Comments by "andy99ish" (@andy99ish) on "The Damage Report" channel.

Latino immigrants have seen all kinds of socialism and collectivism fail in their mother countries. No wonder they support Trump.
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This is not the way of thinking which made the USA great.
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So people should vote according to other people's alleged preferences ? I am afraid that you are confused.
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Oh sure, Ms Freud.
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@dribrom That corrupted systems are prone to failure is true. Yet failure of a system will not necessarily mean misery. I am quite glad that communism failed. Patriotism is a virtue displayed by rather symbolic gestures. People eg. state that they "support" the military, the support being the statement that they support it. If anything in the US comes close to collectivism, then it is the strong community and civic sense. But these sentiments and actions are upheld by individuals. So it is not collectivism understood as an ideology pushed by the state.
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@jamesnichol2183 The US without doubt carries out imperialistic policy in the Americas. But that is neither generally good nor generally bad for countries affected. Outcomes vary: Boycotting Castro drove him towards the Soviet Union and consequently to stagnation. Toppling Allende opened the way for Chile's economic success. Establishing NAFTA did not stop Mexico from social and economic decline. Carlos Fuentes' "The Burried Mirror" comes much closer to explain the vibrant unproductivity of Latino culture than simplistic attempts at victimization.
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@dribrom My statement about patriotism is empirical. Your critique of patriotism as a sentiment is in reality a critique of its exaggerated forms. Which you actually concede by saying "of patriotism becoming toxic". That implies that patriotism in its initial form is not toxic. And it isn't. Humans have the need to be part of a group, but at the same time of a group different from other groups. To denigrate that fundamental aspect of the human condition is outlandish. Even more so if one takes into account that many mammals display the same behavior. I am not aware of any militarists among cape buffalos calling for establishing herds. Are you ? Now about discrimination: I do care more about my family than about other families. I do care more about my community than about other communities. I do care more about my fellow citizens than citizens of other countries. I do care more about humans than members of other species. All of these sentiments make me do something to the benefit of other people. And none of these sentiments means that I dehumanize other families, communities or nations. Yes, any sentiment can be misused. But just as the Soviet GULAGs were not proof that socialism is bad, the QAnon movement is not proof that patriotism is bad. So let's guard ourselves against misuse. But nihilism is not an option. As there are simply not enough shrinks to fill the void modernity is creating.
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@dribrom Being part of a collectivity does not amount to collectivism. Just as being social does not make one a socialist, being a human does not make one a humanist, being of a nation does not make one a nationalist. Nor does the cooperation of predators make them militaristic, lol. There is a difference between a phenomenon and an ideology based on that phenomenon. More specifically an individual can very well care about his patria, without embracing the concept of general subordination to it. Actually the classic idea was that the Greek polity or the Roman res publica is nourished by the contributions of free individuals, whose acting is based on virtue and reason. Locke's and Kant's ethics show similar patterns. Your dichotomy of individual vs social, which is mirrored in "being subordinate to", leaves out the idea of willing contributions of individuals to the collectivity. And that is pretty much the basis of classic patriotism.
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@lilyl8927 While some people act like this it is highly speculative to generalize such mechanisms. I think that it is the preference for strong leaders which plays a much bigger role when it comes to Trump. Additionally fulled by the feeling shared by many if not most elderly people of any origin, that the US is in decay.
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@lilyl8927 Why do I make statements ? For the same reason you made your statements.
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@lilyl8927 Spot on :)
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