Do I Hate America?

 

I received a piece of Ahate mail@ the other day which began by saying “Shelden: Commie, Jew, Traitor.”  The letter writer went on to say AYou rodents believe productive white America must subsidize subhuman nigger, spic, wog (sic) and mudpeople vermin both here and abroad.@  These are his words, not mine, by the way.  He also accused people like Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and other Aliberals@ of being un-American and suggested they be shot for treason.  It got worse as the letter went on.  He ended it with these very threatening words: AIf commie traitors such as yourself get too powerful their (sic) is always the armed vigilante.  We know who and where you are.@  This was in response to a front-page special in the Las Vegas Mercury called AAre There Any Liberals in Nevada?@ written by editor Geoff Schumacher.

Not surprisingly, it caused me to become a bit uneasy, to say the least.  I always knew there were nuts like this around and had received some hate mail before, but never this hateful and followed by such a threat. I turned his letter over to the FBI, who then turned it over to the Secret Service (after all, he threatened two U.S. Senators).  The letter has caused me to wonder where such intense feelings of hatred come from?  Aside from the obvious racism and anti-Semitism, there is the added feature of almost fanatical Apatriotism.@  Why is it that so many Americans, especially after 9/11, believe that to criticize the government is some kind of major crime?  Part of this comes from the current administration, where even the Attorney General of the United States, John Ashcroft (no lover of civil rights and one who has said on more than one occasion that we may have been better off if the South had won the Civil War - or words to that effect) has stated that those who criticize Bush=s policies are Aaiding and abetting terrorists.@

I don=t know all the answers to this question, but I suspect that part of it can be explained in part by distinguishing between Anationalism@ and Apatriotism.@  Random House defines nationalism as a Adevotion to the interests of one=s own nation.@  Perhaps the key here is the word Adevoted.@ Random House defines the word Adevote@ as Ato give up@ or Aconcentrate@ on some kind of pursuit or a Acause@ or to Aset apart or dedicate by solemn or formal act.@  The word Adevoted@ captures what I am trying to say even better, as this is defined as Azealous or ardent in attachment@ with such synonyms as Afaithful, loyal, devout.@   Note the obvious religious connotations here.

Nationalism also is similar to fascism, which has its roots in an ultraconservative belief system that began at least as far back as the 19^th century as a movement virulently opposed to socialism.  Many embraced the racism of the Frenchman Joseph Gobineau, one of the most racist thinkers of the 19^th century who believed that there is a pure, Aryan race, obviously pre-dating by almost 100 years Hitler. Actually, much of the basis of the National Socialist German Workers= Party - that is, the Nazi Party - came from these ideas. Albert Einstein once wrote than ANationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.@  Aldous Huxley warned of the dangers of nationalism, saying (from ABrave New World Revisited@) AWith the 57 varieties of tribal gods, nationalism is the religion of the 20^th century.  We may be Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians or Atheists, but the fact remains that there is only one faith for which large masses of us are prepared to die and kill, and that faith is nationalism.@  Hans Kohn (1891-1971), a professor of history at Smith College, once wrote that AIn our days, on a shrinking earth, with a growing independence of all people, a dynamic self-centered nationalism becomes the gravest menace to peace (which it despises) and to the progress of civilization (which it denies).@  Kohn linked nationalism with fascism when he writes: AThe new nationalism threatens chaos at a moment when all efforts should be bent on building up of universal order...Seen in this light, Fascism becomes, and prides itself in being, the counter-revolution against, and the denial of, history and humanity.@

Patriotism is quite similar to nationalism and the dictionary defines it as Adevoted love, support and defense of one=s country@ but in practical usage it does not carry such fervor as the term Anationalism.@  The Apatriot@ may love his country but does not do so blindly and without criticism.  However, it should be stressed that each term carries with it the word Adevoted.@

In both cases, people can become extreme and fanatical.  More often than not, the term Anationalism@ is associated with a fanatical belief in one=s country, so much so that one believes in one=s country, right or wrong, as with the AAmerican, Love it or Leave it@ bumper sticker (I actually saw this on the rear window of a pick-up truck recently).