Monday, April 21, 2008

Patriotism vs. Statism

The eminent British political theorist, Edmund Burke once observed, and I'm paraphrasing here, in order to love one's country, it has to be lovely.

Now that's really the key issue that draws all of the aspiring individuals here in order to make our country more "lovely". But the dilemma resides in the incompetence of Chinese mindset to differentiate the "country" (5000 yrs of history) with the "state" (less than 100 yrs), to which the passion designated to the former is call "patriotism" (爱国主义) and the later "statism" (中央集权的社会国家主义).

Most Chinese today would easily mixed the two up, granted that the Chinese civilization is built upon a system of coercion and obedience, so when they see someone is against the state, they immediately deem his/her behavior as a manner of betrayal. That is precisely due to the fact that the Chinese today cannot differentiate the sharp contrast between a "loyal opposition" and a "treasonous traitor", because there is no proper form of civil politicking taken place in China.

It is my love for the nation, the country, the culture, the history, and the civilization that marked my words ever provocative and all that incendiary precisely because my vehement hatred toward the "state", a.k.a. PRC. So to invoke Burke's remark once again,and comply with the definition of what a "country" is in a Chinese mindset, I don't see anything lovely about it, and in order to make it "lovely", I reckon that the subversion of the "state" is to be placed on the top of the agenda. Otherwise Chinese will be forever bitterly divided between an abstract notion of a "lovely country" and a materialistic abhorring sovereign state entity known as "PRC".

What we need today isn't bogus invocation of blind UNITY統一, which is by and large saturated with propaganda platitude and is bound to be degenerated into half-hearted inertia. What we need is instead, ACTION. If the Communists ever since it took power in '49 is practicing myriad form of mental colonization, now is the time to help people to decolonize their mindset in order to regain their full integrity as a sound and natural human being endowed with all appropriate natural and civil rights.

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