Jon Stewart was interviewing Johnny Knoxville one night on the Daily Show, and said something along the lines of, “The spirit that motivates you guys on Jackass to go out and shoot each other with tasers, just to see what it’s like, is in some way the same spirit that got us to the moon.”
It’s a kind of reckless, and often callous, optimism that seems to be associated in the popular consciousness with American undertakings. It can lead us to do stupid things (think Evel Knievel), and it can lead us to do atrocious things (Nagasaki), but every now and then, it can lead us to some really amazingly fabulous things too: the Constitution, the invention of the skyscraper, and of course sending a robot with a camcorder to Mars.
I’m sure this spirit exists in other countries as well, but it seems to be predominantly associated with America (please correct me if I’m wrong on that). I’m not always proud of it, but I’m always sort of in awe of it, if that makes sense.
In an evolutionary sense, I can understand tribal loyalty, but ‘emotional’ ‘patriotism’ to what is essentially an administrative unit, seems . . . stretching the validity somewhat.
I have, however, seen many people transpose their personal agenda or self-whatever needs onto the concept we call ‘patriotism’.
That’s just stupid. It doesn’t matter where his parents fuck. It’s where his mom is when he comes out that matters*. Though that does pose an interesting question for pro-lifers.
Why would sending something to Mars be something to be proud of? What the hell is it good for? Seems to me that we could make far better use of the money here on earth…
I am proud to be an American because I think the principles on which this country was founded are great, and I’m proud to be part of it. Of course, theory and practice are not the same thing, but my grandparents came here because of those principles, and went from dirt poor and not speaking the language to prosperous and educating.
I see America as a grand experiment. It’s far from ideal, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I feel fortunate to be here when it’s so much worse in so many other places. I wish more people who were proud to be American were also filled with humility at the luck that had them born to such privilege.
I’m happy to live here, but I don’t think proud is the right word. Appreciative. Honored. I’m lucky to live here, but I can’t be proud, because I didn’t do anything, did I?
Won’t do us much good if we get obliterated by a giant asteroid that we weren’t on the look-out for.
Carl Sagan has a good essay in one of his books, I think it’s Pale Blue Dot, on this subject. As he puts it, we could spend all our time and all our energy and all our resources here on Earth, but it still wouldn’t become paradise. No matter how hard we try, we’ll never understand our planet completely. And while trying to we would be ignoring this incredible world beyond us, that’s full of wonders we can’t even imagine. Who knows what marvelous things we’d miss out on if we stopped exploring space, what amazing sights we’ll be blind to because we’ll be staring at the dirt clod beneath our feet?
Earth is a great place, yes. She’s been a good mother to us. But we’re growing up, slowly, painfully. Children don’t stay with their mother forever, and our species won’t be content with this planet forever, either.