Disliking a country's foreign policy doesn't mean you dislike its people
I'm not into Nationalism, not one bit. I think it leads to ugliness such as racism in some societies. I feel the same about about patriotism. Both can be blinkered and a narrowing of one's awareness is how some of socieites more ugly traits can lurk in the shadows, ready to bite an unsuspecting victim in today's 'democratic' countries. History gives us examples of various countries that have indoctrinated children through flag waving and national anthems etc. It's just conditioning. The UK isn't free from its share of such sins but I'm glad to say that the flag waving element of what some schools tried here died...and rightly so. Acceptance and exclusion can't live in the same classroom; all you end up doing is normalising hypocrisy.
I find myself at odds with what the governments of the UK, USA, France and Israel (to name a few) are doing. They're all colonisers and they're still using the same mindset to create war, make profit, destroy lives (foreign and their own citizens) and steal land and resources. I've listed the countries that I know about because I've been reading reports of what they've been doing in clear violation of international law and breaches of human rights.
I've travelled to all these countries quite a few times over the decades, except for one. I doubt that I'll visit Old Palestine. Just the same as the UK, all of these countries have people with differing ideals, morals and political viewpoints. It's too easy to accuse an American of being a war monger; as easy as it was (and sometimes still is) of accusing all Germans of being Nazis...and that was wrong. We can make assessments about a state or a government based on what they're doing and how they're doing it. I have no hesitation in saying that the Government of the UK is institutionally racist...employing people from different BAME communities doesn't hide that, it just diguises it. I have no hesitation in saying that the USA are war-mongers that profit from death and destruction. I have no hesitation in saying that France are still actively enslaving parts of Africa. I have no hesitation in saying that Israel are operating a system of apartheid and are stealing people's homes, killing their children and destroying the communites of Palestine.
All of these countries have one other thing in common, they all have inner turmoil, homelessness, poverty, crime, segregation and political unrest. If they chose to solve their internal problems, they could. They would just have to divert expenditure away from unnecessary and illegal/immoral wars.
There are things that I love about Americans that I've met: their good manners, the willingness to help people, how they get around the underdogs and support them, their humour, music and generosity of spirit ... and I can say the same of all the Nations that I've listed about...from personal experience, apart from Israel. For Israel I've had to rely on social media posts reflecting the same positive values of people living in Israel, speaking up about injustices and trying to make a difference. You just have to vary where you get your news.
The Establishment is global, not national, We are all controlled in similar ways and the controllers are all known to each other; many were educated together and groomed for their various roles. If you think slavery ended and you're a free person, you're sadly mistaken. If you think that deomocracy exists and you have 'Freedom of Speech' - you do...right up to the point that the Establishment hears you talking about something it wants kept quiet.
There is more 'Grey' in human societies in the West now than before ... and that's okay. It's okay if it makes you stop and think before you say and do something. It's okay if it stops you stereo-typing someone and doing them an injustice.
Not every citizen of the UK, USA, France and Israel (to name a few) is a racist or a war-monger. It's okay to dislike the 'State', it's not okay to assume all of their citizens follow their 'States' ideoligies and negative traits.
Villayat 'Wolf' Sunkmanitu
