Those jealous and odious instincts have been the bane of humanity.
They have given us the stiletto, the Morgue, the bowie-knife. Our
race must inevitably in the end outlive them. The test of man's
plane in the scale of being is how far he has outlived them. They
are surviving relics of the ape and tiger. But we must let the ape
and tiger die. We must cease to be Calibans. We must begin to be
human.
Patriotism is the one of these lowest vices which most often
masquerades in false garb as a virtue. But what after all IS
patriotism? "My country, right or wrong, and just because it is my
country!" This is clearly nothing more than collective selfishness.
Often enough, indeed, it is not even collective. It means merely,
"MY business-interests against the business-interests of other
people, and let the taxes of my fellow-citizens pay to support
them." At other times it means pure pride of race, and pure lust of
conquest; "MY country against other countries; MY army and navy
against other fighters; MY right to annex unoccupied territory
against the equal right of all other peoples; MY power to oppress
all weaker nationalities, all inferior races.
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