The Barroom Brawl and Patriotism

[ElboRuum]

This week, http://journals.democraticunderground.com/AuntiePinko/29">Auntie Pinko addresses a question, and in so doing ends up asking another. It's a simple question, really. Is it wrong to feel patriotism in a country which has done everything in its power to disappoint you with its apparent lack of morals and indifference to the actions of its government? Of course, to answer this question, you have to define what you mean by patriotism, which AP strangely dodges, claiming that ethicists are wary to venture into the realm of feelings as well. Well, of course they are. But AP wasn't asked an ethical question.

This is a very interesting tack to take considering that http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/patriotism">Webster has no qualms about stating exactly what it means when we use the word. I don't think we need an ethicist to divine feelings, especially when the criteria for one's own sense of patriotism is clear: Do you love your country?

For this occasion, the rare occasion I've had to disagree with AP, I say this: someone asked your opinion, just give it. Right, wrong, or otherwise. Steph's asking for a reality check. So give it to her. Nevermind. Allow me.

The question Stephanie asks is a self-answering one. The reasoning goes something like: if you cared enough to ask the question, then you love your country, ergo, you are a patriot, even in your disappointment and disgust.

Love and disappointment are far from mutually exclusive, in fact, some would argue that they are the most logically juxtaposed concepts that we have names for. Think of the wife or husband whose spouse, in a moment of weakness, cheats. Think of the parents who find out their child is selling drugs. Think of the family member or friend who does something stupid and ends up in prison. In any of these cases, do we stop loving a person because they disappoint us? Absolutely not. And I can only imagine just how awful an existence we would lead if it did. Disappointment is a sign of love, because its absence, in circumstances where disappointment is warranted, indicates apathy. Apathy and love? Now these two concepts definitely have difficulty existing in close proximity.

Let's put it this way:

For the sake of analogy, imagine you are out with a group of friends, one of whom always seems to get drunk, then gets torqued up about something, starts mouthing off, and gets under the skin of another patron and his buddies. Maybe he has a valid reason, maybe he doesn't, but he almost invariably goes about expressing that and dealing with that in the most inappropriate ways and at the most inopportune times. Most of the time, you can step in and separate the two and defuse the situation. But tonight, there's just no stopping him. He's a little too drunk to understand reason, let alone see it, and he's a little too torqued up to back down or listen to you as you reason on his behalf. You've seen it before, and you know what it means: your time out with your friend will devolve from a jovial evening into a barfight, and you are disgusted with him for it. But you will defend him because he is your friend, and you know he wouldn't be so if he didn't have some lovable qualities that were worthy of your diligent, if exasperated, protection.

Right now, that's really what most concerned Americans are dealing with, their country is a drunken friend whose got 'beer muscles' and a chip on his shoulder, and they are exasperated, angry, and disapppointed. But we still love our country. We know that sometime soon, our country will get some needed sleep, wake up with a monstrous hangover, apologize to everyone, and vow never to let a night like the last one happen again.

We know that's bullshit on a cracker, and we'll wait for the next time the beer muscles show up... very carefully. But our country is our friend and we love it, because even with all of it faults, it's been there for us when we've needed it. It needs a little tough love, though, because now, through its indulgences, it's putting its own ideals at risk, and it was those ideals which drew you to love it as you do. It needs to be reminded of that.

And that's patriotism, too.