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jlf1961 -> RE: Indoctrination (12/13/2012 11:24:53 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
Come on, you are taught patriotism at school, through the media and and many other forms of social pressure. I don't know another western country where when you travel round you see so many flags and uniforms. The idea of the USA is everywhere you look in American cities, people are bombarded wit subliminal images. Patriotism has nothing to do with the love of freedom. A person who really loves freedom would not be strongly patriotic but understand the corrupting nature of patriotism. As the great Samual Johnson so succinctly put it Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Seriously?
Lets see there is the pledge of allegiance, which ends when you go to middle school.
I remember NO class work on being a patriot other than examples of great patriots in elementary school, and then there was American History class in middle school and High School.
I had a few teachers that were vets of WW2, Korea and Vietnam, and they would occasionally speak as to why they joined the military, even tell a few war stories, but as far as teaching patriotism and love of country, I would not go so far as that.
And modern media is as quick to make a vet a villain, drug addict or criminal as not. The last movie that I saw that actually promoted patriotism as a virtue was "The Patriot" before that it was John Wayne.
As for peer pressure, none of the schools I attended had that kind of peer pressure centered on patriotism, you had the Christian Athletes organization, football and various sports that participation gained you some sort of social standing. Of course, in my High School, being in the Rodeo Club meant more than being first string varsity football player. I was both.
The High School I attended never had a JROTC program, although there were a few school board meetings when the addition of such a program was brought up, the school board just never implemented it due to cost, even though some of the cost is deferred because of the military ties.
Today, peer groups are being established along ethnic, socioeconomic, religion, lifestyle and again sports lines. There are goths, emos, jocks, cheerleaders, geeks, and the various race cliques in American Schools, and not to many of them focus on patriotism or love of country.
The surge of patriotism that was seen after the 9/11 attacks did not come from people that were already patriotic, but from people that realized that we were vulnerable. Yes there were examples of men and women leaving lucrative careers to join the military after 9/11, but where was their patriotism prior to that attack? Why didnt they join the military immediately after college before going into that money making career?
I joined the army right out of high school, partly due to family tradition, partly because it was a fast way out of my home town. Yes, I had a sense of patriotism, and not from school or peer pressure, but from family history. My best friend enlisted with me on the buddy system, his reason was not due to patriotism but due to an idea that it would be a grand adventure.
Since the 1980's, the demographics of the military have changed, in case you didnt know it, most enlistees are from the higher income brackets, the same is true for officers. Whites and African Americans are equally represented in the enlisted ranks, but African Americans are more prevalent in officer ranks, which is changing since 2004.
The old standard idea of joining the military to get out of a lower income or ghetto life has changed. The enlistments to get money for college has dropped, but not significantly.
In modern America, Patriotism seems to be linked to social status and income level. Lower income young adults are less likely to enlist since they see no benefit to going in the military. The pay is less than most unskilled civilian jobs, and the incentives are not there. Lower income people also do not experience the perks of American Citizenship (in their perception) as someone of higher income levels. The quality of education is different depending on the economic area the school district is in, the sense of racial and economic advantages or disadvantages depends on your economic area. And the lower income citizens of the United States went to public schools. Where was patriotism taught there?
It is true that everyone is equal in uniform, rank withstanding, and all are brothers under the skin. But I can tell you that national commitment, even among members of the military changes over the length of career or enlistment.
As I said, you cannot teach patriotism or love of country, you either develop it on your own or you dont have it. Something may trigger it, such as a national disaster like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor, and that may mean you join the military or contribute in some other manner, but some people saw those events and felt nothing.
One more point, patriotism is more often than not taught in the home. Fathers who proudly served instill the sense of patriotism and love of country in their children.
I might point out that I grew up in the sixties and seventies. Patriotism was looked down on by many Americans as a cop out due to the Vietnam war. Incidents like Kent State did not help matters. The majority of Americans did not support the war, and the nightly news reports did nothing to change that. Walter Cronkite who went on record as saying the war would end in a stalemate hurt the war effort.
And of course, let us not forget Hanoi Jane.
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