Patriotism - only when the wind blows right?
When that story of that 10 year old kid that is refusing to say the Pledge until gays can marry broke, thoughts keep coming to the fore: is Patriotism (love of country) now subject to any whim or perceived Political Correctness slight?
Is Patriotism "just is", or is it subject to anyone's notion of goodness or badness?
Yes, I believe that everyone has the same right as myself to express themselves - that is not the problem. The problem is this: society can be viewed as a wall where each of a series of individual bricks is a principle or convention of that society; it is that aggregation of bricks, all working together, that form the wall (and in turn, society).
Now, start taking, one by one, the bricks that make up that wall. In the beginning, there is not much of an effect - the wall can show "robustness" - pinpoint failures that do not materially effect the overall functioning of the wall.
At least in the beginning. However, when more and more bricks are removed, the stability of that wall becomes compromised - it starts to lean. Continue to pull the bricks out, it will collapse on its own. Additionally, in a weakened state, any external pressures can also subject that wall to failure.Societies are similar - consider the above wall to be the shared philosophy that is society; remove its basic tenets, its "bricks", it becomes unstable.
Patriotism is one of the deep foundations of any society; pull that brick out and that society is in deep trouble. After all, if a majority of the populace is reached that thinks that any and all slights means that society is inherently bad, who would wish to defend it?
Look, our country is not perfect, but it is ours. Unlike President Obama, I will own up to our problems but to constantly apologize for our actions without ever emphasizing what we have done right? Obama often gives the impression that we have done little right domestically and hardly anything on foreign soil. Me? We have had problems, and have spent much and given much to correct those problems.
It brought back memories of a post I had done back in April of 2008 - a transcript of Red Skelton's famous "I Pledge".
I just ran across a video of that today at Big Hollywood:
Patriotism: it "IS" and NOT subject to someone's deluded sense of narcissism. Too many brave men and women have died in defending our ideals. We aren't perfect, but stupidity needs to be labeled as such - shame on that kid's parents for not educating him well.
One also has to ask - and what have the Professional Educators, as Red recalls, taught as well? Have they forgotten that in this subject area, it is not about the "me", but about the country? Have we, as a society, learned too well the lessons of the "Me Generation"?
