This is a line from one of my favorite John Prine songs. The chorus goes like this:
But, your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war
Now, Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more
Prine wrote this as a protest against the Vietnam War, but the lyrics are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago. Not only is false patriotism dumb; it is destroying America.
Seven years ago I wrote a post on the dangers of false patriotism which, I argued, supports an "us" (true American) vs "them" mentality based on symbols rather than substance, and it discourages critical thinking.
It appears that patriotism today, at least for a subset of Americans, actually means disagreeing with EVERYTHING the government does and attacking and threatening governmental officials with whom one disagrees. Oh, and it apparently allows one to support overthrowing a legitimately elected American government.
Today’s false patriots seem to believe America was once great but is no longer so because of immigration, because of a “stolen” election, because China invaded the USA with Covid, because of the Black Lives Matter movement (driven by antifa), because of feminism, because of Muslims, because white Americans are being displaced by nonwhite immigrants, because of CNN, because marriage equality was guaranteed to LGTBQ Americans, because children read Catcher in the Rye and Animal Farm, and because the “American way of life” is dying.
If you have followed my blog for a while you know how I feel about all this. I know we are ALL immigrants except the few Native Americans we didn’t kill, China didn’t intentionally weaponize Covid (Chinese citizens died from it as well), I consider myself a feminist, I believe all mainstream media are biased, I believe Islam is as valid as any other organized religion, I know that more than 60% of Americans are white (it should NOT matter), I believe marriage rights for one group should not be determined by another group, I believe that banning Catcher in the Rye and other books is dumb (especially in today’s world when kids can easily access almost any books on the internet), and I believe the traditional American way of life promoted sexism and racism. As I stated about a year ago, I’m obviously “woke”.
But I also consider myself patriotic. I tend to agree with Eleanor Roosevelt who said: “True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth, universal brotherhood and good will, and a constant striving toward the principles and ideals on which this country was founded”.
I believe true patriots celebrate America’s ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity rather than promoting division. True patriots fight for those with less privilege. True patriots work to make America better rather than trying to tear it apart. True patriots become informed rather than being led like sheep; as I stated seven years ago, “true patriots demonstrate love and devotion to their country by taking the time to understand as much as possible about the critical issues of the day rather than simply displaying the American flag (which, by the way, I also support).”
True patriots do not attack the nation’s capitol, do not use the term “patriotism” to mask bigotry, do not try to change public school curricula to teach “their” version of history, and do not try to impose their narrow social views on others.
But true patriotism also does not mean blind devotion to our country or ANY of its leaders.
Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven, and the size of the flag you display doesn’t matter because true patriotism is more than symbols.
Thanks for following along.
David
I enjoyed what you had to say. Another, in my opinion, great Vietnam era song was "Monster" written by Steppenwolf. It is ripe with the injustices that we have committed in the name of freedom. The war they sang about was Vietnam, but I remember thinking that was about as true for the Gulf War as well. We are nowhere near a perfect nation, but I hope we never forget the many sacrifices that our forefathers gave for us, including far too many lives, so that we may remain to be free!
Excellent, David. By way of both the Greeks (patriōtēs) and the Romans (patria), the word - depending on how one chooses to see it - means homeland, fatherland, country, clan, humanity, etc., ad infinitum.
After the 911 attack, Pres. Bush used the term 'homeland' and for some reason (I suppose a sensitivity or illogical 'guilt' I have for my German heritage and the rise of the term 'fatherland') that word really grated on me. It still does. My preference would be the Greek word Philia, from which (I assume) we get the word affiliation and also the name of one of our first major cities, Philadelphia.
In any case, we, individually and collectively, choose those with whom we decide to identify, both in terms of family and friends. Some of us don't choose very well.