Patriotism: The Last Resort of Scoundrels

[Boo Radley]

scoundrels will resort to screaming any emotion that they feel is positve in order to cover their own failures.

for example; dissent was the highest form of patriotism..... until Obama was elected President then it became 'sedition'.

Well, if you're going to go silly. No, it still is. Being stupid, isn't equal to dissent. Stupid on both sides shoudl be called out, even if it is dissent.

 

[Boo Radley]

Probably the only one there I agree with.


Patriotism in healthy quantities creates positive results in the form of people doing things to improve their country. Nationalism in excess is what leads to wars.

Twain was a smart fellow. I do think there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism. I agree with you here, though many confuse the two.

 

[Cochise]

Well, as I've said, what is "America," or more accurately, given that it's a pair of continents and not a country, what is the "United States"? Not a conscious entity, despite the tendency to appeal to the conceptual metaphor of the nation-state as person, stating that "Israel" did this and "Iran" did this. In the case of the United States, it's what a sector of the executive branch of the federal government did, more often than not.

That's why it's stupid to speak of "hating America." When people criticize "America," they're being critical of the actions of a very select number of people who have influence over governmental foreign policy decisions. The vast majority of the population lacks such influence over administrative affairs.

 

[deltabtry]

<<<<<<<<confused

Living in a country that has given her everything and she even has the ability to speak freely mostly paid for in blood. Yes this country has made mistakes and will make mistakes but what country hasn't. The difference between the U.S. and most other countries is that we as a country try to recitify those mistakes.