Opinion
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Do you mean meaninglessness? The title makes no sense. I'm not sure about this. You can't replace religion with nationality.
ReplyI guess it very much depends on how you personally define religion and nationality.
ReplyWhereas I think religion and nationality get mixed up in terms of things like queen and country etc, I think they have fundamental differences - a nation is not a God (or is it?). A nation however is not a secular thing in my opinion either - you have to have belief in a nation for it to exist and this belief is then used to further sustain its social structures and to somehow form diverse justifications for actions linked to it.
ReplyThe idea of nationalism filling a spiritual void left by increasing secularisation or anything that might lead down a path towards the replacement or merger of the unquestionable authority of an infallible deity or some universal principle with the authority of earthy leaders and ideologies would worry many. I don’t think this is the best starting point to argue for an independent Wales. An argument- an internationalist one, that has more appeal to me, would be that Wales needs to take the full powers of an independent nation in order to be best placed to organise itself and to have the freedom to treat with other to exploit ia unique world view and opportunities arising from its geography and history and culture to the solution of the many problems facing Wales and humanity – “A Better Wales- A Better World!”
ReplyI am ashamed not to have heard of J R Jones but not surprised that such an interesting book Yr Argyfwng Gwacter Ystyr was written in a department that also contained such an eminent philosopher as Rush Rees. This forthcoming conference seems to discuss the central issue that deals with the apparent consequences of the presumed lacuna in the heart of Liberalism (and the realisation that the Death of God might imply the Death of Man.) There is a dissonance and tension between Wales as an actual and potential linguistic ( moral?) community and the fragmented conflicting political identities physically within Wales but who often see themselves as merely within a region of the United Kingdom. Some argue that Liberalism is not bereft of moral content but has elements of a theory of the good so that articulating a thin theory of the good that envisages a peculiarly Welsh community that is sufficiently inviting not to exclude a majority within the existing liberal framework would be an interesting exercise. I am so disappointed that my Welsh is not good enough to read Yr Argyfwng Gwacter Ystyr or probably the conference papers from Aberystwyth and hope something might be made available for the Welsh constituency that sees the language as the fulcrum of Welshness but whose Welsh is not good enough to read the papers. .
ReplyI'm not to sure about the religion aspect in all of this, tending to see religion itself, and certainly the Christian religion as being part of the problem, and not the solution. I would suggest that the death of god and the death of man, are interlinked though, as concepts, as after all godheads are made by people in their own image. There is certainly something missing in the ideas of materialism and it's inablity to satisfy deep human needs, and obviously it's something that has been written about a lot. Oscar Wilde wrote about 'Socialism and the Soul of Man' where he is critical of socialism in that it is devoid of anything to do with human spiritual needs. Capitalism does much the same, and certainly mass consumption has become a kind of ersatz religion for many, and our town and city centres are full of shops attempting to sell us things we don't really need. (And don't get me started on the disgusting cult of the latest iPhone!) I'm with Tame Frontiersman on this, and would much prefer that we follow the internationalist route. But essentially it is about values. On one of my web surfing forays I came across a documentary made in Iceland that deals with similar themes in terms of values and meaning as well as the total and utter emptiness of much of modern life. The film highlights the rapaciousness of capitalism and how it destroys the very environment we need to stay alive. I recommend viewing: https://vimeo.com/114965697
ReplyThe article makes some interesting points but predictably ignores the elephant in the nationalist room - I.e. that more than 90% of the Welsh population also regard the United Kingdom as their "nation"
ReplyReally? Care to enlighten us as to where you found that statistic? According to Wikipedia, the 2001/02 Labour Force Survey, showed that 87% of Welsh born people regarded themselves as ethnically Welsh, which kind of blows your figure out of the water.
ReplyDifferent surveys give different results according to how the question is posed. The biggest source of evidence comes from the 2011 census. Then 58% of people in Wales recorded their national identity as just Welsh and 7% said they were both Welsh and British. However, as the ONS' own research found, the way the question was worded (a list of options with the invitation to tick all that apply) encouraged in practice people to just tick the first box they saw that applied. The first option was Welsh. It's probable that many did not read on. In contrast, using a sample rather than the whole population but with a different question posed, are the election surveys carried out by Cardiff University and others. These were designed to force people to think about whether they had dual nationalities. The results from 2011 were very different to the census: Welsh not British 18% More Welsh than British 19% Equally Welsh and British 30% More British than Welsh 8% British not Welsh 17% Every time this scale has been used in the last 20 years, surveys have produced very similar results. Davy might be wrong with his 90% of people in Wales thinking they are British figure but I suspect 80% is probably not that far off. Only 20% of the electorate not thinking of themselves as British would also help explain why Plaid have struggled to get much more than a fifth of the vote in most Assembly elections. Things are also skewed by whether we are talking about kids or adults. I suspect children are more likely to pick the single Welsh option but the election surveys are just for adults. I would hesitate to only discuss people only born in Wales since in election terms (and thus in any future independence referendum) where you are born is irrelevant. Whatever the stats, any independence campaign that fails to appeal to the very significant number of people who consider themselves as both Welsh and British is doomed to fail.
ReplyWhilst we desperately need independence, please, please, please do not fall into the idolatry of putting nationalism above God. "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's."
ReplyBut nationalism exists, God doesn't! No Gods, No Masters!
ReplyWell Huw, you've done it again. Said it how its is and even though I may not quite see eye to eye on certain little things, you had me at "How belonging to a nation can save us from the meaninglessness of modern life". Anyone who argues, is either a unionist, British llackey or simply just doesn't get it! However, keep up the good work! Diolch yn fawr iawn Huw!
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