I thin that fighting for our country means fighting for its' people. Fighting for its theories, beliefs, morals, and history. When fighting for America, I think we are fighting for our right to change, to speak, to give opinions, and to live freely.
People are flawed, and so, governments are flawed. I don't think you can speak to any solider and have them tell you that no matter what the government is always right and will never lead you down the wrong path. But what makes fighting for a flawed country so great is because we are able to fight to correct and fix those flaws. We can protest wars, policies, decisions, anything that the government passes. We have the right to stand up against our government and try to fix a flawed or broken system. Being patriotic does not mean that you have to think your country is perfect in every way. I think it simply means to be proud of where you come from and to fight to keep enemies from overtaking the values and area that you are from. Yes, pride may be a human flaw, but it does not mean that we shouldn't fight to try to keep outsiders from trying to change us, when we can simply change ourselves.
So, I have a few things to say about this subject. Firstly, you said that patriotism is fighting for a countries theories, beliefs, and morals. I do not think that fighting in the name of those things is a good idea. This is almost circular because wars are fought due to ideological differences, fighting for ideological difference is fighting for war. Additionally, it;s not appropriate to say you are fighting for such things as freedom, if you aren't actually fighting for freedom. Also, the point of freedom is not the ability to give opinions in favor of the common view, you are free when you can give dissenting opinions. American's have none of that. If you tell an American that you don't support the troops, you will be told that soldiers died for your freedom so you shouldn't say that. In reality, saying that is using your freedom.
ReplyDeleteFighting for a flawed country is not great because fighting for a flawed country never fixes a flaw. Fixing a flawed country is fixing a flaw. Fighting and fixing are not the same thing.
Also, I think that maybe you are confusing a different country for America. In America people who protest wars, policies, and decisions are put in prison, sometimes indefinitely. I recommend you look into the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. It essentially prohibits protest on any area that the government labels as restricted. You could look up the Patriot Act and tell me what you think of it and the people who are put on terrorist watch-lists for being vegan, atheist, or having a middle eastern sounding name. You could also look into how the US attempted to force John Lennon out of the country for protesting war.
Pride is something that you earn after accomplishing something. You can be proud after you play a piece on piano for the first time. You cannot, however, be proud based on the pure chance of your birth location. It's like saying I'm proud to be born or I'm proud to have a beating heart. There was no work that you put in to these things. Therefore, there is nothing to be proud of. Additionally, we also try to force our values onto other countries. We also have a difficult time changing ourselves, and we shouldn't fight, physically, those who try to change us. We should instead rationally argue with them. Patriotism does a good job at hindering this sort of rational conversation.