I’m trying to come up with a framework for ‘flipping’ nationalism. Lefties and progressives and all those kinds of folks bemoan nationalism as a restrictive force that keeps people’s minds from seeing the possibilities. And they’re generally correct in their assessment, but their attitude is all wrong.

Nationalism is like any other -ism. You can take it and make it your own. You can personalize it, you can modify it, you can subvert it. It’s just some ideas that sort of self-organize into a group. They all reinforce each other. So if you can take one or two of them and give them a little tweak, the others will reinforce that tweak.

So I’m thinking about nationalism, and how it’s a sort of myth. Just a few nights ago I read Gilgamesh for the first time, because I was thinking about Hammurabi’s code, one of the oldest written sets of laws, which came from Mesopotamia. A land we now know as Iraq. Iraq just set down its first constitution since being invaded and occupied by the US, so I was thinking about what kind of story you could tell about the relationship between these two documents.

That led me to Gilgamesh, because some of the deities mentioned in Hammurabi’s code are in Gilgamesh, the oldest written story in existence. The epic of Gilgamesh was set down by Shin-eqi-unninni, the world’s first published fiction writer, a third of the way back to the last ice age. For real.

So my original intention was to compare the oldest stories of national identity (Gilgamesh was a king, after all, and Hammurabi didn’t write a code because he was a peasant) to the current story of national identity in the US, but now I’m a little side-tracked. Maybe next time.

Ok, so despite having just now bemoaned the state of political discourse in the US, I’ve updated my sidebar to include some of my favorite opinion-writers.

Follow the links, wander off, and know that the world is better than anyone can tell you.

Sometimes when I’m reading political ‘blogs, or just when I’m reading the news, I feel like I might as well be reading one of those teeny-bopper magazines for all I’m learning.

I mean, I’m reading TAPPED, and it starts looking like The Star, except with the names of politicians instead of celebrities. Not that TAPPED is somehow falling down on the job; just that they’re not giving me anything to look forward to, a litany of how fucked up everything is. And it’s not unique to TAPPED, who I’m only mentioning at random here because it’s open in another window behind this one; it’s everywhere.

Political speech should be about stating a vision so that others can share it. Politics is about the overlap and friction between different visions, and good politics brings others in rather than excluding them. As a recent political candidate alluded to, it should unite rather than divide. Instead,what we have in this country is dumbasses arguing with dumbasses about whether Dumbass 1 told more lies than Dumbass 2. I’m going to hate this election because all Kerry has to do in order to win is act condescending towards Bush. I don’t see a political philosophy there, I just see yet another Democrat running on the faults of the Republicans. In this case, the faults are considerable, and worth voting out of office, but dammit… Why must it be about the worst common denominator rather than the best uncommon vision?

On a brighter note, there’s another blog called WorldChanging, which focuses on the solutions rather than the problems. It’s inherently apolitical, since politics won’t save us from ourselves, only vision will. And we can only have the vision if we’re bright enough to see the possibilities.

So I’m sitting here listening to the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy’s version of ‘California Uber Alles‘ (which rocks, by the way), and he’s taking swipe after swipe at then-CA-governor Pete Wilson. And it occurs to me that someone really needs to update this song for this decade, what with Arnold Schwarzenegger in office.

So if you’re a punk in California: DO IT.

Update: Someone did it.

From Time magazine, via this blogger who cites this blogger:

Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration’s efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month.

Yeah, cuz the DHS doesn’t have anything better to do than figure out ways to put Bush in photo-ops.

Remember the controversy a while back where Tom Delay was using Dept. of Homeland Security resources to track down Texas legislators who were gumming up the works of redistricting Texas to give the Republicans more power? Obviously we haven’t learned anything since then.

Kip Addotta, ‘Life In The Slaw Lane.’

The less said the better.

I’m looking at a web site called Passport In Time. It’s a listing of volunteer positions available in the National Forest Service, all dealing with archeology, anthropology, and historical site restoration.

Naturally I’m looking at Washington state and Oregon, and there are some cool ones. Like, for instance, spending a week or two in Okanagan helping a historian sort through and digitize old photos. Or the one I’m seriously considering applying for: an archeological site near Hell’s Canyon NRA, where you get ferried to the site every day by jetboat.

The most unexpected one is this (located right about where Oregon touches both California and Utah, mind you):

Basque and Irish Arborglyph History VI OR-5

July 12–16

Must commit to full session

We are entering our sixth year of historical research into the what, why, when, where, and how of Basque and Irish sheepherding on the forest. We will continue recording the arborglyphs found on the high-elevation aspen trees. Volunteers will record the glyphs, draw maps showing the location of the carved trees, and capture the unique drawings and the history they represent with photographs and written descriptions. The sheepherders left their art and inscriptions on the bark of the aspen trees. We will try to capture what was in their hearts and minds.Special skills: Photography and drawing skills helpful but not required

This is the sixth project related to the site. Here’s a previous one, with pictures.

Who’s with me? Wanna go camping and work, too?

Grand Theft America.

Probably not workplace-safe, unless you work in a Democratic campaign headquarters.

via bloggerheads:

One hi-larious illustration: “I’d Leave the Country, but My Wife Won’t Let Me“

I’m diggin’ Margaret Cho’s blog. Cho ’nuff!