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Giving Patriotism A Bad Name

Comment by Larry Ross, April 26, 2007

 

If people object to Bush's illegal wars, his supporters call them unpatriotic or treasonous. If they protest against Israeli war policies and territorial expansion, they are called anti-Semitic.  Every dictatorship, or democracy engaged in illegal wars has appealed to people's 'patriotism' or love of country, to gain public support for their wars and to suppress criticism. Dictators and their supporters do not consider facts or consequences. In war it is all the way with the leader, no matter, why, where, how or any possible consequences. People who say stop, no, or the war is not justified, are condemned as 'unpatriotic'.  Dictatorial leaders or would-be dictators, claim to speak and act for their country, and claim that true patriots will believe and act for them against any nation they name as an enemy. Those who disagree are labelled unpatriotic. The media usually backs the dictator, and in some case condemns those who oppose or expose him. Fully developed dictatorships not only call it unpatriotic, they make it a crime to oppose. These are some of the reasons why people shy away from speaking out against illegal, unjustified wars and why peace movements are so poorly supported. Although America hasn't been taken to this stage yet, they are well along the road as shown in the article "Fascist America, In 10 Easy Steps" on this website. Here are a few quotes on this subject. 

 

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"Politically speaking, tribal nationalism [patriotism] always insists that its own people are surrounded by 'a world of enemies' - 'one against all' - and that a fundamental difference exists between this people and all others. It claims its people to be unique, individual, incompatible with all others, and denies theoretically the very possibility of a common mankind long before it is used to destroy the humanity of man."

Hannah Arendt , The Origins Of Totalitarianism p.227

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"Seas of blood have been shed for the sake of patriotism. One would expect the harm and irrationality of patriotism to be self-evident to everyone. But the surprising fact is that cultured and learned people not only do not notice the harm and stupidity of patriotism, they resist every unveiling of it with the greatest obstinacy and passion (with no rational grounds), and continue to praise it as beneficent and elevating."

Leo Tolstoy

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"Blind patriotism has been kept intact by rewriting history to provide people with moral consolation
and a psychological basis for denial."

William H. Boyer

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"Patriotism is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a web of lies and falsehoods,
robbing us of our dignity and increasing our arrogance and conceit."

Emma Goldman


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"One of the great attractions to patriotism, it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of a nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat while feeling we're profoundly virtuous."

Aldous Huxley

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"A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and a common fear of its neighbors."

W. R. Inge


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"Patriotism is fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone and as irrational as a headless hen."

Ambrose Bierce

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"Patriotism is a religion, the egg from which wars are hatched."

Guy de Maupassant


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"Patriotism is a menace to liberty."

Emma Goldman


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