Grace+Chen+RP+Post+2

RP Post 2

1. What is the role of patriotism in an increasingly globalized world?

2.Patriotism, allegiance & the nation state

3.Andrew Roberts

4.http://0-eds.b.ebscohost.com.catalog.somerset.lib.nj.us/eds/detail?vid=3&sid=99ae3f85-516d-4b38-afce-01c3aa237aca%40sessionmgr112&hid=109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=lfh&AN=84602478

5. I accessed this source on Monday night by searching "patriotism" on the Somerset County Library database.

6.(I somehow got it into my head that SOAPSTone is spelled with 2 P's and spent ten minutes trying to figure out what the other P stood for. oops) Speaker: Andrew Roberts, self-proclaimed patriots, the British people
 * S**ubject: patriotism, identity, definition of treachery, what defines a nation
 * O**ccasion: A thought provoking question posed by Dr. Casey, 9/11, a long history of trying to pin down patriotism, modern uprisings in the name of patriotism
 * A**udience: the British public, readers of the book, people interested in civic virtue
 * P**urpose: to argue that patriotism means loyalty to the "certain idea" of a state, to answer Dr. Casey's question, to describe the development of patriotism through history
 * Tone:** pensive, inquisitive, friendly

7. Roberts begins by introducing many of the flaws of the idea of patriotism, including its use as a facade to hide corruption, justify cruelties, and lend legitimacy to potentially illegitimate governments, particularly in the context of terrorism and radical governments in the modern world. Referencing historical allusions from various time periods and nations, Roberts then argues that allegiance to a single nation is a fundamental way that individuals understand their own identities. True patriotism, according to Roberts, is constituted by loyalty, not necessarily to a given government or set of laws, but to the unique cultural idea and essence which defines a nation.

8. Patriotism is a fundamentally human sentiment which is praiseworthy if it is loyal to the unique identity of a nation.

9. I agree that a sense of nation and pride in that nation is certainly a fundamental part of most people's identity's. I am emotionally swayed by the way he describes each nation as having a "certain idea" that defines what patriots ought to feel allegiance toward, but analytically this does not seem to be realistic nor does it resolve the flaws of a more orthodox paradigm of patriotism. For example, how do we reconcile different conceptions of what a given nation's "certain idea" is? How can we justify drawing somewhat arbitrary geographical borders if a nation is identified by its cultural identity, which usually does not have clearly delineated boundaries? How can we weigh the claims of countries with clashing "certain ideas?" However, I do believe that most people, viscerally, probably feel patriotism in a manner similar to how Roberts describes in this article. I also agree that it is hard to extend that same level of pride and faith to wider populations that do not necessarily share the same "certain idea."

10. "One could feel allegiance for the Emperor Franz Josef's multiethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, of course, but not for a soulless multinational entity like the European Union, and still less for an amorphous mass such as "The Planet" or "Mankind."" "Part of the "certain idea" that one has for one's country is that it is indivisible." "For national identity, patriotism, allegiance, and the nation state are intimately bound up with each other, and what it means to be a good person, especially in a time of massive demographic flux." "...he appreciated that enemies can be patriotic too. If I were an Iranian, I would one day want my country to possess the nuclear bomb, though obviously not now while it's ruled by Islamic fundamentalist terrorists who constantly threaten to use it." "But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest."