The False Construct

The political world map only looks the way it does because we think it should. Some thoughts are more successful than others. Look at Iraq. Obviously a false construct, patched together from the Ottoman Empire after the first world war. It is not convincing as a nation. Nobody really believes it is. Not even those that proclaim the loudest. You could argue that it was designed to destabilise the region, and its current condition is deliberate, but that's a whole different topic. The point is, Iraq isn't stable, because people see through it.

For this kind of false construct to successfully exist, the population needs to believe in it. This is where the myth of the nation comes in handy. It begins with shared stories, shared beliefs, shared background, which compounds groups of people into nations. It works because people want to team up, against them, the different people, from over the hill, who they're afraid of. Just because sometimes the idea sticks, and sometimes it does not, doesn't mean a false construct like the United States is any more or less valid than Iraq. Just a more successful illusion. In one the myth of the nation prevails, in the other, not so much. The different regions of Iraq all have their own, much older, myths to cling to.

It's human nature. We are incapable of being nonpartisan. We want to be included in a group, not be left out alone; unsupported. In prehistory, this would have been a death sentence. So, if we're going to believe in false constructs, why not believe in the best kind. A noble and compassionate idea that demands no human sacrifice. Inclusive, not exclusive. Not tolerance, but acceptance. Acknowledging that each human being is the same as yourself. The same intrinsic value. The same tribe.

If all the Earth is your heritage as a human being, then I suggest a nation of which we are all a part, and I'll even suggest a name: Pangea. The name of the single super continent which existed 300 million years ago. Pangea, meaning 'All-Earth'. Not a new nation. The oldest. It doesn't require any myths to sustain itself. The entire history of the Earth and all of its people is the story.

You have a nation, you have a flag. We don't have to think in terms of illusions anymore. The nation of Pangea is more real than any other false construct.