Moejoe, you paint a picture that some people do fall in to, and unfortunately like children those people are rather loud and obnoxious and get a lot of attention.
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Originally Posted by Moejoe
Seems to me that patriots and flag wavers are the hapless victims of a controlling authority that benefits from their unwavering and unquestioning support. Authority figure A tells said patriot at an early age that the flag (and country) means A, B, C and that to not support the flag, or gesture towards the flag with a militaristic salute or pledge to some bearded sky captain is antithetical to the meanings laid down in A, B and C. But the meanings of A, B and C are arbitrary and simplistic (they have to be to appeal to the patriots who in many respects remain childlike in their understanding of the world) and otherwise applicable to everyone whatever soil might be beneath their feet or whichever piece of cloth flies over their buildings.
Following on from this line of thought, I'd venture a guess and say that patriotism and the veneration of flags is the result of early indoctrination that has gone unquestioned in the individual beyond the age of reason.
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There are those of us, however, that actually have (and still do) question the motives and actions of our "ancestors". We understand that our history is not of the greatest merit, but there are those things, those gems, that make us willing to stand by the flag set forth by those individuals and pledge allegiance to the idea that they had of our country.
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Originally Posted by Moejoe
Patriotism (and by extension the veneration of flags) might then be understood as the unquestioning belief beyond logic in an emotive and simplistic vision of what has never been, what is not and what will never be.
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I don't find myself very liking of those individuals which just spew what they've been told by their parents. And I don't like parents who don't encourage their children to see things for themselves. I don't believe that a functioning human being is one who does not realize the world for themselves. That being said, I believe that you and I are agreeing in this belief. I don't think we roll together with the same ideas of king and country, but that is all well and good.