A Note from Banksy

"People who enjoy waving flags don't deserve to have one"

I disagree with this statement but I think I agree with Banksy's general frustration with those who do wave flags. Patriots are not up for a rational discussion of patriotism in the same way a religious person is not up for a rational discussion of their beliefs. This is perfectly fine, and I would hope people have the right to be unreasonable as long as it isn't harming anyone else. In this case however it does seem to be causing harm.

While moral imperatives are supposed to be universal it often seems that our moral obligation to others stops at our boarders for the arbitrary reasons of closeness and legal proximity. Though cultural relativism is in vogue, it is still the case that justice is universal for many things that are not culturally specific. Murder is murder, rape is rape, ect. And while patriots seem to value the lives within their nation more than others, it is a moral imperative to break down these artificial barriers to moral action.

Often American interests are put ahead of the interests of other nations full of people who are and should be considered equal in value to any other human citizen. A particularly strong example of this is the United States continuous physical and diplomatic interventions in Latin America. These interventions often happen to the detriment of democracy and human rights in that region. Here is an (admittedly bias) cronological list of US interventions in Latin America.