Sometimes people like to insist that Rosie is not a full beagle, because she doesn't adhere completely to breed standards. These people often ask me if I know what she's mixed with and I joke, "well, she's half-Jewish." Funny, right? Then I usually say, "she's a rescue dog, so I can't be sure, but I have no reason to doubt that she's one hundred percent beagle, and I have no idea what she could possibly be mixed with."
People are obsessed with dog breeds, myself included. I suppose that should come as no surprise—we're also obsessed with human breeds, which is why my Jewish joke is funny at all. Of course, you can't come up to a human's companion and say, "your friend looks part Jewish, do you know what the other part might be?" because it's offensive, but feel free to ask about Rosie's possible breed heritage, since she neither cares nor understands what we're talking about. I have to admit, though, that I am often kind of offended when people question Rosie's beagleness, as if they are impugning her honor. I mean, I purposefully didn't go to a breeder, so I have a dog with no pedigree—no proof of her heritage. I have trouble understanding why people who aren't looking to show their dog even bother paying the thousands of dollars it costs to get a pedigreed breed. Nonetheless, I feel it necessary to defend Rosie as One Hundred Percent Pure Beagle, Thank You Very Much.
The World Cup has begun, and so nationalism is on my brain, as I assume it is on most of the world's. When the Olympics roll around every couple of years, I sneer at the rampant nationalism. I turn the television off when they play the national anthems, and I groan in annoyance at the ways in which NBC (or whoever is airing the event) is trying to get me to root for Americans simply because they're Americans and twist their life stories into an inspiring saga I can get behind. Perhaps the Olympics, or any of these international sporting events, were once about a nobler version of nationalism; a kind of alternative to the nationalism that results in prolonged and needless violence. The world in 2010, however, is different from the world in 1896 when Pierre de Coubertin organized the first Modern Olympic Games. 114 years later, the world has shrunk. Globalization is rapid and homogenizing and potentially destructive and a million other frightening things, but it also has the potential for great things. When I watch the Olympics now, I root not for Americans but for humans, and for the potential to see great athletic accomplishment.
But tribalism has its appeal, and it always will. I am not immune to in-group psychology, and I don't think I should hate myself for it, either—it's only human. I am a big fan of the New York Yankees, and it has less to do with living in New York than it does with the people around me (my family, specifically) being Yankees fans at a time when I was falling in love with the game of baseball. But part of the appeal of being a Yankees fan is the tribalism. I love hating the Red Sox and their stupid, ugly fans. And I love being hated by them. I like to laugh tenderly at my Mets fan friends, and watch them seethe in pure fury.
Rosie is a dog, and she's also a beagle. I am partisan to beagles. I am a human, and I am also a Jew, an atheist, a New Yorker, an American, a straight male, a nerd, a liberal, and a Yankees fan. I am partisan to all of those things. But when push comes to shove, I am a human first, and everything else a distant second. I am not for eliminating labels, as there is an enjoyment to be gained in their use, but it must be acknowledged exactly how unimportant those labels truly are. If Rosie were a mixed breed, would I love her any less? Absolutely, unequivocally not. And yet that is often not the attitude people espouse towards other's ethnicities, religions, nationalities, and sexual orientations. While the World Cup is on and everyone cheers their nation's team to a hoped-for victory, let's remember what's really important: human achievement. Imagination, art, technology, love, athleticism, curiosity, entertainment, science, altruism—these are the things we have achieved as humans, not as tribes.
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