Why do some Americans see patriotism as an aberration, instead of something to be proud of?
I would say that patriotism has led to differing forms of prejudice in many societies. As the world grows more humanitarian, ideals that do not conform or accentuate the need for acceptance get berated. When it comes to America there's a lot to be proud of but there is a lot to despise. I for one think that unwarranted pride leads to illogical inconsistencies in decision making and one must be careful.
Because patriotism is gauged on your political party. If you're Republican, you're a patriot. If you're Democrat, you hate America. Easy, isn't it?
I believe there is a difference between patriotism and wearing "rose colored" glasses as one goes around screaming to the world "We're the best!" Part of being a patriot is also (questioning) our government's role in the world and it's decisions from time to time.
Free speech does not mean everyone is required to agree. It's the opposite. It's gotten to the point where if someone disagrees with certain aspects of how the country is moving they're branded as not loving America. The last thing the founding fathers wanted was a nation of "Stepford Citizens".
In the eyes of many during their eras people like Jesus, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela were branded as traitors, trouble makers, or criminals because they were pushing for change from the status quo. All of them were arrested.
Generally speaking one person's "patriot" is another person's "traitor" or "rebel". I'm certain Great Britain's view of the Revolutionary War is different from our own. In their eyes the colonies were disloyal.
Just because someone doesn't plant a flag in their front yard or subscribe to being an isolationist or want to go to war over every single dispute, or believes we as a nation could be doing better to address issues we face as "mankind" does not mean they do not love America.
Everyone wants safer neighborhoods, higher living standards, and enjoy the multitude of freedoms that come with being an American citizen. The disagreement is in (how) we want to shape our future and not in our love for the nation. Debate can be healthy.
I actually studied this in one of my prejudice classes in college. Fred is right on.
Patriotism (the 'aberrant' kind the author is referring to), stems from Right Wing Authoritarianism which has certain domineering core characteristics. Modern day patriotism comes from the desire to be the best country, to be dominant of others, and to have a very egotistical view of the world. Instead of taking patriotism for what it truly is (love for ones country) it has become tainted and synonymous with nationalism.
It might be semantics. Some folks confuse "patriotism' with chauvinism, a word that in recent years has been misused by some groups. .They use chauvinism when they really mean (I think) such things as "male chauvinism. I wonder is there a female chauvinism?
American patriotism is no different than British patriotism or Canadian etc...it is love of country, that is hardly chauvinistic.
It is when you only think you are the patriots! Didn't like Bush: called America hater. Do like Obama: still called America hater...and now of course, the prez hates America too! Isn't that just so superior of them?Lowly Dems never rate, do they? aww
Every single little thing that the USA or UK government does, they do for their own benefit not the peoples....They've got a nice little system going now where people have forgotten, that their supposed to serve us not their big business buddies....It's so obvious even to a blind man on a galloping horse, & yet most people can't see what's going on right in front of their own eyes....I'm from the UK & I'm ashamed of my government, & most of the people in the UK for not caring....1.5 million people died in Iraq "after" they won the war, just left there to die including 500,000 kids....I've met many Americans through working in the states, & had some great times....There's nothing wrong with the people of America, they just need to use some logical thinking & actually look at what their heading towards....Look where your government is taking you, to a complete Orwellian state....Your completely bankrupt just like us, & with no real way of paying that debt off without selling America....With governments nothing ever gets better, it only gets worse as they compete for even more power & more control of our wealth etc....Until we're totally 100% reliant on them, & then it's good night.
They both serve Zionism. Once that's gone: we are free.
Well lovemychris don't let them get you down, as we say in the UK..Forget conspiracy theories for now even though their really happening, & look into life with a logical mind..You'll be surprised what you may find, i was very surprised in a GOOD
Get me down? It has devastated me. I thought Shock and Awe was bad enough.But this slaughter of people with NO remorse make me just...there are no words.I am truly starting to believe it's a nonhuman source.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GgUyZ4F7CU
The etymology of "patriotism" refers to a devotion to the Patriarch or the Patriarchy--essentially the government concept of "father knows best". Since pushing out King George III, Americans have been against the idea of a government telling us what to do and how to live our lives. So we aren't really patriots in that sense.
Nationalism refers to devotion to one's nation-state (or, in our case, nation of states). Like all other countries, the USA tends to be more tribal than nationalistic. We look after ourselves, our families, our neighbors or any other groups to which we identify--it's often cultural.
Nationalism is up there with religion. It's sort of an arbitrary and non-pragmatic concept based on beliefs and faith. It gets people to do things for odd reasons simply because they believe something that the person in charge says. What most Americans truly care about is money. It's one of our charms. What's best about this is that someone devoted to something real, like money, is predictable and can only be expected to act within their own interests. Nationalists and religious followers don't follow or pursue anything tangible. They are unpredictable except to do what their leaders say. So, to get at the root of it: What do these leaders want? Probably money.
by Faye V 17 months ago
Why are we so divided? As Americans, and more importantly, as people, we all have a lot more in common than we do different. So why do we split ourselves into opposing tribes and relentlessly bash each other?"We The People" don’t really seem to like each other very much. We smear those...
by Susan Reid 10 years ago
Since when is America a "Christian" country? I challenge anyone to find a single mention of Jesus Christ in any of our founding documents."God" does not equal "Christ." I swear to God, yes. I swear to Jesus His son? No.One nation under God, ok. One nation under the...
by Jason F Marovich 11 years ago
How do you view the United States?The US have been drawing a lot of negative publicity, lately. What do you think of America? Are they friends and champions of peace or militaristic capitalists? All opinions following should be given proper consideration. Please don't...
by LaDena Campbell 12 years ago
What needs to be done to make USA a better place? What needs fixed and what is great?America has its problems, what can we do to make it better? What do you think makes America great?
by Nick Hanlon 11 years ago
i often hear the claim that America is an exceptional nation.Is it?What is the basis for this claim of exceptionalism?What makes America an exceptional country if it is indeed exceptional?
by jonnycomelately 10 years ago
Can patriotism make you blind to shortcomings?What does patriotism make you feel about your enemies?
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |