Patriotism cannot be blind.

[stafffighter]

As the classic "love it or leave it' philosophy growing more prevaliant in our era of excused wired taps and opposed gun registration it becomes more nessesary to explore the meaning of what it is to love your country.
Love is not an object of reason in any sense of it's use but in each and every one it is sheer lunacy to believe it to be blind. Love can be loyalty against trials but to be blinded to the very nature of that which you love is a mockery of the word.
One can love their partner but if repeadedly cheated on through no misdeed of their own anyone would advise that the realationship was not what it once seemed to be. Wether rotten from the start or soured over time is a matter of circumstance but the pain of either can be reduced or avioded through vigelance and exploration of what is.
One could have fondness for a particular food, but if the receipe was changed to something unfavorable to your taste or even allergy inducing would it be an act of disloyalty to cease to eat it?
One can admire a sports team or celebrity but if the ideals admired are shown to warp or change who is at fault? Were you a fan of tom cruise before he jumped on couches? DId a band you enjoy release an album you cannot stand? Is it your duty to see his films of listen to those songs? No, their responcibility is to you, the audience that gives them the fortune and power they enjoy. By simple acts of what will and will not sell they can see what will be acceptable and either adapt or be moved on from.
Absolutly the same applies to love for your nation. Support for a nation is based on ideals that they are beleived to embody. This is not an exclusivly American idea, we have to remember that the other countries weren't just born with the planet. It is a human ideal that governments should react to their citizens, not the other way.
To alter yourself in acceptance of policy is a mockery of any thought of patriotism. Did you revel in the self sustinance of privacy untill 9/11 when you decided you simply had nothing to hide? Did you come to beleive there was practicle use for automatic weapons in the hands of civilians untill buying a machine gun the say the ban expired? Did you beleive every reason given for war until we were in so deep you just thought we should clean up our own mess? Yes thoughts on issues can change but such should come from reflecting within the self as to what is presented, not diffrence in policy from outside.
Patriotism is like any form of love in that it is a deeply beautiful thing that can take power beyond that of the individual, but like anything else it must not be forgotten that all flows from the individual. The big picture is made of details.

[RadioactiveRabbit]

Ok...this was kind of confusing. Are you saying you are not a patriot if you back up your country or do whatever is necessary for it?

[FightingForFreedom]

Agreed. I criticize this country because I love it.

[stafffighter]

At 5/30/06 06:45 PM, chocolate_penguin wrote: Ok...this was kind of confusing. Are you saying you are not a patriot if you back up your country or do whatever is necessary for it?

I'm saying you're not a patriot if you support your country without question or believe whatever is said to be needed without introspection.

[SAVIOR414]

At 5/30/06 07:13 PM, stafffighter wrote:

At 5/30/06 06:45 PM, chocolate_penguin wrote: Ok...this was kind of confusing. Are you saying you are not a patriot if you back up your country or do whatever is necessary for it?

I'm saying you're not a patriot if you support your country without question or believe whatever is said to be needed without introspection.

how can u support ur country wit question, thats not support if u question wut we do

[user001b]

not if your questioning is in hopes of making it better thus giving a great patriotic gift to you country like me for example i think the most patriotic thing to do right now is start a full fleged revoloution

[SAVIOR414]

At 5/30/06 07:29 PM, user001b wrote: not if your questioning is in hopes of making it better thus giving a great patriotic gift to you country like me for example i think the most patriotic thing to do right now is start a full fleged revoloution

ok that i can understand, n ur rite, revolutionize people

[user001b]

VIVA LA REVOLOUCION!!!!! or something

[MortifiedPenguins]

So basically your saying that true patriotism is critising or doing something about your country when it's doing it's commiting crimes or doing whats wrong. Allright I can agree with that. It takes more patriotism to show what your country is doing wrong rather then being a blind sheep.

Though, there is acceptance to a point.

[SparkyValentine]

Dang, I just saw a really great flash that said this a lot better than I could (and God help me I can't remember the name), but it was a famous college professor, put to music, talking about how it is a common characteristic of evil and opressive governments to claim that anyone who rips on the leaders of a country are in fact ragging on the people of said country. Like in the Bible when Eilijah (I can't splel, sorry), spoke out against the evil King Ahab, and the king claimed one of the greatest prophets of Israel was "anti-Jewish." Stalin's Russia, Hitler's Germany, and more and more of Bush's America had similar policies. So I guess what I'm saying in a round about way is, yes, we need to be able to criticize the government without fear of being labled "Anti-American." We need to be able to question our leaders so we don't degenerate into fascists. Because that would suck; jackboots aren't very comfortable.

[arz756]

Thinking for yourself is good it's too bad that just as many people that belive the government without question refused to the government without question...

[afterdeath]

I love my country unfailingly, not the people who run it, they're two seperate entities.

[RedSkunk]

At 5/30/06 07:13 PM, stafffighter wrote: I'm saying you're not a patriot if you support your country without question or believe whatever is said to be needed without introspection.

Agreed.

At 5/30/06 09:30 PM, afterdeath wrote: I love my country unfailingly, not the people who run it, they're two seperate entities.

So what do you love? An ideal?

[x-Toadenalin-x]

Do you define 'Patriotism' as loyalty to a country, or loyalty to that country's government?

Since being loyal to a lump of rock seems somewhat foolish, you are left only to support the government unneringly if you are a 'Patriot'

.

Although I loved the post - it was fantastic!

[No-one-inparticular]

This lump of rock is home to a lot of decent people.

If the country fails, (and by fails, I mean falls into the hands of America-loathing terrorists) then the people fail, because the nation no longer belongs to them, but foreigners.

I am sure the rioters in Haditha perceive the U.S. this way.

Sad business, that.

[raoul-duke]

Hmm... tricky subject. Now, I ain't American, I'm English and I understand that patriotism means alot more in the USA than it does over here.
A while back I was debating patriotism with myself and what it means to me and how I stand on it. So I looked up patriot in the dictionary and got 'one who loves and defends his or her country'. If I take this literally I'm most definitely a patriot. I love England. I couldn't think of anywhere on Earth I'd rather be. I'm not in support of our goverment but I love the land.
So I hardly think it's 'un-patriotic' to criticise your goverment or to move against it. Because if you truly love your country I think your loyalty should lie with the land and the people who live upon it. Not the people who run it. They are your servants, not the other way around.
Anyway, you may disagree and you may be right. I'm only 17 and at a tricky stage in my life where I'm still working out just what it is I really believe. So excuse my rambling.

[MeSmashie]

Encyclopedia Britannica:
Patriotism denotes positive attitudes by individuals to their own civic or political community.

Webster Unabridged Dictionary:
Love and loyal or zealous support of one’s country, especially in all matters involving other countries.

Samuel Adams:
Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy:
The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie - deliberate, contrived, and dishonest - but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.

People who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.

If it really means anything, it means that we are in this thing together, that there should be some kind of collective effort were we’re going to do whatever we could – Patriotism

Me:
No where but in the sniveling whine of discontents and malcontents is patriotism other then support…