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this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2026
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politics
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I don't see a difference between US patriotism and the bad kind of nationalism. It's just better branding. But that it's such good branding makes it worse, because even lefties don't question their own arrogance when it comes to other countries, which enables imperialism.
Just take the endless unquestioning, mandatory "thank you for your service" to veterans. That is not something I've ever seen in my country or think is a thing in other countries. Soldiers generally do not see action either. They are not supposed to see action. That the US soldiers see so much action is due to imperialism. It's so weird.
Or the whole pledge thing in school, ew. Making small children swear an oath to a fascist regime and police state, just despicable lol. Or the national anthem before every football game. If you'd see the same thing in China you'd see how weird it is.
PS: Sorry if I come off a little too negative, I'm sure there are positive forms of patriotism. Just not in the USA lol.
Patriotism is simply loving your nation. Part of loving your nation means being proud of the good it's done. Part of it means acknowledging its faults, and working to make it better. The problem is, for too long America has let nationalists, who refuse to acknowledge its mistakes, own and define the word. Being a patriot doesn't mean blind loyalty. It doesn't mean hollow symbols, or forcing children to chant oaths before they're old enough to think for themselves. It's having the courage to believe your nation can always grow wiser and more just. Patriot theatre is for people incapable of having a mature relationship with their community (and likely anyone else for that matter).
Sorry if I harp on and be all negative, but I see a problem with that notion right there.
If you were talking about a nation that was truly wise and just and not engaged in all kind of evil over the last 70 years, fine.
But the USA has been a fucking asshole ever since the vietnam war. Do you know how many innocent victims died in that war? It was millions. And forever they produced stories and movies about the trauma of those poor veterans and how 50.000 brave young men died, or how they proudly looked at the massacres they done to make sure it never happens again. Who cares about one village, they killed millions. An illegal war, completely immoral, and death and destruction on an incredible scale.
And since then, did the USA grow wiser and more just? To believe in that despite clear evidence isn't courage, it's delusion. It's a shield and cover to keep doing as they are doing, while painting it over with pretty words.
Instead you should have the courage to believe that your nation is truly corrupt and ruled by amoral people and institutions and that your nation should stop any imperialist foreign policy immediately and focus on your own shit.
Yeah, it's bad. So was Belgium in the 1800s So was Germany not too long ago. Britain has been a menace off and on since the neolithic. Malaysia, the Mughals, the Mongols, etc. Every nation goes through times when they're a menace, both to themselves and everyone else. The US has never been a particularly good nation. But it's young.
Believing it can get better doesn't mean assuming it will. I also never said it would happen tomorrow. We didn't sit around and wait for the Nazis to get better in the mid 1900s, we did what had to be done. Also, I'm Canadian, not American, so watch where you're point the "You" friend.
Do Canadians also use "patriotism" as a word? Afaik it's not used outside North America.
Every country has a word for it. Patriotism just means something different here than it does in the US. That's the way a lot of things work. We share a lot of words. They don't always mean the same thing in Canada as they do in the US, which is very confusing for people.
Well we were talking about the US and there surprising decline of patriotism.
Anyway this reminds of the very funny TV show Patriot (2015–2018).