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The Forum > General Discussion > Love of country

Love of country

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NO
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 7:20:32 PM
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There ya go SPQR, that answers your false accusation. The answer is "NO".
Posted by Nhoj, Tuesday, 6 May 2014 8:49:16 PM
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Nhoj,

You’re a newbie on the playing fields of OLO. And, judging by your ready acceptance of David's one word "no". I'd hazard a guess you're something of a newbie in most fields of life.

David is an avowed Green. And Bob Brown --the Oz Greens Moses, St Paul and Mother Teresa all in one -- is on record as saying that he would dearly love to see a world which was ruled over by a one person, one vote parliament.

Now, stop and think for a moment where that would leave poor old Oz with a measly voting block of 23 million?

Further, the Greens have a track record of seeking to undermine Oz sovereignty at every opportunity -- even your own Julia didn't trust them.

And if that wasn't enough, have a look at David's wording: “nations [would be] MERELY convenient administrative divisions”

"MERELY convenient administrative divisions”
Posted by SPQR, Wednesday, 7 May 2014 7:54:52 AM
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The UN is a deeply flawed institution. It represents nations, some of which are undemocratic and tyrannical, rather than people. I would not replace it by a similar organisation. A democratic organisation genuinely representing people would be a different matter. However, it is not possible in the foreseeable future. As things are now I much prefer the government of Australia to the UN although the UN sometimes gets it right. Although I am a Green I do not have to have the same opinions as Bob Brown.

When I wrote ‘merely’ I meant merely. Administrative divisions do not go to war with each other.

However, problems such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, exploitation of labour, crime etc. extend over national borders.
Australia is fortunate in being an Island state. Even so our activities pollute the ocean and air. Refugees of various kind seek to come here. Like other countries we are part of the world. What we do affects the rest of the world. What the rest of the world does affects us.

Problems which extend over national borders cannot be solved by nations on their own.
Posted by david f, Wednesday, 7 May 2014 10:29:43 AM
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Hi David,

A question from the floor re:
<<I would not replace [the UN] by a similar organisation. A democratic organisation genuinely representing people would be a different matter.>>

Would your *democratic * organisation be grounded on the principle *one person one vote*?
Posted by SPQR, Wednesday, 7 May 2014 10:42:56 AM
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david f, you like many of your type, are bad-mouthing "country" (i.e. "nation", "nationalism"), when you actually mean the government.

There is nothing "reasonable" about loving anything.
Love has nothing to do with reason.

"or anything else that makes our life a joy."

And a love of "country" is just a bird's eye/big picture view of all the little things we love wrapped up in one concept.

If you love Vegemite, Ned Kelly, the Nullarbor Plain, surfing/surfers, dingoes, the Big Pineapple, AC/DC (Bon Scott years), Peter Weir, Sydney Opera House, Countdown, the multicoloured strip fly screen on the corner shop, Golden Gaytime, Prisoner, the smell of onions on the BBQ, the jokey pseudo-mockery, Stubbies shorts, etc, why can't you sum all that up as "loving Australia", rather than just the individual components?

"IMHO if all nations were merely convenient administrative divisions we would be better off."

And if only our parents had just been guards/carers, without all that emotional love/hate stuff.
Keep Australia bureaucratic.

"Administrative divisions do not go to war with each other."

Kosovo, Bougainville, Kurdistan, Abkhazia, Crimea, Northern Ireland, Khalistan, Chechnya, Darfur, Kashmir...

Many of the world's current "countries" are the result of the dissolution of a country into its former administrative divisions (Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, Ireland) usually following conflict.

Most of the world's conflicts are attempts by ethnic groups to establish their own separate territory.
They are never going to express a bland, bureaucratic distance to their "country".

Nhoj, go back to English For Beginners class and ask the teacher what [this] means.
Posted by Shockadelic, Wednesday, 7 May 2014 11:40:29 AM
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