Patriot is A Dirty Word
In America, the word patriot is a word that is usually used as a compliment. Patriots are considered brave, and are lauded as larger than life heroic figures. Police officers, firefighters, soldiers, and anyone who sacrifices for their communities are often praised as patriots. In reality though, calling these brave people patriots is a disservice to their sacrifices. In America, patriotism discourages political dissent, the word is deeply rooted in oppression and often encourages blind support of one’s country.
Political dissent is important for democracy, yet patriotism by nature opposes dissent. Patriotism values order and preservation of the status quo over justice and equality. The evidence for this is peppered throughout the history of this country. During the 1960s, while the civil rights movement was gathering steam Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed after protesting in Birmingham, Alabama. While he was incarcerated he wrote a letter in which he pointed out the problems that came along with valuing order over justice. King writes “I have reached the regrettable conclusion that the negro’s great stumbling block in his stride towards freedom is not the White Citizens Council or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to order than justice; who prefers a negative peace, which is the absence of tension to a positive peace, which is the presence of justice” (King 169). King wrote this letter in response to the members of white and upper class black communities, who while agreeing with his quest for equality, deemed direct action to be too harsh. They did not like that King was upsetting the social order and causing civil unrest. These people were patriots who felt that making a spectacle was making the country look as if it were in disarray, something that a patriot cannot tolerate.
This desire for order did not die with after the civil rights movement. It has continued well into the present day. After the events of 9/11 the fires of patriotism were once again rekindled. The moment the towers fell it immediately became taboo to question any of the government’s actions. Webster writes “a general outpouring of patriotism or nationalism followed” in reference to the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks. The nation was united under a banner of stars and stripes, and the war machines were oiled. It would not take long for the blood of America’s youth to be spilled in deserts halfway across the world. This form of patriotism also brought an almost surreal emphasis on iconography. The flag would become a sort of deity, and pop culture would be covered in red, white and blue. Americans often see their flag as a gleaming symbol of freedom. As Webster notes “in the United States […] the national flag is viewed with religious reverence and at times is all but synonymous with the nation and blood sacrifice” (Webster 2). This is the most dangerous form of patriotism, when iconography means more than rational thinking. This time period in American history is one of very few times when Americans happily relinquished civil liberties, and that alone shows the power of patriotism, and how it can be used as a weapon against a country’s citizens. The few Americans who refused to blindly follow the pressures to be patriotic experienced severe backlash.
Patriotism was at its highest point in the years immediately following the fall of the Twin Towers. As a result of this patriotism the country found itself in a loosely justified war in Iraq. A college basketball player named Tori Smith felt that the war was unnecessary and staged a simple protest against the war. To protest she simply turned away from the flag during the pregame playing of the national anthem. This caused talking heads from sports and news networks to verbally lash out against her. Patriotism caused many people to completely disregard her questioning of the war and instead launched ad hominem attacks against her instead of listening to any points she was trying to make. The backlash was so severe she was forced to write a statement, in which she said “if athletes promote only popular opinions, then their position as role models and leaders should be revoked and replaced with ‘messengers’ (Smith 176). This backlash is not uncommon in a post 9/11 world, where patriotism means blind support of one’s country. The safest view in a social setting is the patriotic view. Patriotism is the path of easy gratification, and that is why patriotism is so appealing to a large number of people. However, parroting what is popular is not courageous or valuable. It is more courageous to stand alone for what is right despite the negative consequences that one might face.
America was founded to escape the grasp of a monarch, yet the monarch was simply replaced with patriotism. One of the most influential founding fathers, the author of the “Declaration of Independence” represented the hypocritical tendencies of patriotism very well While Jefferson did pen the phrase “all men are created equal” (Jefferson 142) he most assuredly did not believe it. Jefferson was a slave owner, who believed that the black race was genetically inferior to the white race. Thompson writes about a letter that Jefferson wrote to Henri Gregoir, in which Jefferson established his belief that blacks were inferior and if they were not forced into slavery they would eventually rebel against the white man. While Jefferson wrote about creating a free country he was allowing large portions of the population to be treated as sub-human.
Another group completely excluded from the rights outlined by the Declaration was women, a group that statistically account for 505 of the population. In a country that was founded on freedom for all it is quite astounding that more than half the population was completely excluded from those rights. This exclusion was allowed to happen because the men who founded this country were considered to be righteous men, who sacrificed in the name of patriotism to create a beautiful land of freedom. Patriotism discouraged critical thinking, and these men were allowed to oppress and discriminate. They used patriotism to oppress groups they disliked or deemed inferior, in a very similar manner to the white supremacists Dr. king would later clash with. It would take seventy-two years for these injustices to be addressed. Stanton writes in her Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man towards woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her” (Stanton 150). Patriotism is often the obstacle halting social progress. Patriotism tried to stifle Stanton, Smith and King, luckily they were not concerned with being popular.
Patriotism is often used to acquire and keep power. By blindly assuming patriotism is always positive, society allows their rights to be infringed upon. If dissent is forced to be stifled, then all progress will be halted. Political discourse cannot be stripped down to nothing but knee jerk reactions to buzzwords. Society cannot be allowed to simply call to a flag and use that symbol as justification for remaining silent. When one is in the pursuit of righteousness, they cannot allow the word patriot to slow them. A word that can used as a tool for oppression is most assuredly a dirty word.
Works Cited
Jefferson, Thomas “The Declaration of Independence”. The Reader Ed. James C. McDonald.
Pearson. New jersey, 2012. 141–142. Print
King, Martin Luther Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The Reader Ed. James C. McDonald. Pearson. New Jersey, 2012. 166–173. Print
Smith, Toni “A Leader Is More Than A Messenger.” The Reader Ed. James C. McDonald. Pearson. New Jersey, 2012. 175–176. Print
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions.” The Reader Ed. James C. McDonald. Pearson. New Jersey, 2012. 149–150. Print
Thompson, Peter. “David Walker’s Nationalism-and Thomas Jefferson’s.” Journal of Early Republic, vol. 37, no. 1, Spring 2017, pp. 47–80 eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=21&sid=5a69f1b7–195d-4c46–80a2–5cea831be625%40sessionmgr103. Web.
Webster, Gerald R. “American Nationalism, the Flag, and the Invasion of Iraq.” Geographical Review, vol. 101, no. 1 Jan. 2011, pp. 1–18 http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=34&sid=5a69f1b7-195d-4c46-80a2-5cea831be625%40sessionmgr103.
