Patriotism: thoughts from a TCK in the U.S. Army
“Holy shit, you’re not black?” the patient exclaimed as he examined me from head to toe. My partner and the two police officers burst out laughing. “No sir, I’m more of a twinkie,” I said.
All posts tagged: patriotism
Massachusetts Senate race: Do TCKs vote?
Massachusetts Democrats are in danger of losing late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat to the GOP on Tuesday, thereby surrendering their 60-seat Senate majority and jeopardizing health care reform plans. It’s not looking good for the Dems. Democratic candidate Martha Coakley is 7 points behind Republican Scott Brown, and with President Barack Obama dropping in on the campaign trail — it is critical that voters turn out Tuesday. Which leads me to wonder: do TCKs vote? Fellow Denizen writer Suzanne Leung has previously tackled the concept of expatriate patriotism. But, are TCKs apathetic about their home countries because they have never lived there? Or, are apathetic about their host countries because they are not citizens and cannot vote? Or, are they wildly motivated about political causes because of their international experiences? In 2008, I volunteered on the Obama campaign even though I couldn’t vote. It was an incredible learning experience for me, since I had never been involved in anything political before. Do you, as a TCK, vote? Do you participate in political movements around the …
Expatriate Patriotism
So Chinese-born superstar Gong Li recently became a Singaporean citizen—and people in China are completely freaking out. Even though her husband is Singaporean, and she’s lived abroad for years, her decision has sparked an onslaught of heated protest on popular online portals like sohu.com and sina.com. “Traitors like this don’t even love their own country,” one Netizen wrote, translated by The Times. “These people were only fake countrymen of ours. Let them slink off to other countries and die!” “All traitors will be nailed to history’s mast of shame,” wrote another. “We should resolutely reject any further contact with such people.” Um, seriously? Geez. Calm down, people. That’s psycho ex-boyfriend talk. Maybe it’s just me. I don’t think Third Culture Kids (TCKs) ever really “get” the whole patriotism thing. Even my British National Overseas (BNO) passport triggers confused questions that I don’t quite know how to answer: “Oh, you’re British?” “No, it’s a Hong Kong passport that just looks like a British passport. You know, it was a British colony…” “Weren’t you born in England, …
Denizen 