nationalism is about loving your country and despising other nations. Nationalism goes well beyond simply loving your nation; it presupposes that your nation is better than all other nations. It encourages a view that there is something intrinsic about your country that other nations and by extensions their citizens, lack. The chief ingredient of nationalism is the notion of an ethnic group identified with the state. The individual is crushed under the glorious weight of the state. Nationalism presupposes that the individual is only a small piece of much larger and more important entity. 

The notion that patriotism is the illogical belief that you are better because you were randomly born somewhere is, in my opinion, a misnomer and misleading. Patriotism is not a belief but an emotion. Nationalism, goes further. It is the emotion transcended to belief and ideology. Nationalism is the notion that you are better than someone just because you were born somewhere, but its applied on a massive scale to every facet of life and politics.

Display your "Go Canada Go" signs with pride. Enjoy the moments and have fun with it. Just don't let your pride turn into a belief system based on random geography. 

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Ethan Clow

Vancouver, British Columbia

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