Questions on Patriotism

On today's chinese lesson, we were debating about whether there is a need for one's eventual return to one's hometown or birthplace.

Soon, the discussion narrowed down to the concept of patriotism.

Later, someone else asked me whether I would ever migrate, without return.

I said that the chances of so are not ruled out. She was shocked, astounded, like that was a scandal!

Is it so?

If I would permanantly reside in a place, I would reside in one which makes me feel the most at ease, somewhere comfortable for my heart and soul. That would be unlikely to be tied down by what they call ' National Education'.

Here, a fine line is needed to distinguish patriotism and loyalty. Patriotism is a love a devotion to one’s country, whereas loyalty has a much deeper meaning only comprehendable by emotional beings.

A country is made up of physical space and people. Physical space, like the scenery, familiar city might bring back memories, sweet or bitter. These are some inanimate things, non-living and emotionless, what would it mean to be loyal to these things? Isn't this more of just liking, than loyalty?

I believe, loyalty can only be expressed to emotional beings. Only then, would loyalty have meaning. Then, isn’t loyalty to the people you love what really matters then, compared to loving your country?

Sometimes, in fact, often, our cultural and political believes simply do not blend in, your social status is not desirable, then what scandal is there in moving to another country with more preferable conditions? You could still bring your loved ones along, couldn’t you? Supposing that they can’t make it, and you choose to stay, it is no longer a matter of loving your country, but a matter of loyalty.

Countless people have emigrated from homelands, in search of a better place to live in; From China to Singapore, from Europe to the free land. In the rise of the power of the Nazis, Albert Einstein emigrated to the United States. I would not say that these people are ‘unpatriotic’ or whatsoever, as they is no such word in my dictionary. The point is, there is no wrong in moving on, (or betraying your country as some patriots just love to call it).

I am not saying that there is any wrong in being patriotic, but rather that that is something quite neutral morally.

I raised this example

Let’s say you gained existence out of a sudden on a deserted island. Feeling the need to enter civilization, you move out. In this extreme case, there is clearly nothing wrong if you do not return to the island.

Certain people like to talk about repaying your country in future, for what it had done for you. However, there are lots of issues here to be weighed.

If your country started a war over some materialistic reason, would it be morally right to “repay” your country by fighting for it, supposed you had choice.

The world is highly interconnected. If we said that working hard for our country is a form of repayment to society, how would we know for sure it is?

We could say that the government had probably subsidized some money for our education when we were young. Of this money however, only a negligible amount of it really belongs to the people making up the government. The rest comes from taxes. So, we could say that the subsidized money in this case was provided by the previous generation.

When we ‘work for society’, economy might improve, but how could you know for sure that that is repaying the person who gave you the money in the first place? They might have migrated, died, or due to the complexity and diversity of the workings of the world, we might even be harming them via the butterfly effect.

Of course, this is only one possible argument, of many others that might contradict and support. So, I cannot say for sure that it would be beneficial or harmful to be working for our country.

But our best chances lie in not being tied down by the concept of ‘patriotism’, to prevent us from doing things based on our principles and how we feel should be done.