>From: Charlie Stross <charlie@antipope.org>
>
>On Tue, Apr 11, 2000 at 05:03:10PM -0700, john grigg wrote:
> >
> > Just maybe, the man is a patriot and loves his country, warts and all.
>
>Just what on earth is there to love about _any_ country?
>
>Patriotism, IMO, is a very anti-extropian sentiment. For the proof of
>the pudding, just go read any history of the first world war (one that
>doesn't focus on the trivial US involvement in that struggle, but goes
>into the broad picture).
Well its all a matter of degree. Patriotism IMO is not a bad thing unless
and until its starts to blend into xenophobia. I consider myself to be
patriotic, but all I mean by my patriotism is gratitude for the freedoms and
benefits that flow to me from living in a relatively fair, free and open
society. But once you start dividing the world into "us" and "them" (with
us being better than them), then I agree that is pretty entropian.
-Zero
"I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past"
--Thomas Jefferson
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