Patriotism or national pride is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to a homeland and alliance with other citizens who share the same sentiment. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings relating to one’s own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects.
It therefore begs the question where do these feelings come from? Are they imposed upon us by others who desire us to be uncritical? Or are created from studious analysis?
This is a fascinating discussion, although the lack of content analysis by both the presenters is typical of the mainstream corporate media unfortunately. Populist white noise does not make us patriotic. It makes us ignorant and peripheral to reality.
Standing… in front of a flag reveals to me that history is unimportant to that person. They have believed an unsophisticated fairytale and now want to defend it either physically or rhetorically. When the facts are pointed out they turn their humiliation in to anger… against the messenger. It is a reflection of centuries of relative powerlessness in which fairy stories save them from having to apply skills they have not learned or been taught.
These skills require intellectual nuance. They require deep thought in to all aspects of their reality. Listening, reading, learning, discussion… are but some of the necessary attributes and tools a person requires to be truly patriotic. A person willing to dedicate their lives helping to make their state or country or county or town… better for as many as possible. Standing in front of a flag being defensive about reality is not it, no matter how much they are told it is.
Jason Cridland
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