3 Responses to ““Inferior Patriotism””

1. Elvis Elvisberg, on March 30th, 2008 at 6:01 am Said:

   patriotism is love of one’s country and defensive, while nationalism is expressed typically through contempt and fear of other nations and a will to power over other nations

   I don’t think I can agree with you, Daniel. Was our participation in World War II “patriotic”? I think patriotism is about living up to your country’s highest ideals, while nationalism is concerned with fighting your enemies. Martin Luther King was a patriot, on this theory– he saw our failings close up, but called us to our ideals, even though we had never measured up to them.

   Also, Will is mistaken when he claims that the hullabaloo is “in large part about whether the man is patriotic enough.” After all, while it got some attention, there was nothing near this wall-to-wall coverage when John Hagee or Pat Robertson said that Katrina was retribution against America, or when a GOP event with some (lesser) presidential candidates opened with a rewrite of “God Bless America” that criticized the country.

   Rather, the kerfuffle is 100% about Obama consorting with scary black people.

   Plus, what on Earth is Will hinting at? Does he think that people seriously believe, given Obama’s career, his policy positions, his voting record, that he’s secretly running for president so that he can develop a secret laser bean that will turn us all into Muslims? Or what?

   The Wright flap is about providing conservatives with a way to express their animosity towards a Democratic candidate. There is no there there.

2. abtusi, on March 30th, 2008 at 12:05 pm Said:

   How absurd. Patriotism is live of fatherland - of terrain and its defense. Nationalism is love of a people as extended family. Both obviously interact as lands change people and people change or move between lands, which is an excuse for stupid people to confuse and conflate, but not you.

3. Eunomia » Tired, on July 16th, 2008 at 9:50 pm Said:

   [...] Wilkinson would prefer instead morally bogus debates about whether caring for the poor means abolishing borders and swamping our country with millions of immigrants.  For my part, I get really tired of Wilkinson’s lectures about things and people he identifies as ”nationalist,” when he has made it quite clear over the years that he makes no distinction between nationalism and patriotism, lauds others who fail to make this distinction and in any case doesn’t understand what patriotism is. [...]

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.