February 26, 2015

Are you us or them? A misleading understanding of loyalty.

located:	United Kingdom
editor:	Murat Suner

Have you ever been asked whether you are loyal to your country? Muslim people in Great Britain have been now.

A BBC survey found that “95% of Muslims feel a loyalty to Britain”, but that there are “no similar measurements for the general public.”

Everbody relieved?

Wait, “one in four (27%) said that they had some sympathy for the motives behind the attacks in Paris on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.”

Well, Suzanne Moore, an award-winning columnist for the Guardian, says in her opinion piece "I hate the union flag and I would scrap the royal family. But no one asks me to prove my Britishness."

So, what happens then? If I refuse to accept monarchy, because I consider inheriting power through blood bond as anti-democratic and based on a racist concept, am I illoyal then? Or do I just believe that my country should be more democratic and pluralistic?

Further, who defines loyalty and which group should be questioned? As Suzanne Moore points out, this poll drives the us-and-them mentality. It's polarizing society along misleading categories and values. In addition why would one think that Muslims are homogenous group? Would you ever think in this way about Christians?

Suzanne Moore offers her opinion on what is actually ultimately disloyal to this country: "To acknowledge the actual diversity, the range of opinion, belief and dissent that intertwines all of us into a nation."