What’s so wrong with love of one’s country?
The SpaceShipOne pilot, Brian Binnie, drew Ms Dyer’s ire for daring to say in his celebratory speech: “Let me say that I thank God that I live in a country (the USA) where this is possible.”
Ms Dyer compared this to a Japanese unfurling the Rising Sun and thanking his ancestral gods in a comparable situation, and wondered darkly what we would think of that. Well, in both cases, I would think: “Best of luck to them.”
Too many nations have governments which seem more interested in murdering and oppressing their own citizens than in encouraging such personal initiative. Why is our pilot wrong to be proud of his mother country for that?
Ms Dyer asks if God has changed nationality after the Soviet Union was first to launch a satellite. Where did Brian Binnie say that?
If I thank God (as I do) for the gift of Ireland’s unique musical heritage, I am not saying God is an Irishman.
Ms Dyer informs us that “nationalism... is... unattractive to people who do not share the nationality in question.” I have not noticed any such thing.
Can we not allow others to be proud of their own country as long as they do not try to impose their ways on others? Might I suggest that Ms Dyer’s ire would be better directed at the heartless, disloyal multinationals whose only allegiance is to profit while they trample national aspirations in the process?
Micheál Ó Feargháil
Sallybrook
Glanmire
Co Cork
