Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus i chi i gyd!
Yes, it’s the first of March, the sun in shining, and (despite essays), I’m in an excellent mood – it’s St. David’s day, the patron Saint of Wales, and my nationalist/patriotic side is blossoming.
And I’m blogging. Also fun.
Economically, I’ve shifted back to January, but have become more of a social Libertarian. Odd.
No one choses his or her country of birth, so it’s foolish to be proud of it.
Disagree -> Strongly Disagree
Why shouldn’t I be proud? Of my nations history, language, culture?
I’ve been studying Democracy, Multiculutralism and Fundamentalism recently and the difference between liberal and communitarian philosophies. Right now, before writing my essay, I’d say that all our communities are reasonably loose, and we choose membership or not. If I choose to maintain membership of my country of birth, why is non-aggressive/racist pride a bad thing? I’m proud of being Welsh. I’m not racist at all (except against Germans).
Our race has many superior qualities, compared with other races.
Strongly Disagree ->Disagree
Well, if it does have different qualities, assuming race to merely be another “community”, and accepting that it has many inferior qualities…maybe, I’m conflicted?
Military Action that defied international law is sometimes justified
Agree->Strongly Agree
Ah. I’ve shifted back to January. Possibly a reflection of the current situation in Syria – perhaps subverting Russia and China is the only way?
People are ultimately divided more by class than nationality
Strongly Agree-> Disagree
This is probably just a shift for a day. Nationality is one of many communities to which we can subscribe. I, personally, think that class is more important than nationality, but I’m also open to the fact that many aren’t. I disagree, but this is reflecting reality. I think?
It’s a sad reflection on our society that something as basic as drinking water is now a bottled, branded consumer product.
Agree->Strongly Agree
Again, back to January.
The rich are too highly taxed.
Disagree->Strongly Disagree
Yeah, I apparently shift around a lot on several of these. Was February an aberration? Do current events influence me heavily? We’ll see by December…
Taxpayers should not be expected to prop up any theatres or museums that cannot survive on a commercial basis.
Disagree-> Strongly Disagree
This was brought up on Twitter by a friend, shortly after I visited London’s National Gallery. Standing there, looking at works by Van Goch, Van Eyck, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Seurat, Cézanne, Constable and Turner’s wonderful The Fighting Temeraire…. even if the gallery cannot support itself, I cannot support it being subject to the whim of the free market. To see them disappear from the public, to live just for the eyes of a wealthy private investor…I couldn’t bear it.
Although the electronic age makes official surveillance easier, only wrongdoers need to be worried.
Disagree -> Strongly Disagree
While researching the Protection of Freedom bill on behalf of the Social Liberal Forum EM – I realised just how horrific Labour’s curbing of civil liberties were. Attempts at putting people into jail for months on end on near-zero evidence, DNA databases…. horrible.
We all need to worry about surveillance. Even if you live your life entirely within the law, do you want your life to truly be an open book? Every secret laid bare, even if it’s legal? Do you really want that?
Even if you trust this government with your data – do we trust every future government? Every last one?
Related articles
- Political Compass – February (spinelessliberal.wordpress.com)
- Political Compass – January
I agree that it isn’t foolish to be proud of the country of your birth, because if I accepted that to be true I’d also have to accept it would be foolish to be ashamed of your country. If the *only* reason you were proud was because you were born there, then I think that would be strange. You can’t help knowing more about the country you live in/were born in/have some sort of association too, so naturally you will have stronger opinions on those countries than others. Pride is a strange thing really, I’d like to be Scandinavian if I could choose but I don’t feel proud of for example Finland. It’s hard (impossible?) to feel proud of something you have no emotional connection to (and the same goes for shame – you can be disgusted, but can you really be ashamed of something that has nothing to do with you really?)