ON PATRIOTISM

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At the outset, let me confess that I am a strong votary of the theory espoused by Charles Darwin, Evolution. And I think that everyone who has read and taken to heart that theory should also pursue the observations of the human socio-biologist, as he is called, Desmond Morris. In particular, I would recommend the reading of his two titles – Naked Ape and Intimate Behaviour. And for those who do not, this would be just a fantastic flight of imagination.

Having defined the setting of my thoughts, I can now dwell on the burden of my song.

Patriotism, to put it in the zoological sense, is simply the territorial instinct of the animal. This instinct is more pronounced in the case of mammals. The longer gestation and weaning period, that is the hall mark of the species, must have been the reason why this species turned out to be passionately protective of its native environs. A concern for safe rearing maybe one of its underlying reasons. 

This behavior is a marked trait of almost all mammals, as far as I understand. It is known and recorded in the case of the animals in the wild – the ones that live in herds, or community in human terms, as well as the ones that live on their own, like the lion or tiger – animals that kill for a living, so to say.

A careful observation of the manners of domesticated animals would prove to be an affirmation of this trait. Look at the way the hen gets at any adversary that comes close to its brood. Or the way a dog barks away the other dogs that try to breach its territory. It is this territorial instinct that is in full display. Animals are known to mark their territories with their unique smells, and this smell is expected to keep the other animals off the domain.

My boyhood and early youth was spent in my native village. And much of my idle hours were spent watching the monkeys that were in plenty in the place I lived. That was when I realized that they have much in common with us. After all, they are the distant cousins of our forefathers, the Ape.

They provided me lessons on communal living, on leadership, on adherence to common codes, as well as on territorial rights. And that was when I realized that Darwin and Morris were well on their mark.

Applying this to the human situation, I found the similarities striking.

We started off as tribes. A single tribe branching out to a multitude. Various tribes jealously guarding their territories, brooking no trespassing of any foreign “sapiens.” As our vision expanded to include more variants of our own kind – white, black, brown, tall, short.. – under a common umbrella of humanity, we must have learnt to accept and co-exist. The edges must have got smoothened, like a sharp stone being rounded to a pebble in the long run. And our reaction to the intrusion of the “foreign” is more muted, or even accepted. And violent reactions to intrusion are still found only in the communities that still keep off what we term as the “civilized world.”

Civilization is, after all, a growing out of animal instincts. And, thinking (a trait that animals apparently lack), and acting, in a more mature and inclusive manner. Accepting and co-existing with the “other.”

It should have been that simple. But, sadly, it is not.

What we see around us belies this claim of civilization. The tribal identities are no longer marked by just geographical territories. The very thought process that had exalted us to the stature of civilization, from a very mundane animal existence, has been the cause of many an imaginary divisions. While the “uncivilized” tribes fight for geographical territory, the “civilized” fight for these imagined territories.

And often comparatively harmless patriotism takes a further dip to a more fiery nationalism.

So where does civilization stand?

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