Response (Patriotism)

In response to Rachel - full post here

So, I have a few things to say about this subject. Firstly, you said that patriotism is fighting for a countries theories, beliefs, and morals. I do not think that fighting in the name of those things is a good idea. This is almost circular because wars are fought due to ideological differences, fighting for ideological difference is fighting for war. Additionally, it;s not appropriate to say you are fighting for such things as freedom, if you aren't actually fighting for freedom. Also, the point of freedom is not the ability to give opinions in favor of the common view, you are free when you can give dissenting opinions. American's have none of that. If you tell an American that you don't support the troops, you will be told that soldiers died for your freedom so you shouldn't say that. In reality, saying that is using your freedom.

Fighting for a flawed country is not great because fighting for a flawed country never fixes a flaw. Fixing a flawed country is fixing a flaw. Fighting and fixing are not the same thing.

Also, I think that maybe you are confusing a different country for America. In America people who protest wars, policies, and decisions are put in prison, sometimes indefinitely. I recommend you look into the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. It essentially prohibits protest on any area that the government labels as restricted. You could look up the Patriot Act and tell me what you think of it and the people who are put on terrorist watch-lists for being vegan, atheist, or having a middle eastern sounding name. You could also look into how the US attempted to force John Lennon out of the country for protesting war.

Pride is something that you earn after accomplishing something. You can be proud after you play a piece on piano for the first time.  You cannot, however, be proud based on the pure chance of your birth location. It's like saying I'm proud to be born or I'm proud to have a beating heart. There was no work that you put in to these things. Therefore, there is nothing to be proud of. Additionally, we also try to force our values onto other countries. We also have a difficult time changing ourselves, and we shouldn't fight, physically, those who try to change us. We should instead rationally argue with them. Patriotism does a good job at hindering this sort of rational conversation.