|
Foucault actually has some trouble describing resistance to power, but I don't think it's a serious difficulty. But that's not really what I wanted to talk about.
I have mixed feelings about nationalism, myself. Certainly there are few things more odious than a rabid nationalism, mainly for the reasons zen_tom pointed out. But I think it's right and good to feel some sort of proper pride in your nation, just like it's right and good to feel some sort of proper pride in your family, and I think this analogy is a very good one -- I'm reminded here of the Winston Churchill quote "Saying 'my country right or wrong' is like saying 'my mother drunk or sober'." That is to say, we can recognize flaws in our country, but whether it's right or wrong, it's still our country. We our her this because she reared us.
I think there's something to what Phage is saying, though I wouldn't put it the same way. There is something wrong with someone who does not believe anything strongly enough to be passionate about it, who does not have any beliefs she considers worth dying for. It seems to me to be something of a shadowy existence, since there are beliefs worth living for, and if a belief is worth living for, it is worth dying for. But, and here's the ugly side of belief, it is a small step from a belief being worth dying for to a belief being worth killing for, and this is a bad step to make.
But I by no means think that this entails war is wrong. There may be no beliefs worth killing for, but that does not mean there are not people worth killing for. War waged in defense of one's neighbors, in defense of one's country, is right and good. I'm not going to get into just war theory here, but it seems to me to be clear that there are cases in which war is justified.
__________________
"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
|