Beware of ‘isms’

That said, we should not use the fact of our fledgling status as an excuse not to open our eyes to the real challenges we face. We may be children but we are bright, talented and have the wherewithal to engage in a meaningful assessment of our situation. Like with all children we have to be clever and patient in how we manage the business of preparing the infant so that it grows to realise its full individual potential, which is the major task of a parent.

Our disappointment over TT’s performance at the Olympics may have provoked some sufficiently “unpatriotic” comments for us to feel troubled and moved to urge greater loyalty to TT. But I question the widespread, kneejerk reaction that calls upon us to be patriotic. We must ask what the ideology of “patriotism” actually means in practice.

We should be aware that patriotism is loyalty to country, la patrie. It is not about the people who live in the country. It has had its most devastating manifestations in the deeds of Adolf Hitler in which some of the people — those deemed unpatriotic — were murdered, and the rest coerced into supporting the State’s actions. The French Revolution that gave birth to the modern “ism” was no jump-and-rave party either.

Patriotism is often a manifestation of nationalism. The project of the European Union was an attempt to ensure that nationalism never raised its ugly head again on the continent where two 20th century wars took 77 million lives and involved the rest of the world.

Now the EU faces the threat of disintegration as it struggles to mitigate the nationalist sentiments Britain’s withdrawal has unleashed. The current rise of the far right, whose goal is to punish and disadvantage anyone who is not like the rest, is disturbing. They were behind Brexit, tapping into base human instincts and fears that are always just below the surface.

A bit closer to home we can see the effect of US patriotism and nationalism in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. He would build a wall along the USA’s northern and southern borders.

His supporters think it is right to murder African-Americans and call for the lynching of Hillary Clinton. I would say that the emotions these “isms” release can be so overwhelming that all reason is sacrificed.

I see danger in encouraging any sort of ideology in a country such as ours in which we dress up and show loyalty to so many diverse ethnic origins on different national days. TT has managed our religious and ethnic differences pretty well but we have to be mindful and not take the status quo as guaranteed.

We have to question the notion that it is unpatriotic to point out our shortcomings. Vitriol and maliciousness should not be part of this process of self-examination and we must guard against our very strong tendency to judge unfairly and belittle those who try and fail. That is not the patriotism we should promote.

I would like patriotism not to be blind loyalty to the flag and other symbols of the State, but rather it be a personal pledge to care for human and animal life in our endangered environment, to conserve our water and protect our habitats, to work with those we elect to deliver better and fairer services for all of us.

It should involve us restating our commitment to democracy and justice and to work to correct the many ills we endure daily.