"One of the great attractions of patriotism - it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what's more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous." Aldous Huxley
who was it that said: patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Samuel Johnson
@GothRik ,
the AB clouded my thinking . i should have remembered. i read Boswell on Johnson. also stood outside his house in london. couldn't get in b/c/ it was a holiday.
There is a great difference between true Patriotism and Jingoism even more so between The Patriot and the Nationalist.
Yeah you are the problem.
I used to be patriotic (due to social conditioning), but, found it to be embarrassing, because of history. Then I described myself as just a human, but, I became embarrassed again, when I saw what we are doing to nature and this planet. So now I am just an earth dweller.
I'm a patriot...I served the US in Vietnam but I am always on guard against the super patriots that are trying to manipulate behavior with their flag waving rhetoric. Look at Trump the greatest patriotic President we have ever had...when he had a chance to serve in Vietnam he got a doctor to get him a deferment for bone spurs. Now he can't even remember which foot gave him the deferment.
So are you proud about being in Vietnam?