Thoughts on Patriotism

While reading a book for my Women and War Senior Seminar class, I came across this quote and found it very interesting. 

"Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots , each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt to impost his superiority upon all the others. " -Emma Goldman from her Patriotism as a "Menace to Liberty."

 For some perspective, Emma Goldman was born in Russia in 1869 and immigrated to New York in '86. She took part in many movements including anarchist movement, advocacy of birth control, and obstruction of the draft. She was deported in 1919 but would later return to the United states in 1924 after facing problems with the Bolsheviks in Russia. 

Her perspective on patriotism almost 80 years ago is still very relevant today. As Americans face war after war on foreign soil, we are faced with consistent opposition to the American way of life. I think it goes back to Goldman's statement on patriotism and the idea that each country, each little spot on a map, is far superior to every other one that could ever exist.  American's assume that they are the best country out there, while every other country believes the same about their own spot of land. Each country raises its children to be willing to fight and die for this belief. So why are we surprised when other countries fight against us and our way of life when we try to impose it upon them? We would fight to the death to "protect" our ideals from being wiped from the minds of our youth and off the face of history. Why is it so wrong for another country, another way of life, be so opposed to it?

This is not an uncommon practice, however. The lands conquered by the Romans often did not like the roman way of life being imposed upon them. The same goes for many Muslim conquered lands, as well as those lands affected by French, Spanish, British, and etc colonialism.  Though Patriotism really took hold in its extreme forms during the late 1800s and early 1900s when nationalism took hold. As more and more countries came into their own, patriotism seems to have grown. 

I guess my point is less about whether Patriotism is in fact a "Menace to Liberty" as Emma Goldman claims, but more to provide a different view on the practice. We assume that patriotism as an accepted fact and if you are not patriotic then you are not a good American or Britain or Italian, etc.  But perhaps it is the concept of Patriotism that is more flawed than the people who are supposed to hold the emotion.