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Comment by megaloblasto | Hacker News Reader

"I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually"

If you've read James Baldwin you can recognize how powerful it is for him to say that.

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The first amendment guarantees us this right, too. Attempting to curtail or vilify people with such speech is anti-American. Doubly so when the speech criticizing another country!

I tried to write a sentence in the same spirit.

"I love my partner more than any other person in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize them perpetually".

Why doesn't my sentence work, except for the lunatic? Because America is not a person or an object, it is an idea and praxis. He loves the idea, but perpetually criticizes the praxis.

But I find it inappropriate to use the pronoun “she/her,” as Baldwin does. It is an “it,” an idea/praxis (in this case, in other cases it can also be a geographical location).

James Baldwin was born in 1924. Language changes a lot in 100 years. He is one of the greatest American authors and has a very intentional use of words. In this case, perhaps the use of her is supposed to convey an intimacy with his relationship to the country as more than just an object, but as a integral part of his lived experience.

Calling a person out is integral to any relationship, and can be done endearingly. People need to be reminded of reality at times. Humans are delusional animals.

"Criticize them perpetually" is far from endearing, though. And certainly not a dream of anybody. It makes much more sense in the context of politics or dreams or ideas. After all, we have already read of permanent revolutions, and criticism and self-criticism.

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