Hinomaru/Kimigayo, La Marseillaise, Etc. Re: Patriotism

[Justin Schwartz]

>
>Yes, complicated, but I don't stand up for the Star-Spangled Banner,
>just as I don't stand up for Hinomaru & Kimigayo.  In Japan, unlike
>in the States, no leftist berates other leftists for paying no
>obeisance to official symbols of nationalism.  The Japanese Left,
>instead, honor people who refuse to stand for them.  Hinomaru &
>Kimigayo have got to go -- that's settled among leftists.  They are
>irredeemably symbols of the Japanese Empire that raped, pillaged,
>plundered, & generally exploited the peoples of Asia.  I don't know
>why American leftists don't feel the same way about the Star-Spangled
>Banner and other official national symbols, after the Mexican War,
>the Spanish-American War, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Vietnam, Contras, and
>countless other imperial atrocities.
>

Oh, most leftists agree with you. But I'm a very poor leftist, as many 
people here will tell you. I'm _just_ left enough to be excluded from an 
academic post or a postion of trust or profit with the United States, and 
not quite left enough to be respectable on the left. Alas.

Years ago, when I was much more on the left than I am now (though in fact I 
do not think thatmy substantive views are all that different), I desperately 
offended my mom by refusing to stand for the SSB at my little sister's 
graduation. She barely spoke to me for two months. I don't think it was 
worth it to make a point. In fact, I think the point could have been better 
made without teeing her off. As I say, I'm a poor leftist. But you knew 
that.

jks

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