Has America Turned Patriotism into Nationalism?

@Bd200789 (2994)
United States
January 26, 2009 1:20pm CST
I found this quote to day from George Orwell and I think it is very accurate. "The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." Every time I speak out against something the United States has done, I am told I am "unpatiotic". I love my country, but that does not mean I have to ignore everything I don't like about it, like the war in Iraq.
1 person likes this
6 responses
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
27 Jan 09
I agree with this also. Thanks for sharing this with all of us. I do not think we chould have to ignore things that we do not like also.
1 person likes this
• United States
26 Jan 09
To question your government makes you patriotic, its not about party alignment or going along with the decisions that our government makes without the consent of the American people behind them, think of all the stupid laws on the books or antiquated rules that can't be changed and will never be updated. You don't have to agree with everything the last administration did or what the new admin is going to do. I question their motives before I question their authority because once the decision is made if you disagree then you're not being patriotic. We are told that we live in a global economy because we do business all over the world so nationalism is a word that envelopes the whole premise.
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@StarBright (2798)
• United States
26 Jan 09
You, obviously, are talking to a select few people quite different from the ones who voted for President Obama. We voted for change. We wanted that change partly because of our disagreement with the war in Iraq. Even as we give President Obama a chance to fix the mess we are in, he is not getting 100% agreement on all sides. No one human is God. No one human will be right all of the time. It is perfectly all right to disagree and speak out. In fact, it is absolutely necessary. Freedom of speech is one of the things we get when we "Let freedom ring!"
• Canada
29 Jan 09
A very good question. My husband is American, and I'm Canadian. Over the past few years i've been thinking a lot about this. Patriotism in America isn't patriotism anymore. America has turned into a totally nationalistic country. Maybe President Obama can fix the problem.
@Bd200789 (2994)
• United States
29 Jan 09
I hope so. Are we just supposed to ignore every bad thing America does? The majority of the people I know seem to think so.
@smartie0317 (1610)
• United States
26 Jan 09
I think that quote in true in many ways. Which is sad, because we can not fix our flaws if we don't accept that we do have flaws.
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@dinos1 (204)
• Greece
26 Jan 09
I don't think that America as a whole is to be accused as nationalist, it is just some people confusing the 2 ideas... The unfortunate thing is that such people had been in power for 8 years..
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