Patriotism Perspective

 

Syrian protests against his government. Is that patriotic?

My son, Walker Knauss, will be receiving a Certificate of Merit award from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for his essay on patriotism he wrote in the spring of 2011 while in 8th grade at Cavitt Junior High School.

T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t screamed the machine guns, as Syrian soldiers under the command of regime leader Bashar al-Assad shot down their fellow countrymen. They continued to pelt the protestors until the square was littered with dead and wounded activists. The Protestors were just patriots defending their country; the soldiers were just patriots defending their country. Both groups held conflicting views about what it meant to be patriotic. To be patriotic means something different to everybody; it is an opinion.

            Random House Dictionary defines patriotism as devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country. Who, however, decides what it means to be devoted to, love, or support one’s country? Everyone does, because love, support, and defense mean something different to everybody. Also, only a person can decide for themselves what degree of devotion, love, and support it takes before one is patriotic. Because of this, everyone has a varying idea of what it means to be patriotic. Therefore, because being patriotic means something different to everyone, it is an opinion.

            When activists in Syria protested their government, and Syrian soldiers gunned them down, both the protestors and soldiers thought they were being patriotic. This is because both groups had conflicting notions of what it means to be patriotic. The protestors were defending their country by attempting to reform what was in their eyes a bad government, and ultimately shield their country from the adverse affects of such a government. The soldiers on the other hand were defending their country from a group of potentially dangerous protestors threatening the country’s well being. Although the protestors and soldiers held different ideas about what constituted defense of one’s country, they both acted upon their own views, and defended their country. This interaction between soldiers and protestors is an example of how people can have very divergent perspectives on what it means to be patriotic.

            Another example of how being patriotic is an opinion deals with major American oil

companies and tax-breaks. During the week May 8, 2011 the Senate committee on Finance called in representatives from five major American oil companies in order to discuss ending tax breaks. Representatives from the oil companies expressed their concerns regarding the effects that eliminating tax breaks would have on energy prices, jobs, reliance on foreign oil, competition, and share holder returns. One of the representatives, James Mulva, went further than the others though and exclaimed that terminating tax breaks was, “un-American“. In doing so he implied that supporters of discontinuing tax breaks were not displaying patriotism. In this situation, the Mr. Mulva and the senators obviously have very different views of what it means to be patriotic. Later, after James refused to retract his comment, Senator Robert Mendez said, “Did you really mean to question my patriotism…”. In this occurrence, Senator Mendez and James Mulva exhibited how two people can have very different conceptions about what it means to be patriotic.

            People’s varying life experiences sculpt their unique beliefs regarding what being patriotic means. Because everyone’s definition of patriotism is as individual as they are, patriotism is an opinion. The Syrian soldier’s bombardment of Syrian Protestors, and James Mulva’s disagreement with Senator Mendez exhibited this. In a world where disputes regarding the meaning of patriotism are increasingly common, it must be remembered that there are 6.9 billion definitions for patriotism, and they are all valid.

Bibliography

Lewis, Al. “Big ‘Un-American’ Oil” Sacramento Bee. 15 May 2011: D7