My point is that you shouldn’t have made that comment at all. What purpose did it serve?

To critique your assertion of collective responsibility? You are free to disagree with what I said, but just as I have no authority to tell you what you should or shouldn’t say- you have no authority to tell me what I should or shouldn’t say. So, please stop(at least from my perspective) talking down to me in a condescending way.

You are aware that many people do take collective responsibility for their country, right?

Yes, and I have and will continue to voice my opposition to that.

You would agree that if one is to take pride in the good, they should also shoulder responsibility for the bad, right?

Yes and no, it depends on what their reasoning is for what they do take pride in.

You are aware that when someone uses the collective “we”, especially in the context of criticizing a country, that they may not (and are probably not) including their own personal stance in that comment, right?

I don’t agree with “probably not” but yes they may not be. But when they say we they are regardless collectivizing responsibility.

You were trolling.

(Accused me of ad hominem)

The new question is: why?

I explained why I said what I said, you continue to use it to derail the conversation and criticize me personally.

Are you so emotionally attached to the Marshall Plan being seen as an overall good thing that you needed to lash out?

I oppose the Marshall Plan.

If not the individual citizen’s responsibility, whose is it?

That depends what you mean, it is a lot of individual citizens responsibility- but it is not mine. I do not advocate hate, I do not vote for hateful politicians, and I don’t fund hateful organizations?

Do you believe “every vote matters”, or not?

What does that mean? A vote can be used to have some impact, sometimes, but usually most votes don’t have much of an impact when taken individually. That is to say, if one person changed who they voted for individually it wouldn’t have much of an impact. Of course individual actions can add up?

Do you believe in “of the people, by the people, for the people”?

Not really the principle or the reality, the reality really is “of some people, by some people, for some people”

but we all have a say in how society conducts itself and when it conducts itself badly, that is a failing for all of us.

No one has any obligation to act unless they agree to it. Inaction doesn’t make them responsible for the actions of others. Furthermore, I have and do act in advocating for, voting for, and funding what I support.

And if I’m being blunt, it has the same general feeling of some white man first learning about white male privilege and saying “You must be talking about yourself; I wasn’t privileged!”

Because it is the same rejection of tribalism.