On Patriotism
The shocking events that took place earlier this week in Washington D.C. have inspired me to write, and no I won't be discussing the events in detail. What I will be discussing is the title the perpetrators gave themselves and what it means to me. The title I am referring to is "Patriot." Depending on who you are, the word patriot could bring about a variety of mental images. Possibly a flag-waving redneck or a soldier fighting for their country, but somebody like myself would likely not be your mental image of a patriot. But with the ideas I share with you today, I hope that I can change that, and possibly convince you to also be a patriot.
The common thread that connects many of our mental images of patriots is a love for our country, and this is what would turn many people off from considering themselves as patriots. As who would want to love a country that terrorizes other countries for economic gain, brutalizes its citizens, and above all, doesn't love it's people back. Not me, that's for damn sure. So, why do I consider myself a patriot? Well, it all comes down to how I define the word. To me, a patriot is anybody who loves their country but also shows that love through the drive to see the betterment of the country. In addition, I believe that a patriot should also be a skeptic, somebody who ensures the government always has its people's best interest in mind. Under that definition, I consider myself a patriot. As for the people at the capitol, I do not consider them patriots, as they were not at the capitol to better our country but to replace it with one whose goal is to better President Trump.
But why should we change the word's definition from one that formerly implied relentless nationalism and conservatism? Well, to me it comes back to that common thread of loving our country. To tell somebody you love our country they often make the assumption that you are a conservative and a nationalist. So, the implication this creates is one which hatred of our country is synonymous with progress, equality, and humanitarianism. This allows conservative groups to take advantage of this association to make requests of our inalienable rights seem criminal. So why should we change how we define words such as patriot? Because as it stands, the word's definition is contributing towards our continuous loss of freedom to an increasingly fascist system.
In short, I ask if you cannot take pride in what your country is, take pride in what it can be so that your children can be prideful in what we have become, as their freedom may depend on it.
I hope you all had a great new year and holiday, thank you for reading.