0 comment Tuesday, November 18, 2014 | admin
Michael at the Southern Nationalist Network asks the question 'Are You From Nowhere?'
I've alluded to the 'people from nowhere' phenomenon a few times; I've remarked on the nomadic style of life which is more common now than in the past. I think Michael is onto something when he ties this rootlessness to the tendency to focus one's allegiance on the flag, the style of government ('Democracy') and the powerful State, rather than on the natural bonds of kin, community, region.
In my experience, the South seems to have attracted a great many of these casual Nowhere Men (and women) who up and move from one corner of the country to the other as easily as moving across town. And they often display no thought for, much less appreciation of, the culture of their new 'home.'
Some of you, having read my blog for a while, might rightly question my own wanderings in the past. But no matter where I lived, I was conscious of my roots, and as time goes by, I think most of us begin to be drawn back to the place that is home, by virtue of our attachment and loyalty to that place.When I lived in New York, for example, I was very much the fish out of water, and conscious of belonging somewhere else. There is one place that is very decidedly home. My sojourn on the other side of the Atlantic also made me far more conscious of my American roots, and my time in New York made me more conscious of my Southron origins, specifically my family's rootedness in Texas.
Paradoxically, when I was living away, I began to feel more firmly attached to my real home.
We live in a restless age, when people value change and endless variety more than permanence and stability.
The tendency to flit from one place, one region, to another in quest of something new and different is destructive to our regional culture and kinship ties. In a way, it's a great disloyalty to our folk and the place where we belong.
It seems our 'leaders' are encouraging this rootlessness and the 'nowhere people' syndrome, the better to make us atomized, alienated ciphers, bereft of any natural bonds, ''without natural affections'' as the Bible says.
This Independence Day, when we celebrate the origins of the country we live in, my feelings of 'patriotism' will not center on that flag, or on documents and ideas, but they will be focused on my kin, my folk, and my home place. That's the essence of 'patriotism' to me: that's where my loyalty resides.
"In the love of home, the love of country has its rise..." - Charles Dickens
I've alluded to the 'people from nowhere' phenomenon a few times; I've remarked on the nomadic style of life which is more common now than in the past. I think Michael is onto something when he ties this rootlessness to the tendency to focus one's allegiance on the flag, the style of government ('Democracy') and the powerful State, rather than on the natural bonds of kin, community, region.
In my experience, the South seems to have attracted a great many of these casual Nowhere Men (and women) who up and move from one corner of the country to the other as easily as moving across town. And they often display no thought for, much less appreciation of, the culture of their new 'home.'
Some of you, having read my blog for a while, might rightly question my own wanderings in the past. But no matter where I lived, I was conscious of my roots, and as time goes by, I think most of us begin to be drawn back to the place that is home, by virtue of our attachment and loyalty to that place.When I lived in New York, for example, I was very much the fish out of water, and conscious of belonging somewhere else. There is one place that is very decidedly home. My sojourn on the other side of the Atlantic also made me far more conscious of my American roots, and my time in New York made me more conscious of my Southron origins, specifically my family's rootedness in Texas.
Paradoxically, when I was living away, I began to feel more firmly attached to my real home.
We live in a restless age, when people value change and endless variety more than permanence and stability.
The tendency to flit from one place, one region, to another in quest of something new and different is destructive to our regional culture and kinship ties. In a way, it's a great disloyalty to our folk and the place where we belong.
It seems our 'leaders' are encouraging this rootlessness and the 'nowhere people' syndrome, the better to make us atomized, alienated ciphers, bereft of any natural bonds, ''without natural affections'' as the Bible says.
This Independence Day, when we celebrate the origins of the country we live in, my feelings of 'patriotism' will not center on that flag, or on documents and ideas, but they will be focused on my kin, my folk, and my home place. That's the essence of 'patriotism' to me: that's where my loyalty resides.
"In the love of home, the love of country has its rise..." - Charles Dickens
Labels: Anomie, Ethno-Loyalty, Kin Loyalty, Regionalism, Southern States