Are You A Patriot?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xV8HHFtg7w

Clever I suppose.


To answer the question? (Was there a question, or was this clickbait?)

Yes and no (I would zealously support, serve and defend my country. The people on it? Not necessarily - I have the benefit that the borders of my country are well defined - which is to say "if you cross the border, you get wet" - It's not as nebulous as European, American or other regions that have the definition of their country more or less arbitrarily defined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MdK8hBkR3s

Yes.

And this is the patriotism I ascribe to.

Link if I'm linkfully challenged:

Patriotism

I love this country and the people who make it up. I used to be one of those people mentioned in the video, but all of that has changed over the years. It has not even been that many years since my way of thought on the matter has changed. I was not a fan of President Obama when he first took office. Now I respect the man, I have come to the knowledge that I can disagree with his decisions in office, and his views, with out degrading the person, or his office. I think he is doing the best he knows how to do. It is a hard job, one that I would not wish to take.

I love the message in the video Reacher shared. That is the person I want to be, and I work at it everyday.

I deeply and utterly love the Netherlands , should we however become a state of selfish little bastards that have no time or money for other people and we become unwelcoming and bias , i will leave in a heartbeat , what i am saying is , the people make your country

Reacher wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MdK8hBkR3s

Yes.

And this is the patriotism I ascribe to.

Link if I'm linkfully challenged:

Patriotism

Here here!

Reacher wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MdK8hBkR3s

Yes.

And this is the patriotism I ascribe to.

Link if I'm linkfully challenged:

Patriotism

I would appreciate it if John Cena stopped trying to make me cry.

A patriot is someone who "vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors." If my country is defined as the people within the borders of the US (though I don't necessarily support a bordered system of government), then I'm a patriot. If my country is defined as the government, laws, and culture of my country, then no, I don't particularly care for those things. The most ideal system, in my opinion, would be one without countries (and as a result, without patriotism). A global community of human beings under one (just) set of laws (which also defend personal freedom and liberty) would be wonderful. I think John Lennon was pretty spot on when he said:

"You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one."

Coming from the UK, I find the word 'patriot' odd.. because we just don't use it here. The British do love their country (for the most part), but we don't really wave it around. People get their flags out for sports, but then at the end of the season they go back away. The word patriot for me conjures up an image of a person being overly loud and overbearing about their country, and it reminds me a lot of 'jingoism'.
So... no I'm not a patriot.. I love my country, I love being here, but I'm not in the image that I have of a patriot.

What Edan said above is something I realized over time, especially since visiting the UK. For most of my life (like a lot of Americans), being "patriotic" seemed like something almost inherent to being anybody, and had no awareness that it was just a thing Americans developed due to its national culture. Because of that, the word "patriot" sounded only positive and virtuous. After my awareness of the world expanded beyond the borders of the country (which began happening even years before I visited the UK), I began getting a more accurate picture of the general attitude of the "American way" when realizing that much of that "way" was driven by patriotism, and is present in most of the nation's foreign affairs and its flaws, not to mention its attitude against its own citizens on many levels. Once I realized how there are other countries that are perfectly happy without having things such as patriotism and rigorous striving for "freedom", "liberty", and "jesus to save our soul", my view of the country began to change. Not exactly to a negative one, but just in a sense that I have a better grasp of what's really going on. And I think that is something very important for a person to encounter, but just as important is for them to know how to interpret it, so that they don't get too overwhelmed by the discovery of flaws that they didn't realize were there, and end up turning radical and against their own people.

Proteus wrote: What Edan said above is something I realized over time, especially since visiting the UK. For most of my life (like a lot of Americans), being "patriotic" seemed like something almost inherent to being anybody, and had no awareness that it was just a thing Americans developed due to its national culture. Because of that, the word "patriot" sounded only positive and virtuous. After my awareness of the world expanded beyond the borders of the country (which began happening even years before I visited the UK), I began getting a more accurate picture of the general attitude of the "American way" when realizing that much of that "way" was driven by patriotism, and is present in most of the nation's foreign affairs and its flaws, not to mention its attitude against its own citizens on many levels. Once I realized how there are other countries that are perfectly happy without having things such as patriotism and rigorous striving for "freedom", "liberty", and "jesus to save our soul", my view of the country began to change. Not exactly to a negative one, but just in a sense that I have a better grasp of what's really going on. And I think that is something very important for a person to encounter, but just as important is for them to know how to interpret it, so that they don't get too overwhelmed by the discovery of flaws that they didn't realize were there, and end up turning radical and against their own people.

I've always wondered if American patriotism has come about due to the relative youth of America as a country and it's successful fight for independence... as if America has something to prove somehow. I don't know, it's just speculation.

Looking from the outside, patriotism tends to have a bit of a negative connotation... almost like, blindly loving and defending one's country to the point where one will not acknowledge any fault, nor accept the way of others... Now I'm sure that it is not like that, but it is how it sometimes appears.

I'm unsure as to the purpose of patriotism ?

You can be a Patriot in :

Australia
Britain
China
Korea
Singapore
USA

but you say you are a Patriot here in Japan and (Cuss Word) in China or Korea will label you as a Nationalist who wants to militarise Japan again.
Seems funny every other country on the planet you can be a patriot, but Japanese cannot, cheque please I want off this planet!

Patriotism v Nationalism - interesting consideration. I feel like the former is the values around which the country has its laws and culture orientated over time (and therefore inherently internal) while nationalism is the comparison of those things against other nations, basically.

So nationalism then perhaps might be when patriotism interacts with international law, or more practically patriotism does not need to be exclusive from other sets of culture and law, while nationalism might tend to as part of its nature to identify itself as a separate nation. Case in point, a lot of the patriotism in Reacher's linked video could easily be held by many other nation's as the same values - and to hold them doesn't make a person 'American' because of that fact. While nationalism is probably differentiated by including those uniquely national elements which specifically can contrast that nation from others.

So in my mind, being patriotic can bring people together beyond national boundaries if the values are shared, but being nationalistic not so much. Though they can be mixed up easily. Just my thoughts on it, as an Aussie!!!