nurturing the world and defending your country
2008-Sep-21 03:09:55 AM
(by )
[cmts 0]
"...I would have to say, however, that a caveat to the ideal of nurturing the world as a whole is that I would do anything to defend my country. The two may not be mutually exclusive..." -- C A S
Point 1: Nurturing the world is a critical component of our country's defense
I understand the feeling of pride for ones homeland, and I find it an admirable quality to be willing to defend ones home and way of life. I feel it is certainly not mutually exclusive to taking care of others' homes and homelands. In fact, I think it is mutually inclusive in the respect that one must see to their neighbor's well being or at least economic balance if they don't want to end up fighting with them. Which is the truer meaning of "defense"? It is usually far less expensive to proact than react - in geopolitical as well as monetary terms. Imagine how far $580,444,463,284 (budget for Iraq war to date) would go towards education or any pro-active initiative, especially when spent in countries where a few dollars can save someone's life.
Point 2: The conviction of defending one's country is dangerous, easily manipulated and generally less virtuous than other beliefs
I fear that many of our citizens are full of pride and willingness to fight, but do not have such strong feelings about other more important virtues. It is very easy to manipulate such pride as most do not know what exactly their values are or how these values differ from other regions in the world. Not to mention it is all to easy for governments to contort facts and take its people to war for false reasons. This feeling of pride is also more instinct than intellect... and carries with it another dangerous quality. Once pride is leveraged and the fighting engine is in motion, there is little one can do to stop it. Even with newly revealed facts, pride will make a lasting emotional bond that continues to shape how one sees such facts. Consider religious wars that last thousands of years and show no sign of ceasing. Individuals on each side are almost identical in their pride and willingness to fight for what they believe - but yet they are unable to pull back the war and re-evaluate their beliefs.
A deep appreciation that people are much the same across the world would probably bear larger fruit. Many Americans have been convinced that everyone we are fighting overseas hates us and hates our way of life -- that we are fighting pure evil. This is the danger of talking about the fight rather than learning more about the world we live in. Taking up arms to defend our country should be recognized as a last resort and a failure on many counts.
Point 3: All people have pride and a willingness to fight - but wealthy countries have greater responsibility and world duties...
The wealthier one is, the greater his circle of influence and subsequently his responsibility to those around him. The richest country should not profit from lesser fortunate countries without taking careful effort to ensure the exchange is mutually beneficial. The real question is how to balanced the benefits. A wealthy man who gives 1 million to a charity may be seen as generous - even if it was only 0.0001 percent of his worth. If I were to design a system to pacify the poor and allocate a majority to the rich, it would still come in the form of nurturing the world. Any outbreak of military action against another country would be counterproductive.
Our country is the most powerful but we are also one of the smaller populations, the youngest and least experienced culture -- a tiny minority in many regards. The notion that we can build up our country, spend a majority on military forces each year and fend off outside forces to protect it is, to be quite blunt, old world thinking. We now live in a world where everything we purchase comes from somewhere else. Cross investing, multinational corporations, and Internet communications have tied us all closely together. It seems that there have always been millions of people starving in Africa -- flies buzzing overhead -- but it's just a charity advertisement to us. In the past, such crisis could remain comfortably across the ocean from us. (The ocean serves as our countries biggest defense.) This is still true today -- but far less true -- as we require more and more from these countries to maintain our way of life.
I fear that we are focused too much on securing our fortress with walls and bomb scanning devices. I believe it is an impotent distraction from fighting the war on the front lines... poverty and joblessness. Most of the people we are fighting with guns are only fighting because they have no other means for feeding themselves or their family. And it takes more than being fed, of course. "Idle minds are the devil's playing ground." Someone who has a job, a home and a family is a lot less likely to join a militia and fight against the most powerful army the world has seen. But even then, he may be filled with country pride and compelled to defend his country -- especially if the army is led by someone who is talking about fighting "pure evil".
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