A meme popped up in a local FB group one day last week, and I responded to it before I realized that it was a bot post. Shame on me. The giveaway was the list of “Ten unknown facts about BMW” that was only nine facts, poorly spaced, and full of odd hashtags. Like, who hashtags “ten?”
At any rate, the meme said, “Our schools need to teach patriotism again, not woke ideologies.” And it may have been a bot post, but there were still some interesting comments being made, so join me as I respond in long form here.
I wrote the following paragraph as my immediate response.
How exactly does one “teach patriotism?” Do you understand that a patriot can be opposed to acts of their government? There are a lot of people who seem to think that patriotism requires blind acceptance of and obedience to all acts of its government. But patriotism is love of country, not love of government. There’s a huge difference, and people don’t seem to want to accept that idea.
Does that make any sense? What exactly did I mean?
Patriotism
Am I patriotic? Do I love my country? Am I devoted to it?
Thirty-five years ago, I raised my right hand and signaled my willingness to defend this country. I was willing to die to protect my country and its way of life. I’d visited other countries, including what was then called East Germany. I was just a kid then, barely sixteen, but I knew enough about how things were run over there that I didn’t want that for my country, for my home.
I learned later that East Germany had, at one point, one spy or informer per 6.5 citizens. There were some 10,000 informers under the age of 18. Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal supposedly called the Stasi, the East German Secret Police, even more oppressive than the Gestapo.
Were those informers patriots? Were they doing what they did out of a feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to East Germany? I’d assume they did. Sure, there was probably some sense of self-preservation, of reporting others to keep from being reported themselves. There was probably a sense of power, too: “Look what I can do to someone with just a phone call.” But I suspect most of them felt a strong sense of patriotism, and that they were doing their best to protect their country.
But what does patriotism mean when it comes to how your country works? Does being a patriot mean you have to accept everything your government does? Are patriots allowed to object to certain policies of their government?
Are they, dare I say it, even required to object to some things?
If your government is edging toward something like fascism, wouldn’t a “true patriot” rebel against the government to save the country?
Woke Ideologies
Downthread, someone asked “What the hell is exactly woke?”
My response to that was “Living like Jesus.”
Kinda funny to hear from an agnostic atheist, ain’t it?
These days, conservatives are inclined to criticize anything the left likes as “woke.” But much of what Jesus taught aligns more with progressives and the left than it does conservatives and the right, if you read the bible objectively.
I feel like the political right these days is more like the Pharisees and the Sadducees of Jesus’ day. As I recall it, he didn’t have anything good to say about them. He called them hypocrites and broods of vipers on multiple occasions. Remember, they called him out for *gasp* healing on the Sabbath! Extending that idea to modern times, he got in trouble for working on Sunday. What would the Pharisees say about a hospital being open on Sunday?
But really, isn’t it true? Jesus taught people to love their neighbor, and he was specific that everyone was everyone’s neighbor. He didn’t exempt people from loving one group because they were your enemy. In fact, plenty of times he specifically told his followers to love on their enemies.
I wonder if this is really what Ryan Walters wants to achieve by using the KJV in Oklahoma classrooms?
And to stir the pot with my Christian friends and readers, where does the Bible encourage anyone to be patriotic? Show your work, and discuss John 18:36 in your answer.
Writing
Made goal by Thursday.
I’m still sort of hung up on the next stage for Ghost.
Keith wants to involve the FBI in the case because in his mind, a serial killer case is right up their alley. But the Feds don’t automagically investigate every serial killer case, especially if it doesn’t involve a federal employee in some way. Remember recently when I was talking about different points of view in books? I feel like Ghost may need to change from Keith’s POV to someone else’s, maybe in the living world. I’ve been having a hard time keeping track of what’s going on in the living world, so I decided to start writing some bits from their POV. I may not include these sections in the final product, but as I write them, I feel like I’m getting somewhere.
I learned my lesson in writing In Plain Sight though. I’m writing these sections in proper sequence and putting them in separate chapters.
I’m also very slowly starting to do…something with video. I’ve made a couple of TikToks and crossposted one of them to my YouTube channel. I don’t think I’ll do that often though. I’ll probably keep YT for longer content.
Will I be making a lot of video content? We’ll see. It depends on how you define “a lot.” I’m doing well to maintain my blogging streak at one a week (and going on 131 weeks at this point). I don’t know that I could add video at anything approaching that frequency and maintain it for long. I’ve got to learn more about TikTok, and figure out a good workflow for both TT and YT. I’ve got a GoPro gimbal on my Amazon wish list, because I’ve convinced myself that I need that and a wireless lavalier mic to make decent videos. I probably don’t need them, but they sure would be cool to have.
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