Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Def: Patriotic

The word patriotic should be struck from the (American) English language.

I'm so completely sick & tired of this word being bandied about as some sort of touchstone to demand immediate and abject acceptance of whatever harebrained dumb-fuck opinion is being offered.

"Some authors ... argue that patriotism is distinguished from nationalism by its lack of aggression or hatred for others..." obviously these are authors who've never visited the USA recently.

The Correlates of War project found some correlation between War propensity and patriotism. Yup, the 'my country, right or wrong' - which in reality means "my country, but only if I get it my way, and if everyone else likes my way".

I guess I totally fail to be a patriot. As long as my kids get a good education, the roads are maintained in good working order, the level of crime is manageable, and the politicians aren't totally gutting my financial input to the country, ... oh, I guess none of that's happening anyway. I really don't give a damn what we call it.

"I'm proud to be an American" ... yeah?

So what have you done about it recently that would make me want to be American?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Patriotism and nationalism are frequently mixed up or used interchangeably. A love of country is included in nationalism which is the fanatic form, the form that sees their country's way as the only and right way, and only their country's citizens are worthy of anything.

But you can be a patriot, loving your country, willing to defend it, without being a fanatic about it.....