Let’s make it straight. I completely forgot that 31st August was Merdeka Day (to non-Malaysian readers: it’s Malaysia’s Independence Day). And frankly, I don’t care. I’ve said it once (on this blog at least; I must have said it a million times elsewhere), I’ll say it again - I pay no allegience to any country. If anything, I am not a citizen of any country, but of the world. I am human being (Homo sapiens sapiens; idaltus are not welcome here) before I am Malaysian, Australian, or American. I am human before I am buddhist, or Christian. I am human being, before I am chinese, or caucasian, or black (yes, I’m intentionally mixing the usage of different definitions of race and ethnicity).

Wants and Needs

And what does ickle humie bean wants, above all? Not much. Ancient chinese texts say a human bean has 4 basic needs (衣食住行 - specifically, clothing, food, shelter, and mobility.) If a starving man gets food, he’s happy. If a homeless woman finds a place to stay, she’s happy. A fettered man, when unfettered, is free, and happy. These basic needs apply to everyone of the human race. There isn’t a specific barrier of humanity (like race, religion, or country) that dictates they do not need any of these. There isn’t a barrier of humanity that says, okay, Chinese people don’t need one of these basic needs - Chinese people should all go naked (though I wouldn’t mind seeing pretty girls not requiring the first basic need of clothes). Even though these needs are not the most basic ones (there are more fundamentally basic needs than that), it still transcends all barriers of humanity - race, religion, country, etc.

If we analyse carefully the simple four words (yeah, the ancient chinese are fond of using 4-word-phrases), we can pretty much break down any scenario to simpler terms. For example, clothings are more than just clothing, for they are also our pride, our ego. Rich people wear branded goods like Prada, while poorer people wear rags and run on the street naked. A very famous story, of course would be in the Bible, where after Adam and Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit of Knowing Good and Evil (you know, they should really come out with a shorter name), the first thing they discovered was shame - somewhat the opposite of pride. Therein, ‘clothing’ represents the innate human pride, aka ego.

Strip a human of any of the four basic needs, and he/she would be unhappy (babies excepted - they’re born naked). But should a person have ample supply of these basic needs, people are still not happy. They want more. In short, the basic thing people are seeking is plain happiness. There are many sources of this elusive happiness. Some people get happy by meditation, some people get happy by going to theme parks; some, by work. Some sickfucks get happy by killing a puppy. Some people get unhappy if you call them sickfucks.

Discrimination

Again, back to the biblical story (I use it as an example because that’s the thing most people can relate to) of Adam and Eve and the Forbidden Fruit of Knowing Good and Evil. Right, so with the knowledge of Good from Evil, humans were able to tell apart actions- discriminate the good from the evil. Also, humanity learnt to discriminate what it was familiar with and what it wasn’t familiar with.

Evolutionary psychology would tell you of course, this is a good thing, because in the beginnings of humanity, they had to tell apart whether the mushroom will kill them or make them high. Discriminating against something unfamiliar is, according to evolutionary psychology, part of the human self-defence mechanism which aims to protects its ownself. By far, it has been good (for if it had not existed, you wouldn’t be reading this blog).

But also, humanity extended this self-defence mechanism beyond its natural means and needs with the emergence of stuff like language and culture. A person form Culture X will be wary (the self-defence mechanism) of a person from Culture Y. A person of Skin Color #00FF00 will be wary of a person of Skin Color #0000FF; (which by the way, are lime green and blue).

Discrimination also comes from being related. The more a person can relate to something, the more attached he/she is to that thing. Be it religion, race, or country, it comes from being related to it. The more a person can relate to a country, the more he/she feels for that country, and the more he/she discriminates against others. This gives the birth of stuff like patriotism, nationalism, etcism.

This relatedness also works on an individual level. The concept of property rights have been ingrained in humanity since the earliest days - “this mine, I take, you take, I whack”; “This is MINE, and that is YOURS”.

Of course, with the concept of the self (as in Mine and Yours), it serves to only further increase the gap for discrimination. Anything that “I” can relate to, and “you” cannot should be discriminated.

It is natural then, for the formation of barriers and borders.

Barriers, Borders & Boundaries

Humans love barriers. which arguably, can be a good thing. Without the barriers of the Law, society would be chaotic. The barriers of the Law is obviously a response to the discrimination of Good and Evil and Something Else (in the case of senseless laws like Tax Laws, or Personal Injury Lawyers).

Asides from the Laws, we humans set up lots of boundaries for no good. Boundaries such as race, creed, nationality, political ideology have all been artificially created (I’m not going to argue that the Law is also artificially created, lest some religious terrorist issues a fatwa on me)

Back in the days of black slavery, Darwinism was a popular scientific base excuse for racism. This is a barrier that we artificially create. To this date, there is no significant difference between a white male and a black male in terms of their DNA. There might not be even a significant difference between their economic status. In fact, a black man and a white man can be entirely identical, and yet we can still discriminate based on skin colors.

How do you tell apart a Republican from a Democrat? How do you tell apart a right-winger from a left-winger? These names and connotations exist because there is a barrier. How can you tell apart an Italian lady from a French lady if they both keep their mouths shut? How do you tell apart an Arabic woman and caucasian woman (if you think the Arabs are all wrapped up in their burqas, you’re probably right, but you should also watch more ART), if they both keep their mouths shut?

Heck, I bet you couldn’t tell apart a anorexic Israeli girl from a undernourished Palestinian girl.

Back when I was very much younger, I thought I could tell apart the different kinds of mongoloid people - namely Japanese, Chinese or Korean, but here’s a very good site to prove you wrong.

How can you tell apart a Malaysian chinese from a Singaporean chinese? Interesting question, that. I’ve been mistaken as a Singaporean almost 100% of the time, right from the moment I open my mouth (or type on the keyboard). Apparently, my ’style’ of speaking is very Singaporean. But interesting to note was the guy I rented my camera from thought I was British from over the phone, and no, it wasn’t an accent I put on. I just had quite a heavy cold that day. Even Ania thought I was Singaporean, lol.

Ah, but where does this linking and stereotyping comes from? Some scientific sources put it as a mental ’shortcut’ that our brain takes in processing information. But it also links back quite well to the concept of discrimination and distinguishing something from another.

Silliness

I think I have done pretty well in establishing that there is little difference from the first view between two differen human being. But does it make them any different?

Sure, each human is well, almost unique. They each have, for one, their own personality, which mostly is internal, and also, their sex, which can’t really be changed (though modern technology has since allowed that), but since every human is similar in 99.9999999999% of aspects, isn’t it silly that we discriminate through various (artificial) means?

For the purpose of this argument, let’s say religion is man made, because it’s not intrinsic in human nature. There is no part of a human being that dictates that so-and-so must be Christian, so-and-so must be Hindu. For the most part of this argument, religion will be seen as a human construct - a personal belief (Simple proof: everyone has different personal beliefs, hence not intrinsic, hence a human creation).

Isn’t it silly that people wage wars over human creations like religion? The Crusades, the Problem of the West Bank, the Jihad. Isn’t it silly, that for the want of belief, that people are willing to sacrifice others? Is the cause so great?

Isn’t it silly that the title of this post is Patriotism as a Superstition, but I end up talking about something else? No… that was just an intro, to help you better understand what I want to say later on. But this will end up to be a more general topic..

Superstition

A superstition is a belief, nontheless. There is no reason to separate superstition from other kinds of belief like racism, or religion, because they stem from the same thing - belief. It is only by convention we label something as ‘faith’ or ’superstition’. Generally, a belief with no basis is a superstition.

Patriotism as a Superstition

I risk sounding like an anarchist (something I will address later on in this article) by saying that the concept of patriotism, nationalism et al are superstitions. But they are. The very foundation of patriotism and nationalism is ego and arrogance. It is of ignorance that once was. It tells us that the world, our planet is split into different countries and that we must fight to safeguard our ‘national interests’.

Granted, this is motivated in part by economic interests - you wouldn’t want bloody immigrants taking up jobs and replacing your citizens, do you?

But let’s look at this from another point of view. Ceteris paribus (all things being equal), do you realistically think countries will open their borders to one another and welcome everyone as an equal brethren? (The EU is taking a very good initiative on that, though it can still be very much improved).

Again, the concept of patriotism encourages you to stand up and fight for your country’s rights. The concept of patriotism is one concept where the ‘love’ for a country is so strong that it wills people to do things. But not unlike religions, it also can propel people to extremities - once again, the human concept of ego and attachment comes into play.

Humans put so much stock into what they believe in (in the case of patriotism - the belief in the ‘love’ for a country), that they are willing to harm others in the name of their belief. To these people, no cost is greater than the cause itself - the belief.

And is this belief grounded in any sense? Again, no. The whole concept of ‘countries’ are nothing more than psychological borders and boundaries put up by humanity to separate themselves from one another. To lamely attempt to distinguish themselves from one another. There is no physical distinction between country X and country Y. The Berlin Wall was erected to attempt to physically separate the two blocs of europe, but it is but a fallacious fantasy of humans - the will to separate oneself, to distinguish oneself is driven by naught but ego. The only reason why a person wishes to stand out of mediocrity is the human ego. Extrapolate that, and you have a group of people trying to stand out amongst the other ‘groups’ of people (note again, that this ‘group’ is yet another barrier put up by the mind)

So there you are. Patriotism isn’t grounded in any sense (if countries are nothing but human made barriers, then it is nothing)… ergo, it’s a superstition.

Malaysia…Negaraku(ku?) - An Example of Patriotism as a Superstition

This part is mostly about Malaysian politics, so if you’re not interested, you can skip to the next section…

I’m sure most of you have heard of Namewee. But for the severely uninformed, he sang the Malaysian national anthem in a rap, and because of that, he got rapped by the government. Of course, he touched some did touch on some other issues like race and religion, which the government, due to its extremely soft skin, is sensitive to.

Curiously though, those with extremely high egos are easily bruised. Some are bruised by mere words alone. And such is the case for the Malaysian government.

Words are empty. They carry no malice, save for the malice that was wrought upon by oneself. It is how you choose to intepret those words that bring pain and suffering to yourself. Or bring about improvement to yourself. This applies not only to individuals, but to aggregate individuals as well. Groups of people.

Because the concept of a country is so fickle, and yet you defend it ever so dearly, any little criticisms hurt. And for what? The country exists only by means of convention of the human mind!

If anything, I personally felt that Namewee was more of a patriot (if you go by the definition of a patriot being one who loves his country that he’d do anything for it) than any of the ministers in the cabinet. If anything, he stands up for the vox populi. He is a lone voice amongst many - many who are blinded by means of the power of the offices they hold.

But again, in my opinion, Namewee is being an idiot. For a number of reasons of course - none that fit under this category (that Patriotism is a superstition)

Through the education system in Malaysia, kids are indoctrinated into this superstition of patriotism. We are told of the greatness of a country, and that it is none other than divine duty to serve and protect the country.

Why? When this question is asked, the usual reply’d be something like “Because you are born here. Because its’ your responsibility”. Isn’t this nothing more than circular arguments?

My question remains: Is it one’s responsibility, if the whole concept of the nation, the whole concept of a country is naught but a make-belief?

Reality

You will not, however, find me ungrounded amongst the clouds of idealism. For the sake of convention, and the fact that humanity doesn’t change overnight, the concept of countries, though increasingly become obsolete (we have the bloody internet for goodness sake!), is still a very much needed concept. However, the roots of patriotism - plain belief, has caused a lot of damage over the years. Countries are militarizing for reasons none other than ‘protecting the homeland’. Think - instead of governments being so paranoid and defensive due to the concept of something pointless, think instead how much benefit humanity would get if the money used for militarizing is put into research for the betterment of humanity.

We should be deconstructing barriers as we go along each day in life. Slowly, one by one. I admit, some barriers are inate (like sex or sexual orientation) but the mental barriers can be removed. There is afterall, no reason to be prejudiced against someone who doesn’t share one’s belief.

Me

I know I may come off sounding like an anarchist or a nihilist with no zest to life. Rest assured I am not. I don’t believe in anarchy. I don’t believe in democracy. I don’t believe in autocracy, or any form of governance, to tell the truth. No country has nailed the perfect balance of governance yet. Democracy itself is far from perfect, but so is anarchism (which, technically, is worse), and so is fascism (equally bad as anarchism), or communism (theoretically the most ideal, but practically the worst shit).

I may come across as a transhumanist of sorts (yea, you transhumanists reading this blog would be shouting NOOOOO! now), but I am not. I don’t support transhumanist cause, but neither shall I be a Luddite in transhumanist affairs. Should the time come for me to get a neural implant so I can stay connected to the Internet, I would.

I may be hypocritical, if you know me in real life. I still have plenty of barriers set up by none other than my own mind. But nonetheless, attempting to remove them. Ah well. Shouldn’t you be doing the same?

We’re all humans. So why not put aside petty differences which mean nothing on a deeper level - differences like race, religion, skin color, sexual orientation and work for the betterment of humanity?

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