This was for my AP English III class (I am a junior in highschool), our prompt was to write about patriotism or some shit, I felt that this was the opurtunity for me to get my opinion out on it. I think this will probably be a good topic for discussion, but please, if you find grammatical errors, save the posts about them, I really don't give two shits about my grammar. So without further ado...
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Patriotism Essay
“In the United States, doing good has come to be, like patriotism, a favorite device of persons with something to sell.” H.L. Mencken once said, expressing his embarrassment for how patriotism is used today. Patriotism, what is it? Why do have the utmost respect for so called, “patriots?” What great quality is this that must be adored? The United States of America was founded to give people “freedom,” so why do we not act free? Why do we not think for ourselves and be skeptical of the information we are given by the middlemen, with their hidden standards? Patriotism has disintegrated into a void of nothingness.
So called, “patriotism” has become nothing more than a tool, a vacant “idea” used by the government to see through to their own means. A guise used to keep the masses in the dark. When there is a sudden “patriotic” surge the country becomes a stupid and blind mass of followers. They stop questioning their leaders’ actions. They heedlessly adhere to their masters’ wishes. To keep them in this subdued state the media releases “sob stories,” sentimental biographies covering fellow countrymen’s depressing trials through adversity or tragic deaths. In turn, causing them to despise whatever “enemy” brought this catastrophe upon them, thus making them treasure their all-mighty home country. The media uses “patriotism” to fuel ratings and get people to tune into their beloved television sets. Once again running the same old newscasts and sob stories, keeping people (intentionally or unintentionally) in the dark about what is going on behind the scenes of the government. Nothing going public about the bad things, the dishonorable events, the devious happenings their idolized innocent leaders’ are carrying out. Patriotism could once be considered a respected quality, though it now brings a bad taste to the mouth, and one is reluctant to use that word any longer to get the proper point across. It was once an immovable dedication to ones firm beliefs in a country with a better way of life. Unfortunately it has become but a deceitful marketing ploy used by “Big Brother.”
True patriots were scarcely around years ago, and are even scarcer in this day an age. One true patriot in the early days of the United States was Sojourner Truth. A woman that was patriotic about her own beliefs. She did not follow the common man’s beliefs, what most of the country thought was right. She stood up for what she believed in. Speaking out against the evil of slavery, preaching for rights for women, and rights for blacks. This is what patriotism truly is. Standing up for what you believe in. Not following a general idea of “freedom.” You find most people that have pride in their country are nothing but patriots of patriotism. But not Isabella Baumfree, she only followed one set of beliefs, her own. She helped bring a new way of life to America, helped change countless lives by being patriotic for things worth being patriotic about. This is the only kind of patriotism that is commendable, the only kind worth respecting.
In America today there is misconstrued “patriotism” everywhere. Some regular person can rescue a child out of a burning building and they are a “patriotic American.” When in fact they did it just because they were there at the right time, or just felt the need to, it had nothing to do with their feelings about America. Yet somewhere along the line the media has them say that they felt it was their “duty as an American.” What form of patriotism is it to look after one another? Not to say that consideration of others is a bad quality, but it does not mark someone as a patriot. It does not show dedication some formal belief. True patriotism is hard to come by these days. It is hard to embrace having so much pressure to follow the strict “patriotic” codes of modern American life style. In an essay by Russell Baker, we are told of the experience of a child at a baseball game in which a certain patron won’t stand up during the opening ceremonies. He is instantly mobbed by the “patriotic” Americans around him. To shocking disbelief the speaker as a thirteen year-old is screaming right along with the mob. Before a youth is old enough to understand what America stands for, why it is such a great country, why its disrespect should not be tolerated; he feels the need to scream for the clobbering of a man who won’t stand up when his nation’s anthem is being sung. This resembles almost too similarly that of brain washing. What effect does that have on us, on our youth? Well instilled is a rock-hard devotion to America. An allegiance so strong, even the blunt stare of reason in the face would conclude no hindrance. As George Bernard Shaw once said, “Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy.”
A true patriot could best be summarized as “independent.” Having their own thought process, but not only this, acting upon it. Patriotism is not always a good thing. You can be patriotic about the wrong things. For the most part though, the scarce number of “true patriots” that exist today are good people working for what they believe in. Stepping outside the box to get things done the way they should get done, and not the way the general public tries to get them done. In the future hopefully, the mob of drones will find the fault in their “educated” guesses about what is happening in their country and in the world and grow opinions of their own.
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Discuss
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Patriotism Essay
“In the United States, doing good has come to be, like patriotism, a favorite device of persons with something to sell.” H.L. Mencken once said, expressing his embarrassment for how patriotism is used today. Patriotism, what is it? Why do have the utmost respect for so called, “patriots?” What great quality is this that must be adored? The United States of America was founded to give people “freedom,” so why do we not act free? Why do we not think for ourselves and be skeptical of the information we are given by the middlemen, with their hidden standards? Patriotism has disintegrated into a void of nothingness.
So called, “patriotism” has become nothing more than a tool, a vacant “idea” used by the government to see through to their own means. A guise used to keep the masses in the dark. When there is a sudden “patriotic” surge the country becomes a stupid and blind mass of followers. They stop questioning their leaders’ actions. They heedlessly adhere to their masters’ wishes. To keep them in this subdued state the media releases “sob stories,” sentimental biographies covering fellow countrymen’s depressing trials through adversity or tragic deaths. In turn, causing them to despise whatever “enemy” brought this catastrophe upon them, thus making them treasure their all-mighty home country. The media uses “patriotism” to fuel ratings and get people to tune into their beloved television sets. Once again running the same old newscasts and sob stories, keeping people (intentionally or unintentionally) in the dark about what is going on behind the scenes of the government. Nothing going public about the bad things, the dishonorable events, the devious happenings their idolized innocent leaders’ are carrying out. Patriotism could once be considered a respected quality, though it now brings a bad taste to the mouth, and one is reluctant to use that word any longer to get the proper point across. It was once an immovable dedication to ones firm beliefs in a country with a better way of life. Unfortunately it has become but a deceitful marketing ploy used by “Big Brother.”
True patriots were scarcely around years ago, and are even scarcer in this day an age. One true patriot in the early days of the United States was Sojourner Truth. A woman that was patriotic about her own beliefs. She did not follow the common man’s beliefs, what most of the country thought was right. She stood up for what she believed in. Speaking out against the evil of slavery, preaching for rights for women, and rights for blacks. This is what patriotism truly is. Standing up for what you believe in. Not following a general idea of “freedom.” You find most people that have pride in their country are nothing but patriots of patriotism. But not Isabella Baumfree, she only followed one set of beliefs, her own. She helped bring a new way of life to America, helped change countless lives by being patriotic for things worth being patriotic about. This is the only kind of patriotism that is commendable, the only kind worth respecting.
In America today there is misconstrued “patriotism” everywhere. Some regular person can rescue a child out of a burning building and they are a “patriotic American.” When in fact they did it just because they were there at the right time, or just felt the need to, it had nothing to do with their feelings about America. Yet somewhere along the line the media has them say that they felt it was their “duty as an American.” What form of patriotism is it to look after one another? Not to say that consideration of others is a bad quality, but it does not mark someone as a patriot. It does not show dedication some formal belief. True patriotism is hard to come by these days. It is hard to embrace having so much pressure to follow the strict “patriotic” codes of modern American life style. In an essay by Russell Baker, we are told of the experience of a child at a baseball game in which a certain patron won’t stand up during the opening ceremonies. He is instantly mobbed by the “patriotic” Americans around him. To shocking disbelief the speaker as a thirteen year-old is screaming right along with the mob. Before a youth is old enough to understand what America stands for, why it is such a great country, why its disrespect should not be tolerated; he feels the need to scream for the clobbering of a man who won’t stand up when his nation’s anthem is being sung. This resembles almost too similarly that of brain washing. What effect does that have on us, on our youth? Well instilled is a rock-hard devotion to America. An allegiance so strong, even the blunt stare of reason in the face would conclude no hindrance. As George Bernard Shaw once said, “Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy.”
A true patriot could best be summarized as “independent.” Having their own thought process, but not only this, acting upon it. Patriotism is not always a good thing. You can be patriotic about the wrong things. For the most part though, the scarce number of “true patriots” that exist today are good people working for what they believe in. Stepping outside the box to get things done the way they should get done, and not the way the general public tries to get them done. In the future hopefully, the mob of drones will find the fault in their “educated” guesses about what is happening in their country and in the world and grow opinions of their own.
_______
Discuss
