E23: Patriotism has no place in an international society. Do you agree ?

Traditionally, patriotism has usually been regarded as a virtue. Horace said dulce et decorum est pro patria mori -- it is sweet and honorable to die for one's country. Sir Walter Scott wrote :



'Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,

'This is my own, my native land !'

Usually, yes. Most of us have a built-in affection for the land which reared us, and to which we owe much. Wars down the centuries prove that men and woman spring to its defense in times of crisis.

Yet patriotism, love of country, has not always been approved when it amounts to 'my country, right or wrong'. O'Flaherty VC, a George Bernard Shaw character, said 'you'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race'. Of course that was Shaw in 1915, when men were dying by the tens of thousands. Yet much earlier Samuel Johnson had said 'Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel'.

So thinkers, whether classical or relatively modern, are divided in their opinions.

We are of course dealing with today, a time in which travel and communications have advanced with giant strides. In fact, there is a fashionable one-world concept. This outlook postulates that humanity is one. There should be no racial, cultural or political barriers. The identities of individual countries should disappear. Loyalty should be to the human race, not to one's country of origin. Humanity should become a worldwide melting-pot.
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Source: www.englishdaily626.com