Patriotism is dead in this country. Only the so called borders of this country bond us together and one day those will be gone. Thanks democrats!
I see several descriptions here that more closely apply to xenophobia or jingoism, and a lot of piggybacking to whine about a certain country or one of its political ideologies, or exert certain thinly veiled domestic class and regional biases, than any attempts to earnestly or objectively define patriotism. Patriotism is an abstract and fairly innocuous concept that reflects an affinity or accommodation for a place of which one is a constituent, either through residence or heritage.
To be fair, the OP's topic was 'abuses of patriotism,' which (to my mind, at least) is what jingoism and xenophobia are. I'm not sure there are many posters who object to 'an affinity or accomodation for a place of which one is a constituent.' When those feelings are perverted or manipulated to create and rationalize injustice is when people see the abuse and take exception.
Now a days it seems as if patriotism = Sarah Palin types, and if you make fun of people like Sarah Palin you are "unAmerican".
Well...she didn't say "real Americans" but she did say back in 2008: This was, of course, said by Sarah Palin.
