Patriotism - Explain the psychology

I can see that. It's almost the opposite when you talk to someone from England or Australia who live here now. They burst with pride about the US more than Americans do. I've had people say to me as great as the history/culture is in X country, the US is the greatest country on earth. There are still a lot of people with those anti-US thoughts, but there are a lot of others who love this country.

 

Count me as one of them, despite what some others here might claim.

 

Loving one's country means, in part, having the intellectual and moral courage to face unpleasant facts, since that's inevitably a part of the process of finding out what's best for one's country.

 

I can't believe I forgot to mention -- look at my sigs for a great quote on patriotism; one with which I whole-heartedly agree.

 

That is a great thought as well and I totally agree. You can't turn your back on the issues, like foreign policy, welfare system, immigration and I can go on and on. No country is perfect, but there are a lot of people who believe the US can do no wrong. We've done plenty wrong (look at our own economy, Hurricane Katrina, some say Vietnam and Iraq and I agree) and plenty of things right (Civil Rights, I think Homeland Security). Everyone is going to have different opinions of what is right and wrong, but you can't let patriotism blind you from the US's flaws, or any country for that matter.

 

i was disappointed when i didn't see one of yawn's quotes.

 

It really bothers me when patriotism, which should be something that unites us, is used to divide us. To me a patriot is someone willing to give everything to a cause greater than themselves, and I really don't see a lot of that in the U.S. these days outside of those serving in the Armed Forces.
I do have respect for non-violent protestors willing to go to jail for a cause they believe in, but I'm tired of patriotism becoming little more than an accessory that you either are wearing or you're not.

 

Come to think of it, patriots and journalists sound a lot alike, don't they?