I have always agreed with Samuel Johnson that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. I was brought up to be patriotic before I learned some sense and able to see the corrosive effects of such a misplaced concept. I raise this because I had a good chuckle at the mouthings of our Prime Minister at the Tory Party conference. I told you before that I suspected that Ms May was a bit of a thicko and I am no longer in any doubt. She was making the case for her vision of a 'great' Britain and was very dismissive of people who do not share her vision and her supposed love of country when she delivered the classic line that "people who are citizens of the world are citizens of nowhere". I wonder how long it took some cretinous Eton educated clown to think that one up? However, I immediately dug out my copy of 'The Republic' to remind myself of Socrates statement that he did not consider himself a citizen of either Athens or Greece, but as a citizen of the world. So, that's it, Socrates must forever now be regarded as a stateless and rootless refugee and if he turned up at Heathrow airport he would be immediately sent packing because he would be an unnecessary burden on the British taxpayer. I mean he was only one of the greatest minds in history, he wasn't even a plumber, so he would be of no earthly use in a neoliberal free market patriotic Britain. I mean is such a world outlook not enough to make you weep with despair? This is the latest propaganda from Tory Central Office, if you consider yourself as a European or a brother/sister of all of the human race, and reject the Tories narrow racist nationalism, you are unpatriotic. Well I've a confession, I've been unpatriotic most of my life by the standards of British nationalism. I find it difficult to give my allegiance to a society riddled with class, a country that spends most of its energies excluding people from realising their potential, a country that hates and oppresses the disabled and the unfortunate, a country that demonises working people and condemns hundreds of thousands of its own people to rely on foodbanks, a country that refuses to take a few thousand homeless and parentless children out of despair and misery and a country that blames all of its woes and misfortunes on foreigners, that wallows in a scapegoat mentality to hide its own cruelty and incompetence.
However, despite my dismissal of patriotism, the great American jurist Clarence Darrow tells me that I am what he calls a true patriot because he tells us that "True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anything else." Now, as I have written here before, Clarence Darrow has been an inspiration to me, so perhaps I should consider myself a patriot, because this is the man who risked, not only his reputation, but his life, when he defended John Scopes in the famous 'Monkey Trial'. This gives me pause to consider that there are now different perspectives as to the nature of patriotism, because I have always looked to another great American, Mark Twain, who perfectly describes the nature of the Westminster politician when he told us that a patriot is the person who can shout the loudest without knowing what he/she is shouting about, and that adequately sums up Prime Minister May.
Utilising Darrow's definition of patriotism, I charge all the denizens of the pigsty as being unpatriotic because they have institutionalised injustice and display an indifference to, and a hatred towards, their fellow citizens who are less fortunate than them. I would consider it an insult to be categorised as being a citizen of the nation that they identify with. It is not that they are indifferent to injustice, it is the fact that they positively revel in it and promote it as public policy. I fear that Britain has lost its soul, its decency and self-respect. As I said before, I refuse to consider myself British because I feel that Britishness is a shameful thing that signifies greed, selfishness, indifference to others and is categorised, not by charity and concern, but by hate. You have been warned.
Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat
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