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meatcleaver -> RE: Indoctrination (12/13/2012 2:27:39 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: jlf1961
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.
Bertrand Russell pointed out in regard to people dying for their country “Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.” I agree, patriotism isn't taught, when you are taught something, you have to think. People are brainwashed into patriotism. My great uncle who spent three years in the trenches in WWI said after three years you learn to think but you are still stupid because you still try to kill the enemy instead of being brave enough to turn round and shoot the bastards who sent you to war.
The anti-Vietnam demonstrations were because affluent middleclass kids were being called up. If it was only poor blacks and whites being called up, I wonder how anti-war those middleclass kids and their parents would have been.
Hanoi Jane was a brave exception that proves the rule. She was one of the few public figures who actually articulated the Vietnam war was a colonial war.
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