#patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel

[sohannabarberaesque]

Scenes from extremist political rallies targeting the Lower Classes we'd love to see

Some misguided "patriot" organisation hires a sound engineer who turns out to be so incompetent, he drives the mostly "poor white trash" audience (more than likely bussed in from rural areas with Walmart or Dollar General gift cards as inducement) into utter confusion when, for some reason, he winds up playing "The Tra-La-La Song" (otherwise familiar to many of you as The Banana Splits' theme) on the tannoy rather than some strident patriotic ballad aimed at stoking latent hatreds in service to God and Country on a par with the Horst Wessel back in Nazi Germany or "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" in apartheid South Africa.

[mariacallous]

Call that pussy patriotism the way it’s the last refuge of a scoundrel.

[flesh-is-the-fever]

This is so cowardly lmao. If the last refuge of a scoundrel is patriotism, the second-to-last is psychoanalysis. "Tsk tsk. You little anti-imperialists. Why not go listen to your k-pop?" Also "internet peace activism" is such a telling phrase. You're gonna talk to teenagers & young adults like this and expect them to listen to you? Get the fuck out of here. I should eat something lol.

[doublewarhol]

Artist in the East

1

I am writing because I want to leave behind a trace of what I have experienced. This is also a record of my adventures in becoming an artist through music. It took many, many years to make some career out of that, and it so happens it started in the east. After college, I went to live in Japan because it seemed like a place where new things were happening. Maybe the place. And I felt a sense of comfort returning to the country where I was born and had grown up for some years. The year was 2001, some months before the terrorist airplane attacks on America. Maybe I had a sense somewhere, that it would be a good time to not be in the United States of America.

Even from Japan I could get the sense that the U.S. was enraged as a whole—the people and the president—and trying to pump up the population with fervent patriotism. This did not appeal to me, perhaps because I had grown up in two countries and could see how one-sided most nations could be when insecure. Bob Dylan said “patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings.”

I personally wanted to know more about what it meant to be half-Japanese. To be in the liminal place. The only environment I consistently saw half-Japanese kids was at the airport. Always on the move, just like I had been. And probably like they would be, I felt at home in airports. I stared at these kids now, hearing them switch from speaking Japanese to English, and felt some kind of kinship.

But in these times, apparently, I looked like an Arab. Erwin (one of my friends in Japan) cocked his head at me once, and said, “You know, you kind of look like Osama.”

Maybe I was a blank piece of paper upon which anyone’s thoughts could be readily cast.

[enormousgloom]

they say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings, steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king.

b.dylan

[lightdancer1]

Secession earned forever its reputation as the last refuge of the scoundrel when patriotism will no longer suffice in US terms in 1860:

The result of Brown's Raid and the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency was the outbreak of the secession of 1860, the one major time this applied in US history, and the formation of a twisted mirror of the United States that aspired to be a kind of anti-USSR. A deliberately defiant of the courses of time in its own era agrarian paradise for a land owning aristocracy who viewed its stance on power and prestige as written in the letters of blood that undergirded slavery itself. Six states seceded in 1860, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. Five more would secede after the opening shots of the war were fired at Fort Sumter.

A key element in all of this is that in the 1860s the Secessionists wanted to have it both ways just like their modern counterpart. All the murderous elements of the legal apparatus for them, all the anarchistic lawless terrorism for them if the law did not give them exactly what they wanted down to all the is dotted and the ts crossed in the precise sequence they demanded when they last demanded it. Equally like other people who started wars they had no idea what they were getting into, what it would cost them, or what the outcome of these wars would be for them.

[fieriframes]

[I mean, all the cool little areas, the neighborhoods, the districts. Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel to check out a joint that started in the '30s as an Italian restaurant in a garage.]

[makeuphall]

[clove-pinks]

"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." — Samuel Johnson.

[ojamajomary]

After Ne Zha joins List of highest-grossing animated films, I suggest he might better takes a sincerity apologize to Sam in contact help with Dash or Elsa, about some impolite motive of his stupidity CCP fans?

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel

brave new world and ne zha 2 in the same weekend... is this a crossover episode?

[nerianasims]

Me normally: Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.

Tyler Perry, about helping Meghan and Harry: “They wanted to be free to love and be happy.”

Me:

[bagdyernoke]

Aznap is eltehetett ötmillió forint kenőpénzt, amikor felesküdött Magyarország szolgálatára

On the evening of 7 April 1775, he made a famous statement: "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." 

A magyarkodás, buzizás, hazafiság, migrácsozás,.kereszténység minden gazember utolsó menedéke

[beykhabarr]

anti-national scum

Well. Um..sure? If criticizing my country makes me an anti-national, then be it lmao. Anti national has become synonymous with critical of the state, and or someone who doesn't silently endure injustice or turn a blind eye to it just because 'oh oh it doesn't directly affect me' Id take being called an 'anti national' over being ignorant or falling under the category of a nationalist. Because the ideology of the nationalists sucks aassssssssss is ill informed and based on the idea that 'my country can do no wrong simply because i belong to it' its like saying oh this is my friend he is has committed several heinous crimes, committed murders and is racist and follows a nazi ideology but 🥺👉👈 uwu I love him because he is my freind. I am willing to overlook everything. There is a difference between patriotism (as long as it doesn't become an argument when someone is criticizing your country, more often than not "patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel") and nationalism, honestly I consider it a big red flag if you identify as a nationalist, do your reading anon. I barely ever respond to these hate anons that have started flooding in but I just needed to say all that. Sigh.

[deepjams4]

On the Seventh Anniversary of oath taking as PM of the country!

In 2014 Parliamentary elections, masses preferred a BJP led NDA, over Congress led UPA. Thus NDA won the elections with a majority of seats. BJP selected Mr. Narendra Modi as it’s leader in Lok Sabha and also their prime ministerial candidate. Other alliance partners, in NDA, too endorsed the decision of BJP and thus paved the way for Mr. Modi to get an elevation from being the Chief Minister of Gujarat, to be the Prime Minister of India. He took oath on 26th May 2014, to be the 15th Prime Minister of the country.

Due to his style of functioning, the decisions taken and the agenda which the BJP decided to pursue and implement in the country, Mr. Modi has become a very controversial personality in the political arena, to such an extent, that, the society, and more particularly, the intelligentsia of the country, has got sharply polarised. The media too couldn’t escape this polarisation.

The polarisation is not restricted against the party, Prime Minister or his government for their policies and decisions, or to the extent of ‘for or against’ but has gone far too ahead against a particular person in particular, who happens to be Mr. Narendra Modi, culminating into strong ‘Likes and Dislikes’, ‘Love and Hatred’, ‘Worshiping and Condemnation’, thus placing the person in ‘Higher pedestals or Utter Disdain’ and many categorising him as ‘the god or the demon’.

Those who like him, they see nothing wrong in him and those who hate him, see in him nothing worthwhile, and call his fans as ANDH BHAKTS, whereas the fans call themselves as NATIONALISTS, terming anti-Modi sections to the extent of calling them as ANTI-NATIONALS. The media, forgetting its roles and responsibilities, is also behaving irrational, one section calling the other names, as GODI MEDIA (media sitting in government’s lap or working for the government) or BIASED MEDIA playing into the hands of some vested interests or disgruntled elements. It has suffered its credibility in this setup. What his acts, works or decisions to the haters look to be the blunders, they are, for his worshipers, the classic acts or master strokes to safeguard the best interests of the country, as for them he can’t ever commit any mistakes or any errors of judgement.

Here I would like to add with a bit of caution that this worshiping is not limited to Mr. Modi or BJP only, it is rather spread everywhere, that is what I realised in the recent state assembly elections. In the recent Facebook post, when a friend questioned the decision of Kerala CM dropping one very popular and performing minister, daggers were drawn out by his admirers, who started getting aggressive, calling names, to the ones, who dared question, calling them names, terming them as ‘Blind describing the elephant’ or ‘a part of systematic misinformation campaign’ to defame the Chief Minister. They conveniently forgot, that for speaking against Mr. Modi, they were being labelled the same way and now for defending a chief Minister, they too can be labelled as ‘BHAKTS’

The saddest part is that, this polarisation has brought an animosity amongst the masses, thus affecting their personal relationships. The orientation of the people’s , likes and dislikes, for and against each other, in general, have got jaundiced, and now is based on their respective opinions about Mr. Modi.

The other impact of this polarisation is that the SANE VOICES for CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM OR OPINION have been lost in the din now created, since either such voices will be labelled as ANTI NATIONAL or as A VOICE OF ANDH BHAKT. In the present scenario there is no other scope left.

Now such a situation has emerged, that either you are a friend or an enemy, like the quote of Ta Niel Rochel “If you are not my friend, then you are my enemy and if you are not my enemy then i don't know you.”

I read some beautiful Quotes from Jocelyn Soriano's blog “I Take off the Mask!” I felt like sharing here:

“Life is so much more than dividing people between being one’s friends and enemies!”

“Worship not a person for a good deed he has done for you.  Be grateful but don’t expect him to be perfect.On the other hand, curse not a person for a wrong he has done to hurt you.  He may not be perfect, but he still carries the imprint of God’s goodness upon his soul!”

Why in the pursuit of our personal liking and disliking, we have come this far that, we have put our personal relationships at a stake. I firmly believe such worship or hatred, likes or dislike are not that worth, to barter them with our personal friendships or relationships.

The masses of the country, may be in majority, are poor or illiterate and may not be seen as intelligent, but time and again, they have proved that they are wise and mature enough, to rise to the occasion, to bring a change of governments. They have, with their secret weapon, overthrown those who thought themselves to be the mightiest and taken the voters for granted. That weapon was given to them by the creator of Indian Constitution, Baba Saheb, who ensured that all the voters are equal irrespective of their backgrounds. It is another thing, that the politicians failed them, time and again, whom they trusted, and handed over the power to govern the country. But none can take them for a ride for long, in the name of religion, region, caste, colour or creed or using some sort of propaganda or try to hijack by playing with their emotions or sentiments through some jingoism.

Here I am reminded of a statement by Samuel Johnson, an English writer. Seeing the false use of the term "patriotism" by William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (the patriot minister) and his supporters, he said "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." Johnson opposed "self-professed patriots" in general. So one has to be cautious of not getting trapped in the hype of patriotism, created to be used or exploited as a political tool and no political party can take it for granted to raise a bogey of it. Masses are smart enough to understand the design.

I am also reminded of what Abraham Lincoln said “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

The masses will ultimately be the decision makers. Neither side can play with their judgment for too long. They can’t be carried away or get swayed for too long by any faction.

Only history will tell how it assessed Mr. Modi, as a person and as an administrator. Only time will tell, in which bracket, the history has kept him, whether in the company of liberals like Pt. Nehru and Mr. Vajpayee or as a hard liner tough administrator like Mrs Gandhi or altogether in a different category.

Today, when he has completed seven years in the office, and Mr. Modi enters eighth year in the office, I leave it to the individuals to make their own opinions, based on their rational judgements, about him and his government.

Let us join together to pray for the sake of our country and its citizens, for the stability in the country, healthy growth of democracy and progress in democratic institutions!

[cthulhulovesewe]

Bobby needs to take a history class before he babbles 'no true Scotsman' bullshit. Patriotism isn't just the last refuge of the scoundrel, it's the first ingredient for nationalism which inevitably leads to fascism.

[mariacallous]

How often our usage manages to accomplish, for a name or an expression, the precise negation of its originally intended meaning. To satirize the sycophants among his courtiers, King Canute sarcastically commanded the waves to keep their distance and allowed his own majesty to be wetted by the tides: now we give the name Canute to anyone in authority who foolishly attempts to ward off the inevitable. For the young scion of the Veronese house of Montague, only one girl in the whole world could possibly possess meaning, or be worth possessing: accordingly, we use the word Romeo to designate a tireless philanderer. In 18th-century England, John Wilkes was the leader of a radical political faction known as the Patriots. In Dr. Samuel Johnson’s Tory view, affiliation with that subversive party was “the last refuge of a scoundrel”: this now is construed as an attack on all those—most often Tories themselves—who take shelter in a too-effusive love of country.

The life and sayings of Johnson were so replete with ironies that perhaps it is no surprise to find literalness exacting its effect over the course of time.

Christopher Hitchens