Loxd4 said:
In Your Own Word Define “Patriotism”
Definition
Patriotism- pride in or devotion to the country somebody was born in or is a citizen of
Brainwash- to impose a set of usually political or religious beliefs on somebody by the use of various coercive methods of indoctrination, including destruction of the victim’s prior beliefs
Are these word more related then we think? There both devotion to believing something right or wrong? Is patriotism just another from of “Reverse Sociology” A.K.A “Brainwashing.” So if your really think out side the box (Not Saying They Fight A Just Cause Mean The Terrorist) those terrorist of there killing there self over in Iraq are not Brainwash just more patriotic then American because there willing to sacrifice there self just to kill one of us. So are terrorist just being patriotic (In The Wrong Way, Accordion to USA) or just being brainwashed?
Patriot evolved from the latin for father. Patriotism is thus "love for the land of the father." I see Patriotism as a Good thing, because one would want their fathers to be proud of what we do to their land. Few ancestors would want their decendants to rape, pillage, and destroy that which (most) fathers spent so much blood, swaet and time improving.
Now, Nationalism is what is sweeping the United States, not Patriotism. Nationalism promotes the supremacy of the nation and state, and especially state leaders, regardless of the good or ill the actions take. (This refers mainly to modern nationalism, in which nation and state are virtually synonymous. In the past, that wasn't the case, there were numerous stateless nations.)
Patriotism can exist in the absence of any official or formal state, nationalism does not (with a few rare exceptions).
All too often people, especially as I have seen in American Politics, equate Patriotism with Nationalism. They have different meanings, which is why there are two words.
The Founders of the United States are often refered to as the "Founding Fathers." In context of the United States, the actual fathers of our population, and the founding fathers are the people by which we should judge a behavior patriotic. Does a behavior respect and foster their ideals, desires, and goals for the country?
Does a unitary executive that holds the US Constitution as a "[Blasphemy] piece of paper" espouse the thoughts of Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Geroge Mason, Hamilton, or even Jackson, to name a few?
The Federalist Papers were writen as a persuasion for expanding the role of the federal government and establishing an executive branch. The Consititution was a compromise essentially born out of the debate between the Article of Confederation and supporters on one side, and the federalists on another. However, people NOW look at the Federalist papers as a reason to REVERT to a less controlling state. Do the current debates on the scope of the Federal Government reflect the ideals of the founders, or even your father? Ponder that: arguements that were once used, during the founding of the country, to expand state power, are now being looked at as arguements, currently, to limit state power. And they are the VERY SAME WORDS!
Is it patriotic to the founders, men who wrote things like "Free Trade with all, Entagling alliances with none," "Give me Liberty or give me Death," and held ideals like "Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely," and that Men have inalienable rights that just states do not infringe upon (but unjust states routinely infringe them).
These are just some of the Patriotic ideals of the United States.
Ideals that sell out public interests to the highest bidder, sacrifice liberty for the illusion of safety, instill absolute power in a unitary executive, and use the power of the state for personal gain, that the state has more insight into individual lives than the individual running them, that the state can perform all non-violent tasks better by using violence. These ideals are nationalistic or apologetic ideals, not patriotic.
