Patriotism Start?...Most Likely, as in Many Cases,

¶ … patriotism start?...Most likely, as in many cases, it should begin with a definition of this term, as asserted by the Webster online dictionary. According to it, patriotism is "love for or devotion to one's country." As we can notice, this definition includes two similar, but not identical terms: love and devotion. The second term introduces a higher level of love, because devotion implies an ardent feeling, that is, "a fervent love," as mentioned on the site of American patriotism.

We should thus agree from the very beginning that there are several different levels of love that one can provide (not necessarily towards one's country, but generally speaking) and that somewhere on the way, one's love for one's country is not sufficiently ardent for it to be considered patriotic. We can thus line up several terms that may constitute themselves in a graded scale for patriotism, terms like "love," "ardent love," "devotion," "sacrifice," "patriotism," etc.

Because of the many stages and levels of patriotism, it should be very difficult to clearly define whether a certain action is patriotic or not, because we will have to refer to how it reflects the love for one's country, to what degree and whether that degree is enough to be characterized as patriotism. Websites such as Sustain our Future attempt to ease such a task by providing a list of ideas that would, in their opinion, decide whether one is patriotic or not.

Such ideas included "being willing to die for something," "eliminating the dependence on the Middle East" or "being informed and voting." Of course, in my opinion, doing or not doing these does not necessarily turn you into a patriot. I find it rather absurd that the fact that you are willing to die for a cause (namely for your country) makes you a patriot.

Because of such idiotic ideas 10 million people have died in the First World War in one of the most useless wars ever: because everybody was a patriot and thought that dying for one's country was the most honorable thing to do. Additionally, because the show of patriotism was not enough, 50 more million died in the Second World War because a lunatic caporal explained to everybody how Germany was the greatest country of all and how killing 6 million Jews was the most patriotic thing that the Germans could do.

I have made these comments so as to be able to bring about a discussion around WHO defines what patriotism is.

Are we not faced with the case where the love for one's country is substituted to the love for one's government and for the political decisions that it makes? Who can actually judge that an action is patriotic or unpatriotic and are we not to assume that such a decision bears a significant subjective touch to it? I would rather assess that the degree of patriotism and the way that we want and choose to manifest it is a personal thing and should be left to everybody's decision.

God, for example, is served and honored in different ways throughout the world. Some assume that going to church four times a day is a proper way to worship God and that anybody who does not practice religion as fervently is an atheist or a Communist. But religion, very much as patriotism, is a personal thing: everybody can worship in their own way. Everybody can choose to manifest their love, for God or their country, in different ways.

Who is to judge whether an action is patriotic or unpatriotic? I have chosen to have this discussion because the issue of the journalists deemed unpatriotic because of their articles revolves right around these points-of-view. The journalists were deemed unpatriotic by a team of politicians, among them the President George W. Bush, because they expressed their opinions (their free opinions) and because they happened to disagree with the general governmental policies. Now, we should consider the moment of 11th of September.

We remember that at that particular moment, the whole American nation was united in a common front towards terrorism and towards helping the families of those who had died and towards helping each other. Everybody was patriotic then. Identifiably, the moment that some became unpatriotic corresponds exactly to the time when the American state was no longer in question, but the American governmental policy. The 'unpatriots' were exactly those who did not adhere to the general opinion promoted by the government.

Similarly, during the Communist regime in the former Soviet Union, people who did not agree with the Party line were deemed unpatriotic, traitors and were swiftly sent to the Gulags. The comparison is perhaps exaggerated (because there are no Gulags in the United.