Fault Line: the National Anthem

In an earlier blog, I had described the Moral Foundation theory. To recap, the theory explains why truly moral people often disagree:

1)      Morality is based on your take on 6 parameters (Care/harm; Fairness/cheating; Loyalty/betrayal; Authority/subversion; Sanctity/degradation and Liberty/oppression);

2)     The above axis often clash (should Care trump Fairness?);

3)     People give different weightages (even zero) to the different axis.

One of the areas on which the right and the left differ is patriotism. The right values it a lot based on their belief that what their country stands for (democracy, socialism, capitalism, religion, whatever) is worth defending. The left worries that patriotism will turn into jingoism and lead to wars and suffering. Hence the different stances… and as the Moral Foundation theory explains, neither stance is entirely right or entirely wrong.

Since nations don’t start wars at the drop of a hat, where these stances on patriotism lead to conflict between the left and the right is in their expectations from their own fellow citizens. To put it differently, just as the right despises the left’s “political correctness”, the left in turn hates the right’s “patriotic correctness” (as Alex Nowrasteh calls it).

The national anthem is just such a topic. When a black American football star knelt during the US national anthem as a sign of protest against police brutality against blacks, his action led to predictable reactions from the left and the right. The right was outraged; they burnt his T-shirts, and said that he could “get the hell out” if he didn’t love America. Tyler Cowen stated the left’s stance:

“Anthem practices shouldn’t be viewed as sacrosanct.”

And said:

“The awkward, hard-to-admit truth is that the American national anthem is a form of right-wing political correctness, designed to embarrass or intimidate those who do not see fit to sing along and pay the demanded respect.”

Sound familiar with what you see in India?

My takeaway from all this is that the anthem lands squarely on the fault line of the “Loyalty/betrayal” axis of the Moral Foundation theory. The left world over seems to be very slow in learn a seemingly obvious lesson: when your opponent is stronger (at least for the time being), learn to pick your fights, specifically avoid fights that are very close to the right’s heart, and avoid fights on topics that are inconsequential in the bigger scheme of things. And hard as it may be to digest, to remember that on patriotism, the right isn’t entirely wrong.