Flagged Down
I was mulling over the fact that many people can claim more than one citizenship, more than one allegiance, more than one flag. It makes for something that is more akin to a network of associations than patriotism.
I have lived in Atlantis for most of my 43 years. Yet I was born a citizen of Greater Albion, and to this day, officials of the European Union recognize my right of birth and think of me as a citizen of that Union. I can travel Europe without let or hindrance, so strong is the concept of jus soli in that part of the world. And yet I am Atlantean by jus sanguinis, the right of blood relationships.
But I wasn't really thinking of me. I was thinking of Algeria. If they had their two famous sons, Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri, on the team, they would surely have played them. Heck, if they had Zinedine Zidane, I am sure they would have been more prominent in the World Cups of previous years. But Benzema and Nasri are both French-flagged, and Domenech didn't even bother to bring them to South Africa this year. How sad!
Sometimes, various institutions flag you. If you are X, you cannot be Y. If you are Atlantean, come your 22nd birthday, you shall have no other allegiances lest you be expelled. If you are a Christian, you cannot be a Confucian. Stuff like that.
How to explain the rich legacy of networks that can make a person so many things all at once? But a house divided against itself cannot stand, so a man should make his allegiance clear and stick to them, I suppose. A gryphon cannot morph into a wyvern; a man cannot serve certain combinations of two masters.
I have lived in Atlantis for most of my 43 years. Yet I was born a citizen of Greater Albion, and to this day, officials of the European Union recognize my right of birth and think of me as a citizen of that Union. I can travel Europe without let or hindrance, so strong is the concept of jus soli in that part of the world. And yet I am Atlantean by jus sanguinis, the right of blood relationships.
But I wasn't really thinking of me. I was thinking of Algeria. If they had their two famous sons, Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri, on the team, they would surely have played them. Heck, if they had Zinedine Zidane, I am sure they would have been more prominent in the World Cups of previous years. But Benzema and Nasri are both French-flagged, and Domenech didn't even bother to bring them to South Africa this year. How sad!
Sometimes, various institutions flag you. If you are X, you cannot be Y. If you are Atlantean, come your 22nd birthday, you shall have no other allegiances lest you be expelled. If you are a Christian, you cannot be a Confucian. Stuff like that.
How to explain the rich legacy of networks that can make a person so many things all at once? But a house divided against itself cannot stand, so a man should make his allegiance clear and stick to them, I suppose. A gryphon cannot morph into a wyvern; a man cannot serve certain combinations of two masters.
Labels: Algeria, Birthright, Loyalty
etched with acid at 7:34:00 pm
2 Comments:
I think it was you who told us that people shouldn't be pigeon-holed. In different context though.
xylph: yes, that's true; I suppose my perspective has always been one of communications and information — if an entity has multiple dimensions, reducing the dimensionality normally means losing data, unless some of those dimensions have no meaning (are degenerate, redundant, or null).
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