Re: Father/Motherland

Jonathan Chang wrote, quoting Nik Taylor:

> > We have the Statue of Liberty, a woman, but also Uncle
> > Sam, a man, and the Bald Eagle, which, at least to me,
> > seems masculine.
>
> To me, Lady Liberty always struck me as being rather
> "butch" (big, stocky, rather hamfisted, & oh so Germanic
> looking [yes the French built HER, I know]).
Having never been to America, I want to say that I approve
very much of the Statue of Liberty, on the basis that,
philosophically, it's a good thing for a symbol of a
country to be something created by another country.

Every country should find its own answer to two questions,
which can be expressed as follows:
1.  What _sets_ us apart from the world?
2.  What _makes_ us a part of the world?

The human tendency, especially in a materialistically
successful culture, is to stress the first question at
the expense of the second. And we all know that Americans
as a group have a reputation for being fiercely patriotic
and generally dismissive of the rest of the world [1].
But the Statue should serve as a reminder of the
interdependence of nations; it should remind Americans
that every country becomes what it is not by its own
efforts alone but also by what it gives, what it receives,
and what it shares.

Here in Australia it is unfortunate that no-one ever
sings the second verse of the National Anthem because it
illustrates exactly what I'm talking about:
  Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
  We'll toil with hearts and hands
  To make this commonwealth of ours
  Renowned through all the lands
  For those who've come across the seas
  We've boundless plains to share
  (etc)

Regardless of whether these last two lines are _literally_
true (us being the driest continent in the world save
Antarctica), the metaphorical sentiment is what it's
really about. How many other national anthems speak
positively of the whole world, and acknowledge that the
country it celebrates is only a part of the whole?

Every country needs a symbol that puts that country back
in its proper context. For Americans, the Statue of
Liberty should serve that purpose. (Whether it does or
not is another issue entirely.)

[1] Anyone participating on a conlang list is evidently
    not contributing to the stereotype.

Adrian.
http://www.flinders.edu.au