(June 25, 2016 at 1:48 pm)pocaracas Wrote: I am a citizen of the world. (where have I heard this before?)
I know I won't see it in my lifetime, but I'd like to see all the world's regional governments getting together and sorting things out as one.
Until then, we must contend with smaller groups like the EU, the US, China, etc...
I agree. There is a little otherness in those who don't live in my city. The same with those who live in other states. Other nations is just the same, with the otherness increasing in some ways the further you radiate out from where you live. But at the same time you can find kindred spirits you feel closer to among strangers than you do sometimes in your own family. Likewise for people from other cultures. Improved media and transportation is melting out some of the surface otherness.
Personally I've always felt that nationalism and patriotism are basically provincialism on a larger scale. I don't celebrate or identify that strongly with the differences which are mine by accident of birth. That doesn't mean I can't enjoy common interest and affection for certain things with those who share them with me. But there is no reason to trumpet those things as being superior to the things around which others share their own interests and affection. Otherness in some regard or other is one of the things we all share in common.
