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Originally Posted by classicman
Thats bullshit Ibby. What is sad is that neither you nor PH have any idea of how awesome a country America is.
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The country is awesome because so many people do not have your view of patriotism that Ibram so accurately defined -
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Patriotism for patriotism's sake is nothing but self-blinding anti-intellectual brainwashing.
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A great patriot does not go about waving flags, wearing flags on a lapel, and singing songs of glory. The great patriot innovates. He gets an education. He advances mankind. He sees wrong and tried to right it, sees suffering and tried to heal it, sees war and tried to stop it. There is no glory in patriotism as so often expressed in self-blinding anti-intellectual brainwashing. It is that misguided patriotism that created the American disasters in Vietnam and Iraq. That tried to create nuclear war with the USSR. Fortunately, men are in increasing numbers over the centuries that that boys brainwashed by patriotism are a problem; not a solution.
Yes we need cannon fodder from time to time. So we hype them up with acclaims of patriotism and send them off. But sacrificing one for his country does not make a great man. The greater man comes back alive with the knowledge of how such patriotism can be misguided - or what really makes a great patriot. The great men don’t fight wars. They accomplish greater victory without conflict. That is the real patriot – different from what so many misguided souls believe.
Ibram is right on the money accurate. To become a man, one eventually learns what Ibram has defined.