I'm struggling with today because I've been looking forward to the 250th anniversary of America's independence ever since I was a kid and my mom told me about how cool the 200th anniversary celebrations were. I knew this could very possibly be the only major anniversary that I would see in my lifetime.
But as I sit in my apartment today, playing Minecraft by myself, I find myself in the least "patriotic" state I've ever been in. I find the holiday passing me by without a moment's glance. There are multiple reasons for this, the first being the fact that the planned celebrations that have been in the works since 2016 were hijacked to allow for additional political corruption and to serve a single man's ego. (If you want a deep dive on how, check out this video). I don't want any part in that. But I think the biggest reason is just the fact that the idea of being patriotic in America has been so incredibly warped over the years.
I think there's three types of patriotism, blind patriotism, unpatriotism, and true patriotism. The current administration has been pushing HARD for the first one, going as far as to erase and warp historical facts to develop a generation that blindly believes in a country that doesn't truly exist and never really did. They want you to blindly accept that "we are the greatest" and to view anything less as not only unpatriotic, but dangerous to the state.
This is a key part of the authoritarian's playbook. Another way that they can exercise control. Blind patriotism is surprisingly easy to push. Most Americans have been indoctrinated into blind patriotism since birth to some extent or another. When I was a junior in high school (age 16-17 for the non-Americans), on the first day of my AP US History class, my teacher started the class by asking the question "Do you think the US is the best country in the world? Why or why not?"
I was the only person in the entire class who said no. The only one. Everyone else blindly believed that we were the greatest country on Earth. Even after my teacher asked me to justify my answer and I mentioned how we were far from the top in many metrics like education, happiness, etc., there were still kids in my class who continued to put their hand in the air and state that America is unquestionably the best country in the world.
Blind patriotism is dangerous. When you blindly believe yourself to be the best, without truly evaluating why you believe that way and simply just believing the propaganda, then you start to feel like it is your duty to ensure your way of life persists and dominates no matter the cost. This is what often leads to wars, crusades, subjugation of those deemed as "other". I think being "patriotic" while not accepting the truth of America's past is wrong, and shouldn't even been considered patriotism. It's just blind devotion, akin to being devoted to a cult.
At the same time, there's been a wave of unpatriotism. People who believe this country is all bad. Completely rotten. Irredeemable. Some of you on here I've seen perpetuate this idea. It's very very easy to focus on the bad because America is FULL of her sins, whether that's the way our forefathers treated the Native Americans, the slaves brought over from Africa and their descendants after, anyone from the Middle East after 9/11, etc etc.
It is absolutely important to recognize those sins and make reparations in any way we can. At the same time, focusing solely on the bad and solely on the past makes it impossible to do anything good in the future. If you view everything as irredeemable and out of your hands, you can never make any meaningful change. That sort of nihilistic acceptance gets us nowhere.
America has done good things. We've pushed for democracy and freedom worldwide. We've fought for it. We've sent out aid to those in need. We've helped build structures for lasting peace. And most of the people here truly are good people with kind hearts and friendly spirits. I see it in the people who volunteer at food banks, shelters, etc etc. People who donate to help others. People who speak up and fight for what is right.
All I'm trying to say is, we have done good. We have also done bad. The world is not black and white. You have to be able to view the shades of grey and not a single country on Earth is not some shade of grey.
I argue that what we need in this day and age is a true patriotism, and what I mean by "true patriotism" is a patriotism that involves evaluating America's history as a whole, and believing that we can forge a better future by learning from the sins of our past. That this country has the capacity for good, if we only let ourselves believe it and fight for it. We need people who don't blindly believe we're the best (because we're objectively not), but who believe we CAN be if we try. But only if we recognize our flaws and shortcomings, and work to fix them, and if we FULLY recognize and pay reparations for our past mistakes, so we don't repeat them.
True patriotism is also about believing in your country not because of what they were or are, but what they are striving to be. If your country stops striving for the values you support, then there is no incentive to be patriotic anymore. I think your country should earn your devotion, not the other way around.
We need people who believe in America not because they believe "we're the best" but because they believe in the values we're striving for. For me, it's freedom (true freedom, not the pseudo-feudalism we're inching closer and closer too), democracy, and the idea that anyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc etc can build a better life here. That we're all born equal and deserve the same rights and opportunities as one another. That we can all support each other, build each other up, as we push forward for a better future.
Have we always demonstrated this? NO! But the fact that we're fighting for this, that the majority of the population here strives for these values, is a testament to what we can be. And don't say "a majority doesn't" because its just a vocal minority and propaganda making it seem like that's not the case.
Being both blindly patriotic and nihilistically unpatriotic are barriers to progress. We have to fight both. We have to believe we can be better, without believing we already are or can never be. Without erasing or warping our history to push a falsehood of who we are. It's not easy (it never is) to tread that middle path. It is much easier for our brains to accept the easier conclusions on either side. But we must push through it, we have to believe we can be better than we are, and then we can work together to make real progress.
