Patriotism Is Stupid
Someone left this comment, and I thought the response to it was too meaningful to end up five deep in a comments section, so I’ll do it here instead:
With all due respect, I don’t think I like your attitude. There most certainly is a place for the mom & pop establishments in America espscially coffee shops. While I will agree with you on this point ”
But people don’t give a shit about locality or being different, at least not enough people to matter. ” , you have to understand that there seldom are any alternative to the corporate establishments and people are too lazy to seek out independant alternatives so they ultimately take the path of least resistance. Corporate anything in America pretty much blows. If you can’t agree that indepedant business should be patronized over the corporations than I can only assume that you own stock in Starbucks or know someone who does….either that or you live outside of the U.S. Not only will I continue to seek out independant Family owned alternatives but I will also seek out the ‘Made In America’ label in everything I buy. Shame on you.
I really couldn’t care less about those things, and I find people who do small-minded. It reeks of patriotism, exceptionalism, and xenophobia. One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from George Bernard Shaw and sums this one up pretty nicely:
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.
Patriotism is merely a tool of the strong to control the weak. It’s been used, especially over the last two decades, primarily stifle genuine criticism and discredit opposing ideas. Conservatives especially use it to rail against any form of change. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself what the hell tea parties (which were originally about taxation without representation) could possibly have to do with health care. The answer is nothing, they’re merely a patriotic symbol meant to imply that the people on the other side, fellow countrymen who won the same free elections the tea party-goers voted in, are not. Not liking the guys in office and not being represented, to quote Jules Winfield, “Ain’t the same fucking ball park. It ain’t the same league. It ain’t even the same fucking sport.”
So patriotism is total bullshit. Which, by the way, is not the same as saying “I hate my country” as those who use it as a leash so love to imply. It’s just that I don’t consider Americans superior to the rest of the world. We’re no more worthy of life, liberty, and Toyota Camrys than anyone else. Sure, we have more of that stuff, and I’m thankful for it, but it’s just because we happened to be one of the small percentage of people lucky enough to have landed on the right spot on the map. The only difference between someone from Boston and someone from Botswana is luck.
(From an evolutionary psychology perspective, nationalism is an artifact of our tribal ancestry. It was of great benefit 10,000 years ago and its easy to see why the meme thrived, but as Africa, the Middle East, and other tribal regions show today it has long since outlived its usefulness.)
So when I buy a shirt, whether the job of making it went to an American or a Chinese person, someone got paid and I’m happy for that. I don’t think Americans, by virtue of having won the genetic lottery, are any more deserving of a factory job than people in any other nation. If anything, the third world needs it more. Recent recession aside, our manufacturing industry has been slipping away for decades and yet our GDP has been growing and unemployment has remained, even by first world standards, fairly low. Meanwhile most of India doesn’t have running water.
I certainly don’t hate small businesses either. I own two of them. They certainly have their place when they can compete against, and serve the customer better than, their larger rivals, as is sometimes the case in coffee. But the reason for their existence isn’t their size or the fact that they are locally-owned. It’s because some segment of the target audience has decided they’re better. It has to be that, because in the end that’s the only reason any significant number of people will choose them.
If you are a small business owner and you find yourself hoping people will patronize your business because they live near you or buy your product because it was “Made in America” then you’ve already failed. You might as well pack it up and go home because Starbucks or Wal-Mart or some exporter in Shanghai is going to steamroll you, and other than a few yuppie mommy bloggers lamenting your passing on their TypePad the world will never know the difference.
Similarly, if you want a job that pays well you should acquire a skill that is in high demand and low supply. You are a small business, and your labor and your knowledge are your product. And if all of your knowledge came from one week of training at the Ford plant then 6,000,000,000 people out there are selling the same thing for lower prices. You don’t deserve to be paid any better than the guy in China for doing the same job and no matter how much you tilt at that windmill, those $60k/yr + benefits jobs inserting tab A into slot B aren’t coming back.
And that’s the way it is and the way it should be because at the end of the day we’re all human. Whether American or Taiwanese, what determines how deserving of success we are isn’t where on the globe our moms happened to give birth to us, or how close the owner of our coffee stores live to the people buying the lattes, it’s how we well we all compete in the global economy. And that’s an idea that is as American as apple pie.
December 2, 2009 at 8:49 pm
I agree with the idea that patriotism is stupid. But, let me play devil’s advocate for the heck of it.
If nationality is accident of birth, relationships are accidents of birth too right? Going by the same logic, one shouldn’t show favoritism to one’s parents or kids. It ought to be the brightest kid and not one’s kid that deserves money for the tuition. and what not. For advocates of patriotism, it is the same logic extended right.
December 2, 2009 at 8:54 pm
You missed the big reason why I might logically chose to “shop local”. Money going to that local establishment is more likely to stay in the local economy and benefit me further. If I spend my $7.50 at the local coffee shop they’re a lot more likely to get their website redesigned by the local web shop I work at than if I spend those $$$ at Starbucks. It’s not better because it’s locally owned but it’s better for my local economy. Besides Starbucks burns their coffee beans and their coffee sucks.
December 2, 2009 at 9:08 pm
John, In that case, if you choose to drink something that is grown locally instead of a crop from south america, wouldn’t that help your local economy even more?
December 2, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Patriotism is appreciating the good in your own culture, because no one else is going to do it for you.
Familiarity breeds contempt, so without a dose of patriotism, one is likely to loose those good elements that your culture has developed over time.
December 2, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I am not understanding your definition of patriotism, the feeling that your country is superior.
Countries are different, they allow different benefits and freedoms. They have different government systems, tax laws, health care, business laws, criminal laws, culture, foods, etc. People living in those countries develop a bond that they identify themselves and their families with. Patriotism is a word that sums of that feeling towards one’s country.
I do not associate economics with patriotism. I too feel buying American is a horrendous idea. Many conservatives feel this way as well (conservatives well versed in economics) example: http://mjperry.blogspot.com/
I understand that having a brash statement that Patriotism is stupid is a tactic you are using to create buzz around this post. However I do not see how someone who feels patriotic is stupid, believing in the values and history of your country does not imply that you hate the rest of the world or that they are inferior.
December 2, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Best quote “You are a small business, and your labor and your knowledge are your product.”
I actually thought yesterdays post wasn’t all that intriguing. I like local places, but when I travel chains are very convenient. (Which is a lot like saying, when I’m local, I love my local-spots, but when I’m national, I love my national brands).
Otherwise, I just buy what I like (I will put American Apparel on that list, not because the stuff is made here, but because I like the brand allure and style. Clean, classic and I know when I wear something out I can get another exactly like it). Isn’t that the point of capitalism?
December 3, 2009 at 12:25 am
“Ask yourself what the hell tea parties (which were originally about taxation without representation) could possibly have to do with health care. The answer is nothing…”
On this point you are DEAD WRONG.
The tea parties – both the 1773 and 2009 varieties – center around liberty and what constitutes just governance. If you think the congressional healthcare “reform” bills are unrelated to liberty and taxation, try giving them a read.
December 3, 2009 at 12:57 am
From Wikipedia:
“The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act for a variety of reasons, especially because they believed that it violated their right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. He apparently did not expect that the protestors would choose to destroy the tea rather than concede the authority of a legislature in which they were not directly represented.”
To say that they were about “liberty and taxation” broadly is the equivalent of saying the Vietnam protests were over foreign policy. It’s true in a sense, but it’s so overly broad as to be pointless.
It was quite specifically about taxation without representation. All laws are about liberty and many about taxation. Health care is nothing special in that regard.
December 3, 2009 at 1:58 am
[...] You are a small business, and your labor and your knowledge are your product. (Matt Maroon, from Patriotism is Stupid) No Comments Tags: entrepreneurs, matt marroon, small business Cancel ReplyWrite a [...]
December 3, 2009 at 4:33 am
Patriotism is Oxymoron in Globalization
December 3, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Epic. Nothing else to say.
December 4, 2009 at 4:57 am
You guys need jobs.
December 4, 2009 at 6:17 am
I think your argument would be better if you changed this:
> It’s because some segment of the target audience has decided they’re better.
Are you saying that everyone else is just [un]lucky, but these businesses are somehow different? Do you have any proof that this segment of the target audience just doesn’t know about the competition? Or is too lazy to switch? Or won’t switch en mass next Thursday? Or you just stumbled onto something that is “better” by accident?
December 10, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Anti-collectivism/anti-corporatism is NOT patriotism, although it might (coincidentally) be better for Americans.
December 11, 2009 at 4:28 am
Political Leadership allover the world want their voters to be Subservient and they mask this is as Patriotism/Nationalism