heather11483 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heathershaped) wrote2010-09-20 11:08 am
heathershaped) wrote2010-09-20 11:08 am
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Been catching up on my reading, and glass_icarus has a really gorgeous and timely essay that was spurred by this post, in which writer Elizabeth Moon makes a hateful and ignorant argument about the civil responsibility of marginalized groups, specifically targeting Muslim Americans and immigrants who are going through hell right now. And who (whatthefuck) should never be called on their patriotism for speaking out against the system of freeflowing hatred that's permeating the discourse lately in this country, that is for real affecting policy and quality of life.
On The Politics of Possession
If I can just quote part of it:
PREACH. Civil responsibility is a two-way street, patriotism does not mean settling for scraps or taking abuse, and there's nothing more patriotic than holding a nation and a system to its supposed ideals. I mean, seriously.
glass_icarus has a really gorgeous and timely essay that was spurred by this post, in which writer Elizabeth Moon makes a hateful and ignorant argument about the civil responsibility of marginalized groups, specifically targeting Muslim Americans and immigrants who are going through hell right now. And who (whatthefuck) should never be called on their patriotism for speaking out against the system of freeflowing hatred that's permeating the discourse lately in this country, that is for real affecting policy and quality of life. If I can just quote part of it:
You say that "the business of a citizen is the welfare of the nation," and in broad strokes (and insofar as my community is considered part of the nation) I agree that this is so. However, I also believe that the business of a nation is the welfare of its citizens, and that the latter takes precedence over the former. If I love my country, if I want to serve my country, and it does nothing to recognize me; if politicians and legislators and members of the judiciary continue to ignore and overlook the needs of my people, should I still grant the welfare of the nebulous "nation" sovereignty over my life? Should I expend all my efforts in support of the comfortable majority even as my minority community and those of my friends and family members continue to struggle against the injustices of their daily lived experiences? Is this a sustainable, an equitable relationship? I say no, it is not. I say that a patriotism that only demands and never asks, only takes and never offers, is at least as terrible a thing as a love-relationship that does the same. I say that you should look at what national institutions have previously done to us, at what the state is trying to do today, before you dare to judge us for prioritizing the welfare of our own communities. Will you tell me now that awareness of these- yes, American- histories "unfits" me for citizenship?
PREACH. Civil responsibility is a two-way street, patriotism does not mean settling for scraps or taking abuse, and there's nothing more patriotic than holding a nation and a system to its supposed ideals. I mean, seriously.