Do you know the difference?
People who are uncomfortable with the idea of patriotism should think about this. They aren't the same thing. The things that make American worth loving are things that ought to move all citizens to cheer for this country. Freedom and liberty. Equality and tolerance. Individual responsibility and an ethos of mutual purpose. It shouldn't be even a little bit difficult to love what this country stands for.
(Props to paco.)
People who are uncomfortable with the idea of patriotism should think about this. They aren't the same thing. The things that make American worth loving are things that ought to move all citizens to cheer for this country. Freedom and liberty. Equality and tolerance. Individual responsibility and an ethos of mutual purpose. It shouldn't be even a little bit difficult to love what this country stands for.
(Props to paco.)
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In the end, it comes back to that old Japanese philosophy.
Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than mountains.
If a person feels his duty is to the leader, and not the people, then he will do much harm via nationalism. If a person feels his duty is to the people by honoring the sacred trust the people have put into him, then that person will do much good in his life.
When Hirohito had to make a choice between the honor of his race, his nation, and his person and the safety and peace of his people, he decided what his duty truly was and henceforth set the destiny of all Japanese into the future rather than the fires of nuclear annihilation.
Because Hitler cared nothing for his people, regardless of his master race rhetoric, Hitler brought his people down into the hell of destruction itself with no path out.