PutAwayWet
June 21st, 2005, 02:20 PM
As a late comer to the thread about Durkin and Kennedy, I figured I'd bring my different viewpoint here to another thread.
"...A government of the people, for the people, by the people..."
So what exactly is patriotism? Is it fighting for what the leaders of your country tell you to? Is it fighting for what you think is right for your country regardless of what the leaders, press, or sheeple think/say? Is patriotism about loving your country? If so, are you supposed to love your country more than any other? If so, does that mean that the only thing that matters in the world is preserving your country, even if it means destroying people's traditions and ways of life in other countries? Is patriotism a good thing? Are you bound to be a good patriot because you were lucky enough to be born here instead of Sudan? Does your gratitude for that luck mean you must try your hardest to keep us 'a cut above the rest of the world'? Or does it mean that we should buy into the marketing and propaganda of countless administrations, claiming to 'spread the flame of democracy' (also known as napalm in Vietnam) throughout the rest of the world? Or is patriotism just another set of blinders? A cancer to a free thinking mind? In your desire to be a good patriot, are you missing out on things so obvious to the rest of the world that you cannot see the horror and terror spread throughout the world by your elected officials, in your name? (the US has been condemned by the world court of practicing international terrorism in Nicaragua, btw). Has patriotism become a mask, a set of armor to hide behind when your agenda has no truth to back it? It seems like if anyone dares hint that the US may not be the all-benevolent world-wide spreader of peace, democracy, and fluffy bunnies that person is instantly labled 'unpatriotic', or 'a traitor'. Perhaps that person has taken the blinders off and looked at the situation with a bit more holistic and less biased point of view.
So here's what I'm getting at. Are you so morally and intellecutally empty that without your country you would be nothing? Is your life worthwhile simply because of where you were born? Are you a patriot because if you weren't your life would have no meaning? Or are you really concerned that Iraq was going to attack us with their WMDs (which might have been slingshots, for all we found over there)?
Is not the country more defined by its people than the people defined by the country? I am an american, and there are many american things of which I am proud. Those things do not make me a better person.
More than being an american, I am a global citizen. Skin color, religion, economy... - these do not make me more worthy of a quality life than anyone else on the planet. My allegience lies not with corrupt leaders of any country, but rather with the people who make up the salt of the earth; the ones who have always been content to live and let live. I will not support terrorist programs disguised as the spread of democracy. I will not support domestic programs aimed at strengthening the gap between privilege and struggle for survival. Why? Because I care more about the people in this country, and others, than I do about the countries themselves.
So there you have it. I am not a patriot, and proud of it.
"...A government of the people, for the people, by the people..."
So what exactly is patriotism? Is it fighting for what the leaders of your country tell you to? Is it fighting for what you think is right for your country regardless of what the leaders, press, or sheeple think/say? Is patriotism about loving your country? If so, are you supposed to love your country more than any other? If so, does that mean that the only thing that matters in the world is preserving your country, even if it means destroying people's traditions and ways of life in other countries? Is patriotism a good thing? Are you bound to be a good patriot because you were lucky enough to be born here instead of Sudan? Does your gratitude for that luck mean you must try your hardest to keep us 'a cut above the rest of the world'? Or does it mean that we should buy into the marketing and propaganda of countless administrations, claiming to 'spread the flame of democracy' (also known as napalm in Vietnam) throughout the rest of the world? Or is patriotism just another set of blinders? A cancer to a free thinking mind? In your desire to be a good patriot, are you missing out on things so obvious to the rest of the world that you cannot see the horror and terror spread throughout the world by your elected officials, in your name? (the US has been condemned by the world court of practicing international terrorism in Nicaragua, btw). Has patriotism become a mask, a set of armor to hide behind when your agenda has no truth to back it? It seems like if anyone dares hint that the US may not be the all-benevolent world-wide spreader of peace, democracy, and fluffy bunnies that person is instantly labled 'unpatriotic', or 'a traitor'. Perhaps that person has taken the blinders off and looked at the situation with a bit more holistic and less biased point of view.
So here's what I'm getting at. Are you so morally and intellecutally empty that without your country you would be nothing? Is your life worthwhile simply because of where you were born? Are you a patriot because if you weren't your life would have no meaning? Or are you really concerned that Iraq was going to attack us with their WMDs (which might have been slingshots, for all we found over there)?
Is not the country more defined by its people than the people defined by the country? I am an american, and there are many american things of which I am proud. Those things do not make me a better person.
More than being an american, I am a global citizen. Skin color, religion, economy... - these do not make me more worthy of a quality life than anyone else on the planet. My allegience lies not with corrupt leaders of any country, but rather with the people who make up the salt of the earth; the ones who have always been content to live and let live. I will not support terrorist programs disguised as the spread of democracy. I will not support domestic programs aimed at strengthening the gap between privilege and struggle for survival. Why? Because I care more about the people in this country, and others, than I do about the countries themselves.
So there you have it. I am not a patriot, and proud of it.