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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rick Julian who wrote (21135)	4/30/1998 1:28:00 AM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

Rick, I was not really interested in getting into a long, drawn-out discussion of patriotism, but it seems somehow unavoidable. It is obvious that almost everyone believes patriotism is a really good thing, and I basically think it is dangerous, and sometimes negative. I believe everyone should do whatever they can to find out what the real truth is about a war or a conflict we might be getting ourselves into. I get really suspicious when presidents, in particular, start appealing to people's patriotism, because often in those instances there is not a REAL reason to participate. A well-informed, watchful citizenry to me is a much larger attribute to a nation than a bunch of people waving flags. I essentially think patriotism often brings out the worst in people, because they are swept away by events that may be misrepresented to them. When there is a war where it is really necessary and right that we participate--World War II comes to mind--I think everyone will do the right thing. But when two hundred and something million people can be manipulated by a call to patriotism to go fight in Grenada or someplace equally beside the point, then I think patriotism is very much misused. People who really care about their country should want America to behave in a responsible way internationally. There are many instances in which we do not. For example, the blockade of Cuba is just insanely archaic. Is there even another country who still supports us in this? I am sure there are not many. We do that because there is a very politically strong group of conservative Cuban refugees in Florida, not because it is patriotic, really. There is often a whole bunch of self-interest right under patriotism, if you really analyze what is going on. I could give you lots more examples, like Iran-Contra or all the death squads we have financed in South America because the enemy of their repressive right-wing governments was our enemy as well. Certainly, when I see things like this going on, and realize that people--children, in the case of Cuba--die because of the actions of America, it puts a real damper on my patriotism. My daughter is a free thinker, and gets her history from history books, and her teachers. Fourteen-year-olds definitely do not suck up their parents' ideas. What I was trying to convey in that post is that there is much more TRUTH being taught about early America than there was when I was a child. I had to wait until college to get much information about what really happened--textbooks up through high school were very patriotic in that they glossed over the times when America acted badly. I am not sure why so many people have to believe in America, right or wrong. I would have to be brain dead to feel that way, and would hope that we stay a questioning and skeptical people, keeping our politicians on their toes, and making sure America does the right thing, not the expedient thing, whenever possible.