Comments on: Pledging Allegiance To The Human Race? http://tcextra.com/terrycowgill/2007/07/02/i-pledge-allegiance-to-the-human-race/ What's Going On Here? Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:54:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Terry http://tcextra.com/terrycowgill/2007/07/02/i-pledge-allegiance-to-the-human-race/#comment-42505 Terry Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:38:59 +0000 http://tcextra.com/terrycowgill/2007/07/02/i-pledge-allegiance-to-the-human-race/#comment-42505 Jenny, Thanks for your thoughtful comment. You should have written that essay instead. Zinn is a cranky old man whose bitterness gets in the way of his ability to communicate his message. My kids, too, are very fond of Potter, although they never asked that particular question about the rivalries. Most of the time I think competition makes people better, although (to be fair) sometimes it does bring out the worst in people, which is part of what you are getting at here. I agree with you that chest-thumping and jingoism are not productive and I don't engage in them; nor do I try to inculcate those attitudes in my children. Bu animals (and people) are territorial by instinct and in most cases, that extends to "where you happen to have been born." An allegiance to where we came from informs our present and encourages us to better ourselves and our nation. America does have an ugly past (and a not-so-perfect present), but I hope I don't sound provincial in saying I'd rather live here than any place else (including Canada, where I hung my hat for 5 years and could have stayed if I had wanted to). Jenny,

Thanks for your thoughtful comment. You should have written that essay instead. Zinn is a cranky old man whose bitterness gets in the way of his ability to communicate his message.

My kids, too, are very fond of Potter, although they never asked that particular question about the rivalries. Most of the time I think competition makes people better, although (to be fair) sometimes it does bring out the worst in people, which is part of what you are getting at here.

I agree with you that chest-thumping and jingoism are not productive and I don’t engage in them; nor do I try to inculcate those attitudes in my children.

Bu animals (and people) are territorial by instinct and in most cases, that extends to “where you happen to have been born.” An allegiance to where we came from informs our present and encourages us to better ourselves and our nation.

America does have an ugly past (and a not-so-perfect present), but I hope I don’t sound provincial in saying I’d rather live here than any place else (including Canada, where I hung my hat for 5 years and could have stayed if I had wanted to).

]]> By: Jenny http://tcextra.com/terrycowgill/2007/07/02/i-pledge-allegiance-to-the-human-race/#comment-42333 Jenny Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:13:19 +0000 http://tcextra.com/terrycowgill/2007/07/02/i-pledge-allegiance-to-the-human-race/#comment-42333 Terry, there's another way to look at Zinn's essay. Bear with me while I make an analogy that may seem farfetched. I've been reading the Harry Potter books with my 8 year old. We started talking about the different houses in Hogwarts - Gryffindor, Slytherin, etc. and she asked me why they hated each other. I started reflecting on this tradition we have - dating back centuries, I suppose - of creating boundaries that separate "us" from "them." From the earliest age, schools compete against each other, and kids learn to dislike or taunt those on other teams. It spreads to all areas of life - in social settings, I've been teased for what college I went to by people who went to "rival" colleges. Sports obviously perpetuates this, and I'd argue that nationalism is the obvious end-state of this attitude, that we're all so trained in from birth. It goes by different names depending on the scale - chauvinism, prejudice - but it's always about defining some group that some are "in" and others are "out" and thus, lesser, to be feared and hated. It's tribalism, really - but in today's world, when we have the ability to get to know the people in the neighboring tribe (or country) in a deep way and have meaningful conversations with people all over the world (our blogs being a good examples of this) from very different backgrounds, isn't it time to put allegiance based on where you happen to have been born behind us forever? Terry, there’s another way to look at Zinn’s essay. Bear with me while I make an analogy that may seem farfetched. I’ve been reading the Harry Potter books with my 8 year old. We started talking about the different houses in Hogwarts - Gryffindor, Slytherin, etc. and she asked me why they hated each other. I started reflecting on this tradition we have - dating back centuries, I suppose - of creating boundaries that separate “us” from “them.” From the earliest age, schools compete against each other, and kids learn to dislike or taunt those on other teams. It spreads to all areas of life - in social settings, I’ve been teased for what college I went to by people who went to “rival” colleges. Sports obviously perpetuates this, and I’d argue that nationalism is the obvious end-state of this attitude, that we’re all so trained in from birth. It goes by different names depending on the scale - chauvinism, prejudice - but it’s always about defining some group that some are “in” and others are “out” and thus, lesser, to be feared and hated. It’s tribalism, really - but in today’s world, when we have the ability to get to know the people in the neighboring tribe (or country) in a deep way and have meaningful conversations with people all over the world (our blogs being a good examples of this) from very different backgrounds, isn’t it time to put allegiance based on where you happen to have been born behind us forever?

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