Patriotism, Hendrix

Daniel Davies dsquared at al-islam.com
Wed Jun 5 02:06:22 PDT 2002


hmmm de dmmm ....

I seem to remember pretty clearly that the version of "Star Spangled Banner" on the Isle of Wight album is audibly introduced by Hendrix with the words "If you don't love your country, fuck you" ...

In general, patriotism is one of those things like gun ownership, being half Irish or not owning a television. As in, it's perfectly natural and admirable in and of itself, but it seems to be inextricably linked to a compulsive need to tell everyone about it and force them to say what a capital fellow you are for this reason.

I'm an inveterate patriot and an actual Nationalist -- I find myself constantly and instinctively rooting for Europe against America, Brits against Continentals, Welsh against English, North Wales against South, and one village against the next, and am certainly predisposed to tell people to fuck off if they try to point out that this is a rather silly and childish attitude. But it's not necessarily the best policy to indulge me in this sort of behaviour.

dd

'My country, right or wrong' is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.'

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