I almost bought a flag......

by AK - Jeff 30 Replies latest jw friends

  • Lady Lee
    Lady Lee

    I have always been proud to be a Canadian. But it wasn't until I left Quebec that I felt "safe" to fly a Canadian flag. (Quebec has its own peculiar idea of nationalism)

    When I got to Manitoba I bought two flags - both smallish (8x10 and 12x 18) One I had on my computer dexsk and the other in our front porch.

    Once I moved to Canada's capital, my national pride swelled and I put the larger flag on my scooter. But I have no place to put it on my new wheelchair

    BUT, I might be getting a new scooter too so I hope to have somewhere to fly my flag

  • Dave_T
    Dave_T

    Good Girl, Your fear will probably disappear. It will take a little time though, then you'll realize flags and crosses are just mystified objects that have no power whatsoever except in the minds of those who believe in them. Just like the power JWs attribute to elders and the governing body.

  • XJW4EVR
    XJW4EVR
    Out of the JW org and into Nationalism... Isn't this a little like: Out of a mind-controlling cult and into another bigger, widely accepted mind-controlling cult... ?

  • Dave_T
    Dave_T

    XJW4EVR pondering...

  • Dave_T
    Dave_T

    XJW4EVR thinking about the next anti-french remark he will post. Unfortunately I am not nationalist...

  • AK - Jeff
    AK - Jeff

    Well, certainly not ashamed of being American. But the post jwism is still making me unsure of where I come down on this. It is a hard to revise the mental and emotional paradigm in this instance for me. That's all.

    I am getting close though. BTW - not all patriotic persons are flag waving nationalists. I don't see them as the same thing.

    Jeff [of the still sorting it out class]

  • XJW4EVR
    XJW4EVR
    XJW4EVR thinking about the next anti-french remark he will post. Unfortunately I am not nationalist...

    Yes, I hate french dressing. Really, I do. Sorry, buddy, but your wait for some sort of bigoted remark was in vain.
    What is more, my son has a French name. So again care to reveal your own anti-American bigotry again?

  • XJW4EVR
    XJW4EVR
    Well, certainly not ashamed of being American. But the post jwism is still making me unsure of where I come down on this. It is a hard to revise the mental and emotional paradigm in this instance for me. That's all. I am getting close though. BTW - not all patriotic persons are flag waving nationalists. I don't see them as the same thing. Jeff [of the still sorting it out class]

    I understand your view. I just get kind of tired of having patriotism painted as some sort of mind-control on a larger scale. It takes time to work it all out. Best wishes on your journey.

  • under_believer
    under_believer

    I'm still working this out, myself. I tend to fall on the humanistic side of things, where the human race is the only club that's worth belonging to. On the other hand, democracy and freedom is clearly the best course, and the US has been primarily responsible for championing (not inventing, not propogating, but championing) those values in the last 250 years or so. You gotta hand it to them for that.
    I wouldn't die for my country, but I might die for those values.

  • Dave_T
    Dave_T
    Sorry, buddy, but your wait for some sort of bigoted remark was in vain. What is more, my son has a French name. So again care to reveal your own anti-American bigotry again?

    As a matter of fact, I wasn't waiting. It was just bed-time. Besides, I've already heard bigoted remarks from you before (see the Zidane thread for example). Your kid's got a French name? I don't know what it proves (if it proved anything at all) but it certainly doesn't make a pro-french out of you judging by what you have posted before. You must have noticed that my English is better than your French. Why is that? Because I am a curious person and I have always been fascinated by the American culture. That was my prime motivation. I even have tons of relatives in the USA (my grand-mother and her brothers were born in the US). Like in every country, there are good things and bad things in the US. That's the most bigoted remark you will ever get from me, "buddy". Having said that, I must say that I don't believe any nation is worth dying for, nor any flag is sacred. Nations, like people, are born then they die. Sooner or later, nobody will ever remember that France or even the USA had existed. It will take time, sure, but it will happen. However, I would fight to protect those I love from an invader, for example, and I would die rather than let a soldier hurt someone I love but I wouldn't fight in a war because a government says it would protect "freedom", or because the other side is "evil". Those words are usually used in a not-so-subtle propaganda destined to get recruits who think they'll become "heroes". If there's one thing I've learnt from my JW experience it's this: It's so easy to have people do or believe what you want them to do or believe AND have them think they're proud and happy about it.

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