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Read through the most famous quotes by topic #patriotism
It may be underfunded and at times mismanaged, but the [Endangered Species] Act is an unprecedented attempt to delegate human-caused extinction to the chapters of history we would rather not revisit: the Slave Trade, the Indian Removal Policy, the subjection of women, child labor, segregation. The Endangered Species Act is a zero-tolerance law: no new extinctions. It keeps eyes on the ground with legal backing-the gun may be in the holster most of the time, but its available if necessary to keep species from disappearing. I discovered in my travels that a law protecting all animals and plants, all of nature, might be as revolutionary-and as American-as the Declaration of Independence. ↗
#endangered-species-act #patriotism #protection #wildlife #nature
To begin with, we have to be more clear about what we mean by patriotic feelings. For a time when I was in high school, I cheered for the school athletic teams. That's a form of patriotism — group loyalty. It can take pernicious forms, but in itself it can be quite harmless, maybe even positive. At the national level, what "patriotism" means depends on how we view the society. Those with deep totalitarian commitments identify the state with the society, its people, and its culture. Therefore those who criticized the policies of the Kremlin under Stalin were condemned as "anti-Soviet" or "hating Russia". For their counterparts in the West, those who criticize the policies of the US government are "anti-American" and "hate America"; those are the standard terms used by intellectual opinion, including left-liberal segments, so deeply committed to their totalitarian instincts that they cannot even recognize them, let alone understand their disgraceful history, tracing to the origins of recorded history in interesting ways. For the totalitarian, "patriotism" means support for the state and its policies, perhaps with twitters of protest on grounds that they might fail or cost us too much. For those whose instincts are democratic rather than totalitarian, "patriotism" means commitment to the welfare and improvement of the society, its people, its culture. That's a natural sentiment and one that can be quite positive. It's one all serious activists share, I presume; otherwise why take the trouble to do what we do? But the kind of "patriotism" fostered by totalitarian societies and military dictatorships, and internalized as second nature by much of intellectual opinion in more free societies, is one of the worst maladies of human history, and will probably do us all in before too long. With regard to the US, I think we find a mix. Every effort is made by power and doctrinal systems to stir up the more dangerous and destructive forms of "patriotism"; every effort is made by people committed to peace and justice to organize and encourage the beneficial kinds. It's a constant struggle. When people are frightened, the more dangerous kinds tend to emerge, and people huddle under the wings of power. Whatever the reasons may be, by comparative standards the US has been a very frightened country for a long time, on many dimensions. Quite commonly in history, such fears have been fanned by unscrupulous leaders, seeking to implement their own agendas. These are commonly harmful to the general population, which has to be disciplined in some manner: the classic device is to stimulate fear of awesome enemies concocted for the purpose, usually with some shreds of realism, required even for the most vulgar forms of propaganda. Germany was the pride of Western civilization 70 years ago, but most Germans were whipped to presumably genuine fear of the Czech dagger pointed at the heart of Germany (is that crazier than the Nicaraguan or Grenadan dagger pointed at the heart of the US, conjured up by the people now playing the same game today?), the Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy aimed at destroying the Aryan race and the civilization that Germany had inherited from Greece, etc. That's only the beginning. A lot is at stake. ↗
Nun riskierten wir, etwas aufs Maul zu bekommen von den zahlreichen Faschos in ihren Begrüßungsgeld-Bomberjacken und von besoffenen Helmut-Kohl-Fans mit den "Allianz für Deutschland"-Plastebeuteln. Viele von ihnen riefen im Sprechchor "Wie sind stolz, Deutsche zu sein". Wir fragten uns, worauf sie denn eigentlich stolz wären. Auf die Alpen oder den Thüringer Wald? Die hatten die Natur geschaffen. Auf Goethe oder Schiller? Ja haben die Schreihälse an deren Werken etwa mitgeschrieben? Daß sie in einem deutschen Land geboren wurden, war doch purer Zufall, dafür hatten sie doch überhaupt nichts getan. Eigentlich kann man doch nur auf etwas stolz sein, das man selber geschaffen hat. Ich zum Beispiel war auf meine Depeche-Mode-Postersammlung stolz, denn dafür hatte ich echt geschuftet. Auf unsere erste Parole-Emil-Kassette war ich auch mächtig stolz, denn die hatten wir ganz alleine gebastelt. Auf Deutschland wollte ich nicht stolz sein. Das war mir viel zu abstrakt. ↗
My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. ↗
But you know as well as I, patriotism is a word; and one that generally comes to mean either my country, right or wrong, which is infamous, or my country is always right, which is imbecile. ↗
#maturin #nationalism #nationality #patriotism #stephen-maturin
1 month ago the American people stopped to remember the third anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war. We thought first and foremost of the selflessness, patriotism and heroism by our troops, our National Guard and Reserves. ↗
I think the Hispanic community, the values that resonate in our community, are fundamentally conservative. They are faith, family, patriotism. ↗
