Patriotism does more harm than Good

“I can happily lay down my life for my motherland. Doing this would give me tremendous honour and dignity.” “The welfare of my motherland, gives me endless pride, and that’s what my motive is.” Just imagine a person, saying these words in today’s era, where life sprints ahead at the highest possible pace. The reply in today’s era for the above mentioned quotes would have more or less the same meaning, with most of the replies likely to be, “Hello, why don’t you consult a renowned psychiatrist.” Other typical replies are likely to be, “I guess its high time for you to start reading comics, and take things lightly,” The replies to the initial quotes very much provide my answer to the concerned question that Patriotism does more harm than good? I stringently believe that patriotism does more harm than good.

In uncomplicated terms, patriotism basically means being highly attached to your homeland, and its traditions. The uncomplicated definition of patriotism however, seems to be taken for a toss. The factors that cause me to take a drastic stance against patriotism are several. A significant factor is that the so called “acts of patriotism” have often been the reason, behind the disruptions of several lives. This has atleast been the case with the world’s purported “LARGEST DEMOCRACY”. Several political parties, in order to hog the limelight, take irrational decisions, on the basis of patriotism, that severely deter lives of quite a lot of citizens.

Just consider a situation, where a film, a majestic piece of art, is banned, or its sets are vandalised, as it is branded as “UNPATRIOTIC”. Sadly, this has been the case with several Asian nations, where films have faced an ‘EMBARGO’ just on the judgment that they clash with the nation’s patriotic values and the age-old traditions. A film is usually an independent piece of art, where artists toil hard daily, to entertain the audiences. But, patriotic values often cause the film to be banned from being showcased in several cinemas. By committing such a horrendous act, the nation often has to miss out on the revenues that it could have generated and the possible profits for cinema owners. But the one group that suffers the most is that of the audience, who miss out on the fun that they could get.

The films have just been a common issue. There are tons of issues that arise from the so called acts of patriotism. On the basis of patriotism, a political party in the central region of India, vandalised an undergarments shop as they thought that the posters and hoardings in the shop defied Indian Culture, and were “unpatriotic”. The political party workers and unions even termed the shop owner as “ANTI INDIAN” and “LEWD”.

However, it was absolutely “PATRIOTIC” for a leader of the very same political party, to watch PORNOGRAPHY in the Assembly session and give himself some cheap thrills. The so called act of “PATRIOTISM” of the same political party just didn’t end there. The workers, of the same political party, that vandalised the undergarments shop, were also caught by the police for charges of molesting an American woman. That was very “PATRIOTIC”, wasn’t it?

The social issue of patriotism has even cramped up endless lives. In democratic nations, the actions of several individuals have to face the ire of a few political parties, who instantly term them as “UNPATRIOTIC” and try to deter those actions. So my question is: “HOW CAN WE SAY THAT A NATION IS DEMOCRATIC, IF THERE IS NO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION?” The answer very much lies in the question. It’s the act of patriotism, which clashes with the actions of the common man, to literally deprive them of DEMOCRACY.

It is more often than not, due to patriotism that numerous developing nations are incompetent across the globe. The acts of patriotism, of a few individuals, time and again disrupt the economic activities within a nation. As a result, the analysts of several reputed MNC’s do not consider that nation to have the optimum business environment, and therefore, the nation loses out on the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This further has dire consequences, on the nation’s economic indicators such as the GDP, Balance of Payment, Exchange Rate.

It has been the sole courtesy of patriotism, that several nations have adopted a “REGRESSIVE” stance.  This regressive stance has thereby resulted in the severe downturn of the nation.

Patriotism has become a meaningless ten letter word in this era, as several distinct members of the society have alienated the term from its meaning. The true patriotism lies in ensuring that the nation as a whole prospers and achieves great heights of success. But the most significant objective of politicians these days is to inflate their appetite for black money, and to accomplish this objective, they often indulge in mammoth levels of corruption, such as endless scams. This surely isn’t patriotic by any possible means.

Patriotism has been the antagonist behind spoiling the foreign relations between scores of nations. The patriotism within a nation, is more like the ego within a person. Its often the ego, that destroys the person. Similarly, clashing patriotic values are like those egos, that destroy the harmony attained within a nation.

However, I do feel that the act of patriotism done has its pros as well, but only to a certain extent. The degree to which the theory of Patriotism is practiced, should not be breached beyond a certain limit. However, in this modern era, breaching limits has become an increasingly common issue. Thereby, to conclude, I adamantly believe that PATRIOTISM INDEED DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD.

EVIDENCE AT LAST

26^th January 2008 (1000 hrs)

The Sydney Opera House had been the centre of attraction on the Australia Day, with spectators waiting fervently, to get a glimpse of the man in charge of the nation Down Under. Bliss and excitement were in the air, and smiles worth millions of dollars had graced the elated faces of a major chunk of the crowd. The cheering escalated to enormous heights, once Kevin Key, the Prime Minister emerged. Banners and placards, heartening the Prime Minster could be seen in abundance; while a section of the crowd even chanted slogans, “HAIL KEY!” Such was the political stout of Kevin Key. However, an isolated section of the spectators had second thoughts, who ridiculed the PM, by passing outrageous comments him. Out of the blue, a vicious sound was heard, that of a .50 BMG Sniper bullet being fired at the PM. The man, being cheered upon some seconds ago, was now reduced to a mere lifeless body, with the bullet piercing through Key’s ribcage, and hitting him in the heart.  

15^th August 2013 (Present Day)

“I wanna see your filthy face in my cabin within the next sixty seconds,” ordered Anthony Tait, the Director In General of the Australian Intelligence Services. I banged the receiver of my intercom down, and uttered a few expletives, meant for none other than my lousy boss, Anthony. I seriously hated Tait to the core, and had he not been my boss, I would have genuinely thrashed him. I seriously wondered that what qualities the higher authorities had seen in this moron, to appoint him as the Head of the AIS? Amidst quietly grumbling to myself, my colleague Jade patted me on my back, making me aware of her presence. Jade always caught me off-guard, and her presence always made me excruciatingly nervous. Jade and I had been “good friends” for a period of more than 3 years, but it was me, who was hesitant, in taking our relationship to the next level.

We knocked at Tait’s chamber door, and entered, with Goosebumps, appearing on my hands. I knew that Tait, was livid at some issue and wouldn’t even take the pain of thinking twice, before humiliating us. To vent out his frustration I guess.   

“Good afternoon sir,” I said, praying that my worst fears wouldn’t emerge victorious. “Whats so good about this messed up afternoon, you little skunk?” countered Tait. My worst fears had indeed come true. Jade wanted to burst out laughing at Tait’s words, but somehow she controlled it. Pitying myself, I took a seat, with Tait, facing me.

 Another likely blunder which I nervously committed.  

Within a few minutes, our colleagues joined us; but they too faced Tait’s ire, the reason being the time wasted by them. “Settle down quickly you lazy mules,” said the 50 year old head of the AIS.  The meeting was an unofficial one and was to be kept “confidential” from our subordinates.

The meeting finally commenced with Tait opening up on the hot topic issue of Kevin Key’s assassination, which took place over 5 years ago. The abrupt change in Tait’s tone profusely bamboozled me. The discussion was likely to get more serious. “Mates, Kevin Key’s assassins have never been found and all attempts have been worthless,” said Tait, in a sombre tone. None of us, dared to interrupt Tait, as the consequences were well known. However, I defied my gut feeling, and dared to wake the tiger up from a sound sleep. Fortunately, the tiger didn’t roar in fury. Rather, a more “human” tone replied to my doubts. On asking Tait about the reason behind the assassin still being  at large, I got a reply which was awfully jolting.

“I knew that someday or the other, the truth had to emerge, from the burden of deceit and lies,” said Tait. “Key was a prominent figure, who ruled the roost among his political peers. But some of his decisions defied sense and to be more frank, they were jeopardizing the harmony of this nation,” continued Tait. Our faces were like the kindergarten students, who were asked to give SAT’s by their teachers. Tait didn’t end there, and continued from where he left.

“ Key was assassinated by the AIS itself!” These words froze me, denting my morale big time.  “I know, it’s shocking for you’ll, but that’s what the fact is. Our sniper shooters were the ones who carried out the task. We were ‘asked’ to do so by the higher authorities,” carried on Anthony Tait. “Sir, may we know the identities of the so called high authorities,” I intervened. “ I’m sorry, but I do not have the consent to say so,” replied Tait.

Over the due course of 2 hours, what I learnt was simply shuddering, and I simply had no idea of what to do with my professional career. The revelations made by Tait demoralised me and put me in a dilemma. Tait said that the enquiry commission set up to crack the assassination case couldn’t yield results, as they could have never imagined AIS being the true horses behind the assassination.

Tait, however had reasons to ‘justify’ the assassination of Kevin Key.

The war situation in Iraq had worsened, with the American Armed Forces and the NATO losing mettle and incurring tremendous losses. To just maintain cordial ties with the States, Kevin decided that it was time for the Australian Armed Forces to combat Al Qaida and Taliban along with the US Armed Forces and the NATO. This policy reform would have had drastic consequences throughout Down Under, as more than ten thousand members of the Australian Armed Forces would have had their lives risked. On the financial front, the costs incurred would be too huge to bear, as a major chunk of the revenue collected by the government would have to be allocated for the Defence Sector.

But the most staggering revelation from Tait was that, if the Aussie Armed Forces were to be deployed to Iraq, then investors would become more bearish towards Australian Insurance Firms, as their profits would be lowered to a massive extent. Apart from Insurance Firms, the trend towards the Australian Securities Exchange would become more bearish, which would eventually lead to lesser revenues for the government. To make matters worse, the business confidence in the Australian economy too would plunge, as Australia would be vulnerable to more terror attacks.

The reasons, which resulted in Key’s botched up assassination made me wonder that how callous the world could probably get?  Was murdering Key the most appropriate option in such a case? Or, was murdering a man, who toiled hard for the welfare of the nation, the most ethical option? These questions shell shocked me and all I wanted to do was just hand down my resignation to Anthony Tait.