pa·tri·ot·ism
[pey-tree-uh-tiz-uhm or, especially Brit., pa-]
noun
devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.
I actually agree with almost everything you say, although I wouldn't put it quite as you say it.
I believe patriotism is not a logical way of thinking. I don't understand why someone would feel loyalty toward the part of the earth they were born on. Better to fight for everyone than to fight for your piece of rock.
I think it is important to make a distinction between two types of patriot:
1) The patriots are loyal to their country for its own sake.
2) The patriots who are loyal to their country because they have compared it to other countries critically and decided they like the way their country does things.
The first type of patriot is the one I don't like. Being blindly loyal to the place you are born has always struck me as close-minded and the sort of attitude that eventually breeds hatred of people from other places and who have different ways of seeing things. Supporting it in sports is different, because you are not supporting anything too serious or tangible. Supporting it in war just because you were born there effectively stops you from effectively criticising it, and without criticising things the world stays the same; there's no progress.
The second type of patriot I don't have a problem with. It would be more accurate to say that these people don't love their country, but I love what their country does. They don't love it just because their country does it, but because they genuinely believe it is the right thing to do after having looked at what other countries do. These people could still be called patriots, but are not unconditionally loyal.
Now for the things I don't agree with in what you say. I don't agree that the US is the biggest threat in the world, that prize goes to China and North Korea. But that's a whole other debate.
I'm up for debate and discussion if anyone wants it, just keep it clean and insult-free :)
Patriotism annoys me...
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pa·tri·ot·ism
[pey-tree-uh-tiz-uhm or, especially Brit., pa-]
noun
devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.
I actually agree with almost everything you say, although I wouldn't put it quite as you say it.
I believe patriotism is not a logical way of thinking. I don't understand why someone would feel loyalty toward the part of the earth they were born on. Better to fight for everyone than to fight for your piece of rock.
I think it is important to make a distinction between two types of patriot:
1) The patriots are loyal to their country for its own sake.
2) The patriots who are loyal to their country because they have compared it to other countries critically and decided they like the way their country does things.
The first type of patriot is the one I don't like. Being blindly loyal to the place you are born has always struck me as close-minded and the sort of attitude that eventually breeds hatred of people from other places and who have different ways of seeing things. Supporting it in sports is different, because you are not supporting anything too serious or tangible. Supporting it in war just because you were born there effectively stops you from effectively criticising it, and without criticising things the world stays the same; there's no progress.
The second type of patriot I don't have a problem with. It would be more accurate to say that these people don't love their country, but I love what their country does. They don't love it just because their country does it, but because they genuinely believe it is the right thing to do after having looked at what other countries do. These people could still be called patriots, but are not unconditionally loyal.
Now for the things I don't agree with in what you say. I don't agree that the US is the biggest threat in the world, that prize goes to China and North Korea. But that's a whole other debate.
I'm up for debate and discussion if anyone wants it, just keep it clean and insult-free :)