On Fri, 31 May 2002 20:27:58 -0400 Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu>
writes:
> Jim F. says:
>
> > > >Perhaps we need a return to the original meaning in English of
> >> "patriot"
> >> >-- someone who attacks the government. Dr. Johnson (and I
> admire him
> >> >greatly) is given too much credit for one of his famous
> assertions,
> >> >"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." By patriot he
> >> meant
> >> >the Noam Chomskys of his day. His wisecrack improved in
> accuracy as
> >> the
> >> >language shifted beneath it.
> >> >
> >> >Carrol
> >>
> >> One model of patriotism would be Tom Paine, who made himself a
> >> revolutionary patriot in England, America, and France -- in
> short in
> >> _any_ nation. Patriotism in this sense and American
> exceptionalism
> >> (which most think of as _the_ definition of patriotism in the
> USA
> >> and
> >> to which the belief that this is "the greatest country in the
> world"
> >> boils down) are incompatible.
> >
> >And for his troubles, Paine had to flee England to avoid arrest and
> >possible execution by Pitt's government, he was imprisoned
> >in France by the Jacobins, because among other reasons
> >he had been outspoken in opposing the execution of
> >King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, then later when he
> >returned to the US to spend his final years, he was denounced
> >by the preachers as an infidel, and was abandoned by many
> >of his old friends because he had become too "controversial."
>
> Here's Mark Twain: "In the beginning of a change the patriot is a
> scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause
> succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a
> patriot" (Notebook, 1904).
And as in the case of Paine, the timid after having joined the now successful cause, are only more than happy to turn on the patriot, whom they now no longer need, but who is a constant reminder to them of their own timidity, and lack of fidelity to the ideals for which the patriot had struggled for.
Jim F.
> --
> Yoshie
>
> * Calendar of Events in Columbus:
> <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>
> * Anti-War Activist Resources:
> <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html>
> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
> * Committee for Justice in Palestine:
> <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>
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