We have discussed at length what civilization means. Europe for most of time (since the renewal) thought they were pretty civilized, and took it upon themselves to 'help' the rest of the world become civilized. Now the rest of the world was confronted with a hard choice of become more modern, more like the west, or staying. Choice between tradition or changing. Every organization has to confront this challenge. Some people questioned why the Europeans did this 'civilizing' to the rest of the world. One man wrote about Europeans condemning the cannibals for being uncivilized, but pointed out that the European Christians would torture people endlessly while they were still alive, while the cannibals killed people quickly. He pointed out that those cannibals were more civilized in many respects than the highly civilized and moral Christian nations.
We just read Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" as a class, where this is discussed. We understand by the end the Igbo culture, folklore, and religion, at least in part. The painting isn't a rosy one, it has its problems, but it does work, and it has its virtue. Yes, they killed twin babies because that was part of their beliefs in their gods. The Christians killed an entire village of people because a white man had been killed there. Earlier in the story we see how the Igbo people dealt with murder- a slave was given in place of the life. An entire village wiped out with machine guns was unheard of; it was uncivilized behavior in the extreme. Were the Igbo people civilized? Why or why not? If you've never heard of the Igbo people, analyze a different people- like the one "The Gods Must Be Crazy" or the Native Americans.
What kind of basis can we assign to civilization? Does it just mean that people can live together in more or less peace? Does it involve morals? Does it involve technology? Does it involve religion? Can a society stand alone and be civilized or do you have to have something to compare it against? For a lot of history its based on religion. The Muslims saw themselves as more civilized and imposed their religion on other. The Christians did the same. Think of all the wars that were fought in the name of God.
Wars and civilization is what I really want to talk about. There was a wave that swept through the world in the 17th and 18th centuries. People began to think of themselves as "us," we are of common stock and we are brothers. Its called National Identity. Its been pretty important in history. It the reason for a lot of things like the Declaration of Independence, civil rights, women's rights, and constitutions throughout the world.
When we talk about wars (World War I for example) we can name off different causes for the war, so we can avoid those (few causes) and not have wars in the future. There was a weird balance of powers, weights and counter weights, alliances and counter alliances all over the place, it really was a powder keg ready to blow up and put to waste the high civilization that had developed. National Identities are always attributed an important role in why wars escalate and other countries join in, but aren't given too much credit.
National Identity also known as 'Patriotism' is one of the most destructful of forces we enjoy. This patriotism is the primary cause of the majority of wars both modern and ancient; the good wars and the bad ones. It is not only responsible for the wars, but the atrocities too. This is where ethnic cleansing, racism, the holocaust, everything similar that builds walls and separates people based on distinction or puts people in compartments.
You can see it happen can't you? I'm an American, and I'm proud of it, you reader are also American and you are my brother. Over there across the sea, are 'other' people, they are not our brother, they are Germany, or Spanish, or English, or whatever, but not American, the Germans are not my brothers. I'm Anglo-saxan (white), so are a lot of people I know, those blacks- they aren't Anglo-saxan, they're black, they aren't my brother either. I'm proud to be an American (...where at least I know I'm free...), thank goodness that I wasn't born Italian, because its better to be American than Italian- this is what patriotism is. We put up these walls and divisions, and its just a stones throw away from saying that we are superior the the other, whatever the other is- a country, a race, a religion.
"Civilization is the process in which one gradually increased the number of people included in the term "we" or "us" and at the same time decreases those labeled "you" or "them" until that category has no one left in it." - Howard Winters
This idea of mine really isn't popular. Patriotism in our country is as important as love. Its put on a pedestal, those who don't partake are excluded and ridiculed. Patriotism doesn't breed peace and unity. The more I hear about the merits of being American and the more flag waving I see the more worried I get. Many people might be interested to know a short history about patriotism in Germany.
Germany as a nation worried lots of people for a long long time. Countries thought it has to be suppressed or else it would become an aggressor (funny- whenever you suppress anything when its released it always does act like an aggressor). Germany was a monarchy for a long time, having rich traditional values like making beer, wursts, polka music, German attire, Germanic languages all brought the people together and eventually a National Identity was formed as happened everywhere. World War I was a time when everyone had a very strong national identity. Things were going better than they ever had just before the war, the culture, the arts, music, everything was thriving. You could say that everyone was perfectly pleased about how their country was doing. It was a golden age for each country. Thats when World War I hit, and it hollowed out the feelings of Europe, everything was for naught, there was no humanity, no civilization, no nothing. The peace treaty was (in my opinion) worse than the war itself. And so- Germany was suppressed even more, it was war torn, and had huge fines it was required to pay up. The "common plight" forged a patriotism stronger than ever. Hitler came along and acted the perfect savior for the ravaged country. Patriotism was the name of the game. Everything 'German' was emphasized, the German spirit, the folklore, the tradition, food, clothing, even the German race. We know the rest of the story, and even today people connect being German with being a Nazi. I'm the Jerman and I've been called a Nazi more times than I can count (I can't count very high by the way). Germany is sorta like a different country, it seems kind of weird having it keep the same name. Patriotism doesn't exist or is very scarce there. During the World Cup Germans flew flags all the houses, all the cars, soccer is a very serious business over there. Outside of World Cup season, there is no flag flying. There are German holidays, like reunification day, but they are nothing like anything here in America, New Years is bigger than any German holiday. I'm not sure if the Germans are afraid of being patriotic, they just aren't.
I applaud things like the World Cup and the Olympics and other organizations that bring countries together (even if it is in competition). I like the organizations best that completely break the walls between countries and between brothers.
During the cold war America had a common threat. The whole nation was acting as one, the compartments were broken up, we were united. Once that commonality was gone, the threat was gone, we turned on each other, built the walls, and we found out that we actually have a lot of problems that weren't being faced. Why is it that we can say "we are all brothers here" when we are threatened, and break that relation once we are at peace? Do we need a global threat (alien invasion perhaps) to create the bond between us all? As has been shown in the past- No.
Peace is not the absence of war. War can be a good thing, peace can be a bad thing. At least the fruit of War is peace- as long as peace is right. Sometimes the fruit of peace is war (these aren't studied so much, but there has been a lot of stupid treaties made in the past). More and more I am learning that it is more important that anything to be able to say to all men "you are my brother" and to say to all woman "you are my sister." If history has taught me anything, it has taught me that. The family is the most basic and one of the strongest relationships that we have. It certainly trumps the American bond, or racial bond, or church bond, or anything else. Saying "we are from the same family" is stronger than saying "we are from the same country" or "we worship the same God" or "we are in the same social class" or any status or preference. We ought to be able to break down the walls that divide us, however we are divided, and be from the same family. That is what civilization is. Once we are civil, I can't see how any contention or war is possible, whether large scale or small.
1 comment:
That's really interesting. Good thoughts. You're good at thinking about things.
So, is it related to charity?
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