Patriotism

I have no problem with patriotism, but I see precious little to be proud of in my country. We are too arrogant to consider what our problems are, much less fix them.

 

I consider myself a patriot. I acknowledge the social and political flaws of my country, but I am also grateful for my life in the United States and the opportunities I am given. I am frequently asked why I want to enter the U.S. military when I have a college degree from a reputable university, insinuating that a career in the military is only pursued by individuals with low levels of education. I want to serve my country, and I would proudly fight and die to protect it.

In terms of pitfalls, I also have to accept that patriotism comes with defining borders. On the flip side, I think it's ignorant to think that the world could function without divided countries and states. It's easy to imagine a Utopia where everyone gets along, but the reality is that there will always be hate and greed. It's human nature.

 

I love Canada I know I'm a true patriot because I know this sounds so bad but I think my country is the best. I live Canada I lie other countries but Canada is my home in so proud of my country I couldn't imagine permanently residing anywhere else. I love vacationing, I love visiting countries but as far as where I live I love Canada!!!! GO CANADA!

 

No. I find patriotism a stupid thing. To be proud of your country is usually at the expense of reality; "patriotic" Australians tend to be white males who are either openly racist or in denial about the colonial genocide and the ongoing oppression. To be proud of a sexist, racist, greedy, and generally lazy country is not a good thing.

Be proud of what you achieved, not what someone else did, and often a totally distorted idea of those "achievements". This happens a lot with the conqueror mentality; common with the idea of Britain "civilising" the savages, and so on, more accurately described ruining societies and killing hundreds of thousands. To pretend the achievements of any western nation didn't, and don't still, come at the deliberate expense of the poor is just lying to yourself to feel better. No country is wholly innocent, and none are wholly guilty, but don't be proud (taking collective credit for) of others' achievements, and don't pretend that patriotism and racist/cultural-supremacist nationalism aren't linked together.

---------- Post added 12th Nov 2013 at 08:11 PM ----------

I'm going to add: I don't think a community spirit and pride in events you participated in are bad; what's bad is the cultural supremacy aspect of patriotism.

 

I´m not a patriot. As a son of a Native American I am in a very difficult position anyway. I mean they pretty much tried to wipe them out to have their "country of the free and the brave..."

I´m ashamed of our history of slavery.
I´m ashamed about the poor and the homeless and how a lot of verterans have a bad deal.

I kinda love my country for the beauty that there is around me, but hate the government and how the country is represented.
We keep attacking for the wrong reasons and call it "defence". But we are not under attack.
I feel my country is the worlds´ bully, really. I am disgusted by my government.


I really don´t feel proud when I see our flag.
And I see the flag way too often. We must be the country that has most flags waving about. It´s ridiculous.

Well I stop here, I think you get the point and I´m not able to give a decent answer to the questions.

 

I'm not really patriotic. I hate all countries equally lol. Wherever I go I will probably get bashed for Gods knows what. I think I hate humans in large numbers

 

I think my nation was beautiful before the white imperialists destroyed it. I take more pride in old stories than in the current flag flown above every state building.

 

I love my country, but not necessarily the people running it.
I am a patriot in that I support the United States, though I don't always support its actions.
I do not, however, care one bit how well we do in international sports competitions. The idea that "we won, so we're the best" honestly sounds a bit racist. "We won, but you guys did well, so let's grab a drink" is better, I think.
I suppose I must like the sight of the flag, since it bothers me so much when it's used for commercial purposes, like being flown at fast-food places. Personally, I'd rather the US flag only be flown at government institutions (schools, courthouses, parks, etc) and private residences; I do NOT like people using national symbolism to sell crap.

 

Do you consider yourself a patriot? No, not in the slightest. The country I happen to have been born in (the uk) is no better than any other, has committed its fair share of crimes against humanity, and has never treated people well.
What are the highs of Patriotism? I'm not even going to try and answer this one. None.
What are the lows and pitfalls of Patriotism? It divides the proletariat, creates more things that people can (and do) hate each other, it can be used to justify evil and (national) selfishness. And possibly most importantly: no country is better that the rest.
How does your Patriotism compare with that of others? Low. No surprises there.

 

They're ruining the whole world. We must stop them, lest the entire world is left inhospitable.

---------- Post added 12th Nov 2013 at 08:23 AM ----------

There's no such thing as a Proletariat in the first world, except for undocumented immigrants.

 

I'm vaguely patriotic (it doesn't properly affect my life or anything) because I identify more with the UK than any other country, not because I think the UK is superior. The main problem with UKIP et. al's 'patriotism' is that they try to use national identity as a reason for isolationism, and try implicitly or explicitly to redefine who and who isn't British, and so are exclusionary and needlessly divisive.

Oh and videos like this are populist shite:

[YOUTUBE]SpVf1D3ZBB4[/YOUTUBE]

"I'd challenge anyone to come up with a country with a prouder history and a greater resilience"... urgh. shut. the. fuck. up. And this is coming from someone who doesn't particularly mind David Cameron, or at least I didn't until then.

 

I'm not entirely sure if I'd be considered a patriot, but most of the people in America who call themselves patriots are waving the Confederate flag and saying that the South will rise again.

They say that America is the best thing that ever happened to the world. Tell that to the 150,000-250,000 people killed in the nuclear attacks on Japan. Tell that to the families of the 58,220 American soldiers who died in Vietnam, a failed 20-year war that we fought for, quite literally, no real reason. 30% of those killed had been drafted-forced by the government to sacrifice their lives due to hysteria over a political theory. And try telling that to the families of the 4,486 American soldiers who died in Iraq, a war fought based on a lie that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Colin Powell collectively pulled out of their asses.

Being proud of our history is a joke. We nearly wiped out an entire race of people and the ones we didn't succeed at killing, we sent to the crappiest areas of the country, in terms of land fertility and desirability, and called them "Indian reservations." We originally gave Native Americans their own mass territory, and when the Civil War ended, the treaty was signed in what was then known as "Indian Territory," as it was neutral ground. We later decided that we wanted it for ourselves, and on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th State admitted to the union.

We kidnapped people from Africa and enslaved them for two and a half centuries, and when the decision was made to free the slaves, half the country decided they wanted to secede and form their own nation, where slavery would be legal forever. (I wonder what the UN would think of the Confederate States of America today if the South had won the war.) When the Union won the war, it triggered a deep resentment of the North, and the Confederate flag still flies in the South. In fact, the upper left-hand corner of the Mississippi state flag is the Confederate flag design. Until 2001, the Confederate design occupied 2/3 of the Georgia state flag.

So no, I'm not Patriotic, and honestly, my thought on those who talk about their "beloved America" really don't know their history. If you can be proud of that, that's just sad.

 

Am I patriotic? Yes! I know my country, the United States, has not been perfect through the years, but in most cases it tries to do what is right. The atomic bombs on Japan were a gamble to end the war quickly and actually saved lives in the long run by ending the war. Pushing the native americans off their land was definitely not one of the best things we have done, and we have made many other mistakes as well.

I have visited several foreign countries, including living in the Federal Republic of Germany for a total of 9 years throughout my life. I even got to see East Germany before unification. After all of that I respect other countries way of life, and politics, and especially the people of those countries, but I am still thankful that I am an American. I am still very patriotic, even though I don't always agree with the things my government does.

Having said that, I served 12 years in the United States Army, and I am proud of that service, as well as the 21 years service my father served. At last count (yesterday for Veterans day) 96 of my 257 facebook friends either are serving in the US Military, or have served in the past, and i am proud of their service as well. Many more of my friends have been spouses, or children of US Military members, I myself grew up an Army Brat.

 

I guess I'm not overly patriotic. It's fine to be proud of your country's achievements (high points I guess) every now and then as long as you're not being swept up in patriotic hype and you keep a firm eye on your country's history and politics- i.e. acknowledge the bad parts as well as the good parts. And that's more observation than patriotism.

When it gets to the point where people are living in cuckoo-land about the current or past state of the country, or worse subscribing to nationalism and saying that their country is intrinsically better than others simply because it is and their country needs to be purged, defended etc., then I have a problem.

I guess you could say I don't mind moderate patriotism but I don't consider myself massively patriotic. I think when it comes to being proud of something people should focus more on the ideas or culture and not the national identity/country. It's like how I keep thinking when people go to a football (soccer) or a rugby match they should be there for good sport, not just the teams.

 

Not in the slightest.

I don't care about patriotism anyway. Sure, my country can do some good things every now and then but I don't see how one can be proud of something they have no influence on.

Or to quote Enter Shikari: "Countries are just lines drawn in the sand".

 

Do you consider yourself a patriot?
Not really
What are the highs of Patriotism?
I guess stuff like the Last Night of the proms
What are the lows and pitfalls of Patriotism?
Groups like the EDL, BNP etc. who go around spreading hate in the guise of patriotism
How does your Patriotism compare with that of others?
I am the lest patriotic compared to everyone else in my family, I was the only one working on the royal wedding and the jubilee (But I got paid double AWESOME)

 

I agree - all of those are attributes I'd like the country I'm living in to have, but I get uncomfortable saying 'oh these things are part of British culture, so it's superior everyone on the planet to aspire to live in a 'British way' as opposed to, say, a Burmese way'. There's a bit of a grey area there. Nevertheless, your reclamation of patriotism from the nationalists is inspiring! I think I'm the same way; I just couldn't put it into words until I read what you're saying. Patriotism doesn't have to mean trying to achieve closed borders and monoethnic, monocultural and monolingual populations. I'd like the complete opposite.

If we let the idea of having a national identify rather than an international identify be left solely to the nationalists, being British/English/Scottish/Welsh or any other European nationality currently being overwhelmed by the far-right, having those labels is going to be pretty embarrassing for the comparatively sane remainder of us.

Here's what musician Dan Deacon, who doesn't really comfort to the American stereotypes, has to say about identifying as American and naming his fifth album as 'America':

Yeah.

 

Wow. Long thread, but I've got a bit to contribute I guess.

I love my country dearly-- not only for what it was meant to be (although mostly that ) but also for what it is now. Yes, we are on the fast track to destruction and there are grotesquely evil people in many powerful positions, but there are also a lot of good people who believe that decency can prevail. We also have great artists, musicians, and heaven knows thinkers that are helping usher in a better world.

So yeah, go America hehe. I'll agree too that patriotism in general isn't about believing other places are inferior and that yours is the best-- I get foreign country envy almost daily. It's about believing that it's the best for you.