John, I've been otherwise occupied the last couple of days so I haven't read this entire discussion, but Wiki has a useful overview of patriotism.
en.wikipedia.org
A few quotes:
"The primary implication of patriotism in ethics is that a person has more moral duties to fellow members of the nation, than to non-members."
"'Patriotism' is widely used as a synonym for nationalism, and nationalist as a near-synonym for patriot. Strictly speaking, nationalism is an ideology advocating the formation of a separate nation-state for each nation. Where 'nationalist' is is pejoratively intended, 'patriotism' is used as a defensive euphemism. It is also widely used as a euphemism for chauvinism, jingoism, xenophobia, hostility to immigration, and racism."
"Three forms of patriotism can be distinguished. The first is personal patriotism, which is emotional and voluntary. The patriot in this sense adheres to certain patriotic values, such as respect for the flag. However, the patriots often insist, that the entire population of the nation shares adherence to these values, creating a values-based ideological patriotism. It is structurally similar to other values ideologies and movements, such as the family values movement....
In any case, governments of nation-states always promote an official patriotism which has a high symbolic and ceremonial content. It is a logical consequence of the nation-state itself, which derives legitimacy from being the expression of the nation." |
