Patriotism

Patriotism is about as empty and ridiculous as religion is. Why would you draw a line around a large segment of the world's population, nearly all of whom you've never met, and decide "these are my people," while the masses that fall outside the line get to be the untrustworthy foreigners. I know it goes deeper than such a conscious decision, reflecting a common culture we were brought up with, and that familiarity brings comfort. But familiarity also breeds contempt, and there are certainly times when I feel that anyone and anywhere not part of America must be preferable to this lot I'm surrounded by.

But such negative patriotism is just as foolish. In the end, people are all of a species, and to praise one group or blast another en masse is naive. The only justifiable stance is to react to those you've met personally and let the rest of the world exist free of judgment. There is no us and them, there is only each and every one of us jostling about trying to find our way in life, motivated by the same basic needs and confronting many of the same challenges. Provincialism is one of those relics of our animal past that ends up working against us in the modern world.