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Entrenched Prejudices taking the form of Patriotism


What a great way to celebrate the Independence Day? I am bemused, apparently owing to the wide exposure of emotional experiences hitherto seemed innocuous. Delve a little deep into the acquaintance with idea "patriotism", one will invariably be granted with an uncalled inquisition, one gets to stare at a disconcerting vacuum. Why do we brand ourselves with nations that are a mere collection of geographically propelled, culturally augmented, self aggrandizing people? Answer is elusive to many for the reasons best known to them hitherto for their own good are turning skeptical now.

Man whom the evolutionists assert shares a common ancestor with chimps and gibbons, naturally after parting his ways with his cousins (chimps, gibbons) choose to retain a comprehensive emotional, physiological and mental disposition. Man, if he ever chooses to embark on a space ship that supposedly travels back in time is bound to diminish his self esteem owing to his impromptu urge to track his ancestors. First 6 million yrs bear no significance in the realm of evolution. This is the point in time where man meets his closest cousins chimps and gibbons, as he travels back he meets guerillas 8 myrs prior to now, monkeys 16 myrs prior to now, dinosaurs during the cretaceous era, birds approximately 1 byrs prior to now. Now he finds himself in the realm of aquatic life, fishes, sponges, jelly fish and finally protozoa.
The subject in question demands the readers for an unreserved attention to the period 40,000 yrs prior to now. This period modestly claims significance in the book of time travel. Our ostensible acquaintance with this ‘period of agricultural revolution’ is emblazoned by many infamous zoologists of our time. A thin line of admirable conscience juxtaposes men who lived before and after this period, but with a conspicuous change in the furtherance of his sustenance. Prior to this period, men migrated from one place to another. Slowly Men who lived close to rivers, men who lived in the most fertile lands settled down and practiced agriculture. They cultivated land, grew enough food for their furtherance. They later began storing food instead of moving to a different place. This habit though seemingly innocuous as we will see culminated in a rather debatable exercise.

Growing food more than what would suffice for the whole group, storing food led them into a habit of experiencing leisure time. Soon, there were men who appreciated the leisure time and others merely acknowledging it. Those who appreciated the leisure time observed artistic indulgences, some practiced painting, some of them played music, some wrote poems and some took a step forward and began thinking. All but thinking of the artistic indulgences undeniably augmented the self esteem of those who practiced them with utmost passion. Thinking though produced philosophers, unlike other artistic indulgences has to date been the incumbent ignominious art. Agricultural era as opposed to the industrial era lacked all the modern amenities. These groups were exposed to the incredible power of nature. Nature with its rapier of uncertainty left men with dejection and despondence in their hearts. Storms, floods followed with famines offered the thinkers food for thought. They cleverly and quite deceptively derived the formula ‘god’.Men began appeasing this quasi existential god at times when they ran out of armor from their repertoire in facing the archetypal uncertainty of nature. In groups that lived in coastal areas, women began appeasing god in a vain attempt of seeking protection of their men who go fishing into the sea. Polygamy as zoologists and evolutionists point out was ubiquitous among these groups. Some physically fit or intellectually smart men hated to share their women with other relatively incompatible men. These men they themselves proposed a constructive solution or approached the other then thinkers that devised god is not known; nevertheless the solution can but only be granted an unconditional contempt. If readers are not convinced with the writer’s polemic, I can guide you to the tribes in Africa living in remotest places where castration among men and excision of clitoris among women is still practiced with an utmost flavor. Not to mention, all these acts are ascribed to the quasi existential god. What good has this dubiously constructive solution brought to the groups? Ask men who were victims of castration, ask women who had their clitoris peeled off. Women who were victims of excision had notably denied their submission to god, this denial taking the form of hatred to god later turned into hatred to the god’s creation culminating into a rather cacophony of ideals in the group. Different men proposed different attitudes in seeking the acceptance of god; advocates of theism outnumbered the advocates of atheism. Groups then faced the inevitable repercussions of their admission to leisure. The herd instinct that hitherto bound them together began showing signs of fallibility. The ‘thumb rules’ hitherto identified by the members of the group-be nice to the people around you, you are bound to meet them again later-failed in holding to their roots. All these factors spearheaded the group into breaking into different groups with relatively like minded people. Some sub-groups thus formed migrated in search of other sub-groups of like minded people thus forming a big group, big groups then making a safe haven for all the like minded people attracted other like minded people. Big groups are otherwise now identified as civilizations.

Peoples of different civilizations fought owing to their difference in opinions, owing to their hatred to each other, owing to the urge of exploiting smaller civilizations, owing to the necessity of expanding their civilization so to dissuade other civilizations from raging a war against them. Men realized the importance of inventions, further more inventions prior to the ones from their neighbors were granted an unreserved appreciation. This can be observed in the modern times during the cold war between the English speaking countries and the Russians. An invention like nuclear bomb in a country prior to the same in a neighboring country was always greeted with governmental incentives and a deluge of spies pouring into the country from the neighboring ones.

My displeasure is with the incumbent governments conveniently changing the subjects in schools, conveniently teaching children about their nation’s prosperity, conveniently misquoting great authors, conveniently inculcating the habit of appeasing god and finally conveniently educating, because education today in most of the nations has become a mere cajoling, mere coaxing and mere ‘blowing the trumpet’. Schooling has did nothing but glorify their own nation in the eyes of children, denouncing other religions, showing faults in other religions, establishing a generalization that their’s is the best country, their’s is the best government, their’s is the best nation.

The ‘herd instinct’ and the need for like minded people to stay together created nations. I did not base my displeasure of this attitude to pigeonhole oneself into a nation on vapid generalizations or placid platitudes. This is my perspective. I leave the instinct of forming an opinion to the reader.




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