Patriotism issues

This post is inspired by a Canuck who wrote on my friend’s Facebook page "Listen , and I am serious about this ... I was born here so I have a RIGHT to say this... YOU were born in Russia , yes maybe you are a citzen of Canada but YOU are FIRST Russian second Canadian and its disgusting that you as a early immigrant to MY country.....So listen ... You are first RUSSIAN...second Canadian...and please dont confuse this shit..” replying to her comments that she supported team Canada in its game against Russians.

There are idiots everywhere – that is one of the proofs for that. Another one is for example when another friend of mine heard from his Canadian neighbor “Go back where you came from” as a reply in an argument. When people start using things like these it only shows that their IQ is dangerously close to zero and that they are not able to come up with a reasonable discussion instead.

I want to share my ideas of patriotism here – being proud of your country, its history, achievements, culture etc is good and right. However, it’s dangerous at the same time. It’s like being religious – when one gets emotional about something, it’s easier to manipulate such person. There is indeed nothing wrong about believing that if you do good deeds in your life, you will get your reward later on. But once someone tells you “your prophet/God is wrong/does not exist” things may turn nasty.

Same with patriotic moods – politicians have been using them forever over the history to better control people and to achieve their goals and ambitions. Abuse of any feelings is a dirty play, but a very efficient one. Hence the only way to avoid being a puppet is to ask yourself “Who is the profiteer in the situation?” – there is a Russian saying going “When the stars got lit, it means, somebody needs it” - let’s not get influenced and keep clear mind in any situation! Since “if you don’t control emotions, emotions will control you”.

As for the immigration issues – indeed we came to Canada from somewhere else. But one cannot say “nobody invited us here” unless someone arrived illegally – government representing people set rules for immigrants to be able to come to the country – meaning there was mutual interest in the deal – we wanted to come to the country, it wanted us to come. I don’t believe in public charity, I am sorry. Hence Canada had its reasons to let us come and now we have the right to stay and try our best to become part of it. I am not saying as some do “Canada owes me now that it let me in”, I am saying that I can stay and try to set up a new life for my family and myself here. That is part of a deal, nobody promised it would be easy, the only promise was this opportunity. And I am indeed grateful for it.