Patriotism

From Issuepedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

[edit] Overview

Definitions of patriotism include:
  • love for or devotion to one's country (Merriam-Webster)
  • positive and supportive attitudes to a 'fatherland' (Wikipedia)
  • love or devotion to one's country or homeland (Conservapedia)

There seem to be two main varieties of patriotism:

  • Broad patriotism is the support of one's country towards a goal of being a better country, recognizing that it may yet have serious flaws.
  • Narrow patriotism is taking the side of one's country in any disagreement (i.e. supporting the idea that our side should win), regardless of which side may have a morally better case.

Both forms are willing to defend a homeland against unprovoked attack, though for subtly different reasons.

Narrow patriotism equates to "My country, right or wrong!", an attitude which broad patriots often find morally reprehensible.

[edit] Related Pages

[edit] Links

[edit] Reference

[edit] Filed Links

  • 2008-07-04 /S/D/ Not questioning their patriotism, but... “My wife and I just got back from a July 4th walk. We walked eight miles around our neighborhood and a bunch of surrounding ones here in Durham. I saw lots of Obama signs in front yards signs and lots of American flags on houses. But I didn’t see a single house with an American flag AND an Obama yard sign. Not one. Just sayin’...” Some dialogue ensues. It's not clear if they're taking this seriously or not; if they are, they're totally missing the irony in view of Obama's recent remarks on this topic.
  • 2008-07-04 /S/D/ Bad Deed for 7-4-2008: Confusing the Public About Patriotism “For a people to be controlled, they must first be robbed of honest discourse and open debate. Distorting language and stripping it of real and honest meaning is the first tool and the best mechanism for transforming a democracy into an authoritarian state. ... Nowhere does the term or the idea of patriotism in general require one to believe one’s country is “great.” Nowhere does the term or the idea of patriotism in general require a ban on dissenting views, on criticism of one’s government, indeed even of one’s nation.”
  • 2008-07-02 /S/D/ Don't attack the patriotism of our patriots “But John Aravosis, who blogs on Americablog.com, has a different take. In a posting Sunday, he accused McCain of disloyalty because at one point, his captors tortured him into reading a propaganda statement.” This is a ridiculous charge, and Pitts is right to attack it – but does this relate to what Wes Clark said about McCain? Or is it sheer coincidence that Pitts chose to write on this topic?
  • 2008-07-01 /S/D/ Obama on pride -- and dissent -- in America “Adams' Alien and Sedition Act, Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, Roosevelt's internment of Japanese Americans – all were defended as expressions of patriotism, and those who disagreed with their policies were sometimes labeled as unpatriotic. .. In other words, the use of patriotism as a political sword or a political shield is as old as the Republic. Still, what is striking about today's patriotism debate is the degree to which it remains rooted in the culture wars of the 1960s – in arguments that go back forty years or more. In the early years of the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War, defenders of the status quo often accused anybody who questioned the wisdom of government policies of being unpatriotic. ... Most Americans never bought into these simplistic world-views – these caricatures of left and right. Most Americans understood that dissent does not make one unpatriotic, and that there is nothing smart or sophisticated about a cynical disregard for America's traditions and institutions. And yet the anger and turmoil of that period never entirely drained away. All too often our politics still seems trapped in these old, threadbare arguments – a fact most evident during our recent debates about the war in Iraq, when those who opposed administration policy were tagged by some as unpatriotic, and a general providing his best counsel on how to move forward in Iraq was accused of betrayal.”

[edit] News & Views

Retrieved from "http://issuepedia.org/Patriotism"
Personal tools