(Never in my life did I think a title of mine would sound so woke. Don't worry, it's not.)
I've been trying to dig into a collection of essays by actor and playwright Wallace Shawn, and stumbled on one that really got me thinking yesterday, while in the air. It was a piece about how borders aren't real, how he doesn't wanna be an American citizen and he's not proud of that, and how they're just not fair, etc. It was, I think, from about 20 years ago, so to his credit, I think it fit more in the bohemian artist trope than the woke virtue signaler one.
Still.
It felt like bullshit to me, so I ditched the book.
Don't get me wrong, I think borders are bs, too, and one thing I agreed with was that no one should be able to tell you where you can and can't go. That much, I think we can all agree on. Of course, the question in our present day with immigration being such a sticky topic is that while no one should be able to deny you entry, they should be able to force you to abide by certain rules while there.
Seems only fair to me.
When I go to someone's house, I ask where to put my shoes, if smoking is allowed and so on. It's the polite thing to do. But a lot of people are now coming into other people's peaceful homes and behaving like they own the place. If it wouldn't fly on a personal level, why should it on a national one?
Anyway, that's an aside on this whole immigration business which doesn't seem such a big complex issue to me. Let everyone go where they go, but if they misbehave, ask them to get the fuck out. Seems easy.
Anyway, back to this Shawn guy. It got me wondering... a lot of these people who like to think of themselves as oh so anarchist, arguing against borders and patriotism...well, they never relocate to Algeria or something do they? Somehow, it's always some American, British, French, whatever other wealthy and privileged nation you want, person who chooses to live in their home country, but otherwise thinks borders and nationalism are stupid.
This guy tried to pass it off, his choice to live in New York, as a cultural thing. Since NYC is such a great place culturally, for a writer, it was his choice to live there. I mean, sure. Because the US is a rich country that can have such hot spots for artists, and where you enjoy certain privileges through the political and economic dominion that your country has over others. It's not like saying in this part of the world, the leaves are a funny shape, and that's random. It's not random. It's the result of cold, hard, deeply unjust politics.
That we made up... to an extent. The need to dominate another human being, and going further, another tribe, has existed in our genes forever and is what allowed us to be alive today. You don't hear much about the tribes our forefathers bested some six thousand years ago. Because they died out and they didn't get to make it to the 21st century to live in artistic hot spots like New York.
That's why the argument is a bit silly to me. You don't believe one country's better than another, yet you choose to live in some of the best countries in the world? Funny, that. Maybe these people would be better served going to live in Ghana or somewhere for a few months. While no one here's suggesting that some people deserve to have it good while some struggle to live, it is the state of our world, and you saying it's unfair won't really change things or what thousands of years of the status quo have done to our mentality.
Arguably, this "borders are fake and mean" reasoning has been proven wrong already in our modern world. While there are plenty of immigrants who strive to respect and cherish the rules and freedoms of their adopted country, there are many who do not and who willingly trample those freedoms, seeking to turn their new country into an often patriarchal jungle.
So the argument doesn't work. We should all be free to go where we please and have the same benefits. I agree. But if we let people do that and they start abusing the place they're in, then it's not all flowers and rainbows and oh we all deserve nice things, and don't be mean.
Go where you like, but respect it and remember that it's a privilege to be there. Shouldn't be so hard.
As for these people who think they're so provocative saying they don't believe in borders, countries or national pride, that sounds like denial to me. Logically, no, you have no reason to be prouder to be American than if you were French or Chinese or whatever else. But it's not about that. It's about a need to belong to a larger, all-encompassing tribe. Again, a concept that not only kept us alive for millennia but also one that fulfills a need and is firmly rooted in our subconscious.
And while a lot of these things pertaining to our subconscious may seem "silly" on the outside, we dismiss them as such at our own peril, I feel. You may be smart, but you aren't smarter than your own (or the collective) subconscious. Don't make the mistake of assuming otherwise.
You need to belong to a tribe and for better or worse, your national tribe (of birth or chosen later in life) is the one that allows you to belong to smaller tribes like your co-workers, your bowling club, your chick-lit enthusiasts, your dance class, your LGBT local community, whoever you choose to belong to.
You don't just get to say this is stupid and y'all mean. Not if you want to be taken seriously, at least.
