In the abstract sense; What does it entail, responsibility-wise? What does it entail, benefits-wise? How should the citizen act around his/her fellow citizens? How should the citizen conduct politics? How should the citizen treat matters of national importance? How should the citizen treat disagreement within his/her democracy? Etc etc Interested in opinions from other cultures!
Being a citizen entails recognizing the state as your authority. And recognizing the masses as your equals. Fuck. That.
On the global, competitive scale that influences our day-to-day lives - does a nation whose inhabitants work together towards common goals do better or worse than nations without any internal state structure? Which nation would be more likely to produce a competitive society? In reality, which nations produce better societies - the ones in which the citizens partake and pay taxes, or the ones in which there is little or no government?
Being a citizen is being part of something. You have a vote, rights and a voice. You should also remember that when your country does something they are representing you. Citizenship of some countries is very coveted. If I ever was going to have registered offspring (you can never be sure, alcohol is a potent aphrodisiac) I always thought Scandinavia would be a good start for any young smokinp. What your people have achieved is to be admired Viking. The one criticism i would have is that some Scandinavians (Norwegians I am most familiar with) can be a little serious and cold.
I'm against society and all its imposed social mores and definitions. So whatever you mean by "better" or "competitive" i probably disagree with. So I'm going to bow out now and just observe this discussion as usual.
Being a citizen means sacrificing your own life for the life of the collective. It means being an ant. We are not ants. I much prefer being an individual and working with other individuals in a mutually beneficial society, instead of being just another cog in the machine -Yuri
As it stands now? It means paying your taxes and working your fingers to the bone for tablescraps like a good little ant. What it should mean? Standing together to write the narrative, not letting others write the narrative, where we all get AIDS and die in prison for committing crimes that aren't really crimes, in the name of the all mighty profit. Okay so the "AIDS" was just to be dramatic, but the rest of it stands, we really need to do something about private prisons and police militarization.
100% straight up understated like to laugh? enjoy jokes? pop the occasional smile at things? stay the fuck out of this clinic that and the god damn winter explains why we're #1 at death metal
Wins our version of American Idol on mainstream TV No military kids here Not to turn this into a discussion about music; but different music captures different moods. Norway has a history of occupation and repression and shitty-ass weather to boot, so we enjoy a bit of FUCCCCKKK YOOUUUU<span class="redactor-invisible-space"> music from time to time</span>
if I didn't have such a badass sig I'd put that up fucking laughed nothing says fuck you like a good folk song
If everyone played their part as a citizen, instead of living in a fantasy world of their own, then we wouldn't need government or any kind of "authority" or any wars. Just my 2 cents
Welcome to anarchist' philosophy. The state, however, actively tries to destroy this line of thinking to create an artificial dependence upon them and make you think that you need a parasitic ruling class to oversee all of this because humans as a whole are too stupid and selfish to ever organize in a beneficial way. We need to take the scum off the top of that group of humans and put them in charge to dictate to the rest of us how we must live.