The Homeland
Sep 12th, 2006 at 9:07 am by Susie
WashPo’s Eugene Robinson has a good piece this morning on how 9/11 has twisted the national language, and mentions the use of the word “homeland” - a word, not incidentally, forever tied in my memory to Nazis (via “The Sound of Music” - “Edelweiss, edelweiss, bless my homeland forever”):
The word homeland is a vivid but relatively inconsequential example — less a distortion than an infelicitous choice that makes us sound as if we had quaint harvest rituals and a colorful national costume. It strikes an odd note, with its vague connotations of ethnic solidarity and ancient nationalism, and it gives off more than a whiff of us-vs.-them. This nation does have enemies from whom we need vigilant protection, but something more like “domestic security” would have done just fine, with less baggage.
Yes, exactly.
Susan, I don’t like this “Heimat” talk any more than you do, but you’re being unfair to THE SOUND OF MUSIC.
Oscar Hammerstein II’s words are sung by Captain Von Trapp, who so loves his homeland, Austria, that he not only refuses to serve her new masters, the Nazis, but takes his entire family into exile to escape them.
And he sings “Edelweiss” knowing it will be the last song they will sing in Austria for a long, long time…
Although the word “homeland” does come up repeatedly in The Sound of Music, I always associate it more with Nazis than with those who fought (or escaped from) them, because “homeland” sounds too close to “fatherland” for my comfort.
[...] Plus: anybody want to sing a song? [...]
somegirl here…
from the first time i heard the term “department of homeland security” i thought “nazi.” like elayne says, it just smacks too much of “fatherland.”
i never could understand why that dept. needed to be formed, and i still don’t. i just hate the whole concept of just rearranging the organizational structure everytime things get totally screwed up…that’s all the nutjobs do.
I don’t ever remember hearing anyone refer to the United States as the Homeland until the DHS was set up. I’d heard my home, my native land, where I’m from, my country, my nation, even my old Kentucky home… but never my homeland, except by non-Americans referring to the old country.
The first thing I thought of when I heard it was the whole Heimat/Vaterland/Rodina complex of terms. It creeped me out then, and it still does. And I’ve still never heard anyone use except in reference to the DHS. It just doesn’t seem like a natural American usage.
My America is only coicidentaly geographical.
Consider this thought experiment: if the US were to set up a self-sufficient outpost on the Moon, with full Statehood and the usual institutions, would it be America? Absolutely. What if the Earth were then rendered uninhabitable? America would be entirely on the Moon.
The same is not true of other countries. Mexico is a PLACE. France is a PLACE.
I noticed the replacement of “country”, “nation” and “America” with the word “homeland” just before President Clinton left office, if I remember correctly. I immediately recognized that its purpose was to remove the firm geographical context of the words it replaced. The meaning of the word “homeland” can easily accomodate the United States, Canada and Mexico being joined into one bigger homeland through FTAA etc.