Comments on: Define or be defined

By: SouthernAtHeart

SouthernAtHeart — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 02:56:34 +0000

All great points Michael. Little tiny Ireland used to be that way; at least it was that way back in the early 1990′s when I went for a visit. Everyone identified themselves by County as their ancestors had done for over 1000 years. When people asked where you or in my case my family was from, the answer would always be “County” this or that. In my case, Wicklow.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:34:46 +0000

Anti-Federalist, that’s an interesting point about the Okinawans. I have a similar example. A Spanish friend of mine was on vacation in the Basque Country. He met a local girl at a club and when they got to talking she asked him where he was from. He said, ‘Here, in Spain.’ He then asked where she was from. She said, ‘Here, in the Basque Country.’

By: Anti-Federalist

Anti-Federalist — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:45:01 +0000

I agree with your point about going on offense. Too many times people who supposedly agree with us accept all of our adversaries premises. By doing this, we argue on the terms and conditions of those who hate us. As the saying goes, sometimes your best defense is a good offense.

The point about nations being defined by people and not government needs to be taught to a lot of people. Government boundaries are artificial while landscape inhabited by nations of people are natural and organic. A good example of this is a conversation I overheard while eating lunch one day last week. Most of us know that Okinawa is a prefecture within the Japanese government’s territory. He mentioned that the inhabitants of Okinawa don’t consider themselves as Japanese but rather the consider themselves as Okinawans. In fact he said that they hate the Japanese. I read an interesting quote that a former Okinawan governor said he disliked the Americans buthe hated the Japanese.