silent for a long time, thinking for a long time, and suffering for a long time, but still feel that you haven't been calm for long enough. Last night I watched "Patriot" seriously again, and my tears once again flowed for a long, long time in Susan's cry of beloved father!
The first time I watched "Patriot", I was deeply moved by Benjamin Martin's responsibility as a father. I understand his patriotism is the action of protecting his children. And this time, I began to shake my original judgment on his patriotic behavior. So I began to think, what is patriotism?
The background in the film is the American War of Independence. The side of the independence movement represents the people who desire freedom, desire peace, and reject war in line with the common needs and values of mankind, while the side that hinders the independence movement represents violent, evil, inhumane, and contrary to the common value judgment of mankind. group. And the background for me writing this article is: the destruction of the Olympic torch relay, the violent incidents of Tibetan independence elements, the mainland people's boycott of Carrefour...
First of all, let us return to the film. Benjamin, who had lost his wife, and his children lived happily on the farm, and their days were calm and stable. Current events are irresistible, and Ohio is also facing the form of whether to declare independence. In the parliament, the Independence Army hoped that Benjamin, the hero who resisted the French invasion, would vote for independence and participate in military operations, but he refused by saying: "I am a person with children and have no right to vote." The hero of the past, in a scene like this, was considered by his adult son Gabriel to use the excuse of "having a child" as a shield, and he couldn't understand and accept it.
There is a saying in China that "the ignorant is fearless." A few years ago, Yisha wrote a book called "the ignorant is shameless." From the film to our reality today, exactly this situation is described. Gabriel is fearless. Without his father, his fearlessness would have ruined his life, but the fact of his final destiny is also the result of his fearlessness. Today’s dishonest reports by foreign media (BBC, CNN, AOV...), the words and deeds of Tibetan independence elements, and the boycott of Carrefour by many Chinese people are all shameless manifestations! The rise from fearlessness to shamelessness is a manifestation of the further decline of morality.
Benjamin did not approve of the Independence Army starting war, not because he was afraid of war, but because he knew the horror of war, the terrible killing, the terrible ignorance, and the terrible solution to problems with violence! If he is opposed to the issuance of the Declaration of Independence, it is better to say that he refuses to make huge profits. Between violence and compromise, he chose the latter because he is a father. But his son chose "fearless patriotism." What changed Benjamin's belief that he has firmly rejected huge profits? The answer is: "Inhumane violence!" There is only one way to resist inhumane violence-"Vengeful violence"! The brutal British red shirt officer ordered Gabriel to be captured and hanged as a spy, after shooting and killing Thomas, after ordering the killing of all wounded independence forces, and ordering the homes to be set on fire. After that, a father should protect his relatives and the father of the child's life. The only one who is persecuted can release a greater "violence of revenge" than the brutal British officer! This was the look in Samuel's horrified eyes: an axe of his father angrily chopped down the fallen British soldiers.
Here, we can conclude that the American Revolutionary War must have encountered bloody suppression by the brutal and inhumane Royal Army? This is affirmed by the United States, so does the United Kingdom recognize it? I wonder how the media of CNN or AOV will talk to the media of BBC? I don’t know how the government in the United States and the government in the United Kingdom think about this issue when they talk about it. But I think at least it shows that the British behavior also has a disgraceful history, so the disgracefulness certainly exists now.
There are two details in the next story. First, Gabriel did not allow the militia to kill British soldiers who had surrendered. Benjamin agrees with this. Because he knows that they can't magnify their atrocities infinitely, they must be restrained by humanity. When anger changes the normal state, it often makes people lose their minds, and eventually they will become a group of anarchists, and they will become a group of "mobs." Second, Benjamin told his son about his past "heroic" behavior. The background is the cooperation between the Indians and the French army. The brutal massacre is the result of anger; how should we face the war that is also massacre? This is the root of Benjamin's thinking about confusion and change. This is the reason why he refused to vote, refused to war, and refused to make huge profits.
In Hugo's last novel "Nine Years", he described the problem of violence in the French Revolution, which is also the final question that Hugo thought about: "The humanitarian spirit in war"! And in the book "The Crowd", from the perspective of psychology, it once again elaborated for us: the problem of violence and humanity. "Patriot" did not answer this question, which is not what it should answer. But in the French invasion and colonial war before the American Revolutionary War, were the atrocities committed by France equally inhumane? The American answer must be yes. Britain and France both have this aggressive nature, so how should they criticize others?
Back to the current issue, the violence in Tibet, first of all, violence, is wrong. Secondly, any media no longer gets objective and true information, and guided reports are unethical. Third, the independent cultural background is an aggressive manifestation of the output of Western values, and it is even more shameful (I will elaborate on the article "Independence, Cultural Diversity, Unity, and Values" later). How can the Olympic torch relay and politics have nothing to do? China has always had this kind of displacement thinking. Say no, is there really no? Nonsense, who believes it? The people who boycotted the Carrefour incident in France were extreme, ignorant, fearless, and shameless "rabbit crowds" with the mentality of the Chinese petty people. This event of the nature of social movement cannot equate participants with patriots.
A patriot refuses to be ignorant, fearless, and shameless. A patriot is a man who can make "Susan" eyes filled with tears, grievances and love to call "Dad".
If you are ignorant, please don't be patriotic!
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