How Do You Define Patriotism? Essays

Patriotism is not blindly following ones country as some think. Patriotism is working to ensure you’re your country lives up to your moral and ethical values both at home and abroad. As well as being critical of your country when it does not live up to those standards. Patriotism as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary is “The quality of being patriotic; love of or devotion to one's country” (Oxford 2014). That’s it. It doesn’t say you have to take any specific action like flying the flag, serve in any function such as the armed forces or support any particular party for election. However; devotion is usually manifested in some type of behavior. In fact the definition is open to interpretation and subjective at best. True American

American Patriotism can be defined in different ways. When people think of the word patriotism, most often say "to love one 's country". That is true in some aspect, but being patriotic means much more than that. In the words of Mark Twain, he states, “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” True patriotism is to support what 's best for this country and contribute in ways to help that can be beneficial for everyone. However, to a socialist, patriotism can be viewed within three main perspectives: the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspective.

P - patriotic; Patriotism is a quality that shows one's love for his or her country. By being patriotic, a person is being loyal to their country. It shows that they support and care for the things others have fought to give them. I display my patriotism by something as little as saluting the flag to say the Pledge of Allegiance daily.

feelings of loyalty and patriotism to the nation. One who holds the ideas of loyalty and

Many people believe that they are patriotic people. But, what truly makes one patriotic? In “Saying Goodbye to Patriotism” Robert Jensen critiques the effects of patriotism on today’s modern society, the United States, and globalization after the attacks on 9/11. Jensen defines patriotism in his talk delivered to the Peace Action National Congress as “love and loyal or zealous support of one’s own country.” (Jensen 741) But, that is not the only definition of patriotism. One may love living in the United States so does that make them patriotic? Patriotism is probably one of the hardest words to define in today’s society.

Patriotism is a way in which we can strongly express our pride of for our nation and simply a way to honor our homeland. A feeling that has been spreading throughout the world for thousands of years. Patriotism has been such an influential aspect of literature, it has changed the historical ways of writing. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry expressed their ideas of patriotism in very different ways, but they all one idea in common, to share their powerful writing throughout the world. In many pieces of literature patriotism was shown repeatedly through the writing. For example, The Crisis No. 1, The Speech of Virginia Convention, and The Declaration of Independence all thoroughly conveyed patriotism and a revolutionary pride.

All Americans should find their opinion on patriotism and voice that opinion. There are many different views of patriotism and many will clash, but if we continue to talk and use our minds instead of our fists or guns, we can eventually come to a compromise of both ideas, which will best represent everyone’s opinions on patriotism. Through more clearly and fairly defined ideas of patriotism we can better understand the actions of our fellow Americans and avoid more unnecessary conflicts caused by extremist ideas being the only ideas heard.

What is the definition of patriotism for America? This question can be answered in various ways, but is not always focused upon in daily life. Spanning from Colonial America up until today, this answer has fluctuated due to the happenings within the country. Although separated by time, many previous beliefs reflect similarly upon more modern occasions. Patrick Henry’s Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech provides ideas that can easily transpose to current events in present day America. In his speech, there is the one overruling idea, that of patriotism, and a few supporting points, such as individual liberty and interpretation of freedom.

Mark Twain once commentend that a patriot was, “the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.”, implying that the majority of patriots do not know why they are patriotic. Americans are taught from birth to love the United States of America; if an American does not absolutely love America, then they must despise it, an act certainly shameful. Most Americans find themselves devoted before ever asking if the U.S. deserves devotion. Philosopher Carol Nicholson writes in her article, .Why I Am Not A Patriot, “Fixing love on an abstraction such as ‘country’ leads to...a recipe for intolerance, hate, and war.”. Devotion to a country is not wrong-a country could not grow unless its citizens had a degree of pride for it-the danger comes when people stop asking why, and not only stop questioning, but also believe their country is

In America today patriotism is very significant because unlike some countries America has a great deal of freedom. From freedom of choice, speech amongst other thing that would make someone want to be loyal and show pride in their country . Several people show their national pride in different way one of the most symbolic and respected being military service. This concept of showing national pride by serving in the military dates back to the American Revolution. The very beginning of the creation of what is now an independent and strong Nation. During the American Revolution, it is widely believed that American Soldiers willing and proudly fought to gain independence from great britain.However some historians say that this story is just a myth meaning that it was exaggerated or it just never happened . By researching and looking into the different stages of the american revolution and into the journals kept by soldiers during this period, I can be able to come to conclusion as to what I actually think about soldiers During this time period. I can be able to conclude whether or not American soldiers did really fight for patriotic reasons, if the concept of Patriotism gradually disappeared during the period of the war or if it just never existed in the first place.

In the Webster dictionary the definition for patriotism is: “one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests.” An example of it in a sentence is, “He was a great patriot who devoted his life to serving his country.” My definition of a person who is patriotic is, “a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, especially of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government.

People have been supporting, and fighting, their countries since they were made. Patriotism represents an undying love for your country and all that it stands for, the willingness to fight and die for it in hopes it shall flourish, but this love can be abused for man's own gain.

Before a discourse of the specified topic can be laid out, definitions of a few terms must be distinguished. Firstly, nationalism and patriotism are two distinctly different concepts that are often used interchangeably to represent a similar school of thought. By no means, are they mutually exclusive or unrelated ideologies, but nationalism and patriotism differ in their approaches to expressing love for one’s country, respectively. These definitions can be best understood on the shoulders of essayist and drama critic, Sydney J. Harris, “The Difference Between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility while the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to a war (Harris, 1953).” While the latter definition may be a bit extreme, the general impression is still applicable. An understanding of the dichotomy between nationalism and patriotism, and how

Beginning with America, there is a strong sense of nationalism. Being called patriotic would signify you support America and the ideals the flag stands for. It has many meanings to every

Anti-patriotism is another form of showing to be an ideal global citizen. Promoting and what is heard often, “my country this, my county that” is not in favor of global citizens. One must be open to all forms of people and their cultures. A global citizen is one that can travel to any country and adjust to the customs or at least be open to them.