can patriotism be compassionate?

Question

can patriotism be compassionate? why or why not.

how is patriotism compassionate

examples and stuff to start a discussion about this

Answer 1

Absolutely. There is a fine line between patriotism and blind nationalism.

Merriam-Webster defines patriotism as "love for or devotion to one’s country”. Love for one’s country, by its nature, is an embrace of all it’s comprised of – its tradition, the members of its society, and the principles on which it was founded. But if one truly loves their country, just as if one truly loves their child, they do not turn a blind eye to its faults; they strive for its improvement, not out of disdain, but out of love and a desire to make it the best it could be. Criticism is essential, for an unaddressed character flaw is one that will go unchecked and will likely evolve in the wrong way, changing the one you love into something far beyond your recognition of who your loved-one was when they started-out young, bright-eyed, and full of hope. You have to nip it in the bud, so to speak, before it becomes so ingrained in your loved one that it is almost impossible to reconcile.

Your country’s tradition, the good and the bad aspects, are all a part of its growth process. A healthy country will learn from the bad, teaching the newer generations about the wrongs of our forefathers in hope that they will not be repeated. But you love it despite the bad, since the bad is an inevitable part of the learning process. You love the members of the society, even the ones that might be poison to its growth, and try to educate them as best you can, in hopes that they might open their minds and their eyes to the bigger world around them. And above all, you love the principles on which it was founded, for it is those principles, if healthy in idea and conception, that will guide it back when it has gone astray, without which it would be lost forever.

Blind nationalism is not love. It does not strive for improvement. It accepts all that is good...and all that is bad in one’s country. It turns that blind eye, leaving those in power to corrupt its core so far that it will take a complete overhaul to get it back onto the right track.

Human rights should be at the core of a healthy country’s architecture, for it is the human populace that sacrifices their rights at the time of their country’s conception in hopes that their new nation will govern them fairly. A blind eye turned to the erosion of those rights only beckons further erosion, until human rights is such a distant concept that it seems like a utopian dream. The diminishment of human rights is not only a threat when it involves one’s own nationals, but it is just as threatening when it involves those outside of the country’s governance, since alienation amongst humans is how such erosion begins.

But it’s a struggle, a constant struggle, in a society that’s not fully integrated, since there will always be fear and distrust among the insecure and ignorant or those who are different. And I don’t use the word “ignorant” as an slight against people who have not been exposed to those who are different, since we are all ignorant until we learn at some stage from someone more informed, but as further recognition of the need to educate them and tear down those fear-induced barriers at as early a stage as possible.

So don’t mistake blind nationalism for patriotism. True patriotism is compassionate if a country’s principles are compassionate. And hopefully, with some effort and constant vigilance, it is this sort of patriotism that will triumph.

Answer 2

Be careful using the word patriot. A lot of people feel that this is a partisan issue when really all it is is love for one's country. It has nothing to do with Bush or loving or hating or supporting or not supporting the war in Iraq. People will try to manipulate it to seem like if you don't support the Iraq war you're not a patriot. That's false. It's ONLY love for one's country.

Answer 3

Of course! I am compassionate, and I am a patriot. Why would the two have to be mutually exclusive?

Answer 4

Of course. I can't think of a single reason why it can't.