Rampaging collectivism

High in the Kosovo sky, an American Air Force pilot presses a button that releases a missile intended to kill a whole bunch of people he doesn’t know, has never met, and now will never ever know. He indiscriminately kills people who have never personally done him (or any of his close friends or family members) any wrong. He does so as a matter of course, as a sacred principle of patriotic duty, or merely as a job to be performed.

Far below him, on the ground, his “target” is decimated; actual lives are lost. Along his bombing route, a number of innocent civilians are killed, including four Chinese nationals, when the Chinese embassy is inadvertently bombed.

When the news travels back to mainland China, mass protests and riots erupt. Americans, Germans and Westerners of every stripe are targeted throughout China. Teachers and news reporters–people who may not have supported US involvement in Kosovo, who might have otherwise cared less–are beaten without justification, merely for being an involuntary member of a foreign race.

Such are the gross perversions of rampaging collectivism. Its absolute absurdity lies in a group-herd mentality divorced from both reason and reality.

Under such a situation, if you kill someone who has unjustly done you wrong (say, raped your wife), you are a murderer and should be jailed and punished. However, if you kill a whole bunch of perfect strangers in a national battle–people you don’t know and who have never done you any wrong–you are a national hero. You should have an extravagant homecoming parade and be decorated with honors.

Modern nationalism is merely an extended form of primitive tribalism. Except for its greater power and efficiency, the 20th Century nationalism that devastated millions (during WWI and WWII) contained tribalism at its core.

The world is still perishing from a failure to recognize individual rights over state-sponsored collectivism. Serbian soldiers are said to be killing Albanian civilians they may not personally know–civilians who have done absolutely nothing to personally offend these soldiers. The United States is killing innocent Serb civilians–civilians who probably have little or no control over their government’s actions. Meanwhile, the mainland Chinese are beating Western expatriates because their Western governments, again over which they have little or no control, have accidentally bombed four of their fellow Chinese countrymen–also people they don’t personally know, who have done nothing to personally help or hurt them–because people they don’t personally know (ethnic Albanians) are being killed by other people (Serbs) they also don’t personally know.

What a crazy world–and all because of rampaging collectivism!
Strictly a personal view. Charles Reyes Jr. is a regular columnist of Saipan Tribune. Mr. Reyes may be reached at charlesraves@hotmail.com