“Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.”
“One of the great attractions of patriotism – it fulfils our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what's more with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous.” …….and so forth. A few of these quotes are ancient.
For many, patriotism is brutal, injurious and inhumane, like a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods. It's something that robs man of his self-esteem and dignity and increases his arrogance and deceit. Some claim it to be an outdated concept, archaic, even reactionary.
Webster's dictionary puts a different spin on it. Patriot: a person who loves his country and zealously supports and defends it and its interests; one who is directed by zeal for public safety and welfare. This gives it a rather narrow but still a positive, perhaps old-fashioned colouring. Wikipedia, probably the source of the most recent, widely accepted definition has a similar perspective on the concept: A patriot is someone who feels a strong support for their country.
One may ask why there exists a radical divide based on an emotional investment in one's nation? Why do people seem detached from their nation and that for which it stands? Why are many irritated by displays of patriotism that others venerate? One can point to the fact that cynical leaders have exploited patriotic impulses and symbols as tools of manipulation for their own political advantage. One need only to turn to near history to find prime examples of tyrants who have continued to cause the notion of patriotism to be despised by their odious acts in the name of blind loyalty to country: Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler. Included in the current era is Vladimir Putin, by eliminating political opposition, manipulating the Russian diaspora in the near abroad, being constantly aggressive towards formerly Soviet-occupied countries – this all in the name Russian patriotism. Critics have even accused presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama of abusing the true spirit of patriotism or of misplaced patriotism at the very least. They point to the USA's international interventions ostensibly to replace brutal tyranny with humane leadership, to install democratic governance and to eliminate international terrorism – always invoking American national interest.
One's nation is a vital and positive part of one's identity. Because of Estonia's history, marked by centuries of foreign domination, of fifty years of repressive foreign occupation, of attempts to stifle and subdue the Estonian language and culture, a strong patriotic identity has evolved for most Estonians. Surely this cannot be classified as feeling ‘superior to others', as nurturing ‘aggression towards other nations'. Surely Estonian patriotism cannot be labelled jingoism.
Estonian patriotism in the diaspora is an integral part of the drive for survival as a community. This explains why we need to expend effort and energy to knowingly help maintain the vitality of the Estonian experience for the future abroad. Why? We're not just individuals who day to day enjoy their pleasures and cope with their worries. That would make us spiritually poor.
Is it too inappropriate to suggest that caring for the future of Estonian culture in foreign countries is similar to taking responsibility for the wellbeing of aging parents? Is it too bold to say that in recognizing our Estonian heritage we have a definite attachment to “Estonianism”? Just as we have a right to profess this, our next generations would be that much poorer without the same choice.
Laas Leivat
