Chauvinism vs. Patriotism

Fortunately or unfortunately, I've been able to witness, though from afar, two diagonally opposed manifestations of the most problematic collective ego - the ego of a nation-state - in the past few years. They are chauvinism and patriotism.

Ever since I had some traumatic experience with the collective ego of a junior high school I attended, I've come to show a very strong resistance reaction to the ego of any social collective, especially after spending there at least a few years as its member. Then I feel suffocated and unable to stand remaining there, and find myself leaving it for "fresh air", so to speak.

Chauvinism and patriotism are two manifestations of the same level of collective ego, but they have one fundamental difference. Chauvinists try to raise their self-perception by downgrading members of other social collectives such as dehumanizing and even mass-murdering them. So they are automatically upgraded by doing nothing for themselves. Chauvinism seems to be a result of collective brainwashing through constant propaganda in various layers of society.

Patriotism, on the other hand, seems to be a natural manifestation of one's love for the collective that has nurtured him. Genuine patriot doesn't have to sacrifice members of other social collectives.

Even before witnessing two disgusting cases of chauvinism in the past few years, I've always been repulsed by this social collective called nation-state. So in retrospect there is no wonder that every time I crossed any national border, I even felt like vomiting. But now I apparently underestimated the destructive power of chauvinism as I've been witnessing two of its cases being reported live.

On the other hand, I've also witnessed patriotism. In theory, it was also supposed to repel me, but to my great surprise, I've been deeply touched by it and even felt like supporting it wholeheartedly. When I recently shared this deepest feeling of mine with one of the few people I know who understand me, I was so overwhelmed with emotions and started crying.

The Next Possible Station in Life

On my second last day before leaving Jerusalem at the end of last September I went to see one Chabad rabbi who seems to be known worldwide, at least among Chabadniks, as a kabbalist who can read the souls of others.

Leaving Jerusalem for the place I live in now means, among others, that I have to sacrifice one important personal mission to achieve another, no less important, one. I wanted to ask for his advice about this first mission, that is, how to reconcile these two mutually exclusive missions.

I only told him very briefly about this dilemma of mine to give me invaluable advice, which still continues to resonate with me and give me hope. Like many other people who flock to him from all over the world for his advice, I only had a few minutes with him. But he advised me where to go after I've become ready.

The country he advised me to move to for the above mentioned first mission includes the city I had been thinking of - rather vaguely until then - as the next possible - and probably the last - station in life.

Actually, I even visited this second most favorite city of mine after Jerusalem last July before I made a final decision to leave for the present place. On the one hand, I fell in love with it anew, but on the other hand, I felt I wasn't ready yet to live there for a couple of technical reasons. Anyway, I was so sorry that I had to leave it.

Please don't get me wrong. I love and miss Jerusalem and all it offered me, especially in terms of Chabad Chassidus. But I also feel that I want to - or even have to - try something new I've never experienced for my continued growth.

The only worry I have is that I may be idealizing this country in general and this city in particular. After all, I visited it several times only as a tourist. But the fact remains that the mere thought of living there fills me with enormous joy. I've also found there a Chabad community that seems to fit me. Recently I even found out that one Chabadnik I made friends with there happens to daven in this very community!

In the meanwhile I try to live the present moment, focusing on one important personal mission because of which I came here (and will have to stay here at least until 2030).

Metapropaganda

I still remember vividly how someone to whom I showed a couple of media outlets I regularly checked then - and still continue to - looked at me as if I were committing a crime or were complicit in it. These media outlets have been among the most heavily smeared media outlets by the so-called "presstitutes" promoting the interests of the Empire of Lies.

Propaganda will probably be the last remaining legacy of this declining and decaying empire. It has already established a worldwide network of spreading its propaganda. One of its most favorite methods of silencing any other narrative that opposes theirs is to call it "propaganda".

But if you have enough media literacy, you'll be able to find quite easily that this smearing is nothing but propaganda about "propaganda", or metapropaganda, which suffers from logical and factual flaws as well as double standards and hypocrisy. It's so ridiculous that many of the self-proclaimed fighters against disinformation are spreading disinformation.

I can't help being amazed every time anew when I discover that someone who is otherwise intelligent has been brainwashed by these "presstitutes" so easily.

Calling something a "*onspiracy theory" is a special type of metapropaganda. But truth always prevails in the end. Some of what used to be considered "*onspiracy theories" have already turned out to be true *onspiracies.

Fortunately, more and more people are awakening, thanks to (more or less free) social media outlets such as X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram, and discovering the Empire of Lies and its "presstitutes" have been deceiving us to perpetuate its unjustified hegemony.

I have good reason to remain optimistic and believe, as a number of geopolitical analysts I trust and follow have been claiming, that this empire is finally falling.