Patriotism is a Fraud and You Have Been Duped

I have always viewed Patriotism as an aberration. It seemed contrived, unreal, and foolish. Even as a child I felt there was something strange about this whole pledge of allegiance business.

As a young boy I had an unyielding thirst to read, and somewhere along the line I become very aware of the racist history of the ole’ USA. I can’t place the how and I’ve long forgotten the why, but every morning when we’d line up to pledge our lives to the multicolored cloth hanging above us and it just felt odd to me. I kept running that line over and over again in my head “and justice for all” and it never sounded right. My half-formed mind floated to images of Emit Till, lynchings, and hooded fascists stalking the countryside in white robes. When I learned about the civil war I would often fantasize about being a military governor during Reconstruction, gleefully stringing up Klansman and racists from lamp poles and burning entire cities to the #ing ground.

Needless to say, I was an odd child.

But even past the very vivd reality of race other things didn’t add up. I didn’t understand exactly what we were all so happy about, so proud of. Weren’t my classmates reading the same history books at home I was? Were they aware of the savage brutality that flag was founded on? The oceans of blood that thing had consumed?

I didn’t fare much better in high school, somehow winding up in the JROTC program. Here I discovered I just didn’t care for rules, and gladly whipped my classmates up into a Soviet frenzy just for fun. One day on grass manicured with military precision, all the JROTC classes assembled to perform feats of strength in front of representatives of every branch of the military. This was to be a moment of honor, though for who was never quite clear, so I decided to do the mature thing and ruin it.

Under that humid sun the last class marched out, distant at first but slowly holding high a homemade USSR flag and chanting the name “STALIN!” I didn’t know who Marx or Lenin was, didn’t know about gulags or purges, didn’t really understand Communism. I just knew they hated this symbol and I really liked to play Red Alert 2. The operation was a success: they were mortified and I quickly no longer had to deal with the rules of the quasi-air-force as I was soon kicked out of the program.

The incident was a turning point in my life. What fascinated me was the profane nature of it all: this red sweater hastily drawn upon with a black permanent marker getting the same reaction as if I’d dropped a baby on the ground. How could such a thing wield that much power over the minds of grown adults, twist and bend their logic enough to view one rag as sacred and another as the penultimate evil? What strange force made these men and woman get up everyday and willingly shed every aspect of their personality in the name of some immaterial “allegiance?”

It was only through later study that I determined these poor folks had been infected by a terrible virus, one that’s contaminated not only this country but every country on the planet. This virus infects the mind and controls the body, often causing the diseased to become violent and ignorant.

I speak of course of the virus of Patriotism.

You Are Being Lied To



Who could have anything bad to say about a love for one’s country? Wasn’t it Patriotism that kept us united as a people, creating a sense of national solidarity?

First lets make one thing clear: if patriotism is so natural and so good, why in the world does the government need to keep shoving it down your throat?

“The war criminals at the US Pentagon have long drawn on seemingly limitless quantities of taxpayers’ money. Part of their Public Relations strategy is to maintain their claim on the lion’s share of the USA’s public treasury by sponsoring patriotic events at college and NFL football games. Their modus vivendi is to drape themselves in the American flag to inflate their budgets while boosting recruitment into the Armed Forces.

The ritualistic militarization of American football is reaching its most fascistic extremes in this, the fiftieth Superbowl Sunday. On the ground the Armed Forces Chorus will sing America the Beautiful. These soldier songsters are sharing the spotlight with Lady Gaga. She is entrusted to render the US National Anthem for the 100 million plus viewers in worldwide television audience.

As CNN advertised in its CIA-sponsored news, the National Guard and Civil Air Patrol divisions of the US Air Force will guard the Superbowl skies from terrorist attack. In CNN’s spin doctoring, much attention is devoted to the F-15. We learn from the ad/news report that the F-15 has a capacity of 2000 mph, that it can ascend to up to twelve miles above land, and that it has 34 combat victories. Are these specs being included in Superbowl news to make the players and fans at Levi’s Stadium feel more secure?”

Ritualistic you say? Almost like…an enchantment? A public ritual involving death machines fresh from the killing fields of Syria and Libya “protecting” the Super Bowl from our always invisible enemies. And this isn’t the first time the NFL scored touchdowns in the name of the State.

“All this patriotic propaganda- the troop-salutes, the banner ads, even the community service events where troops and NFL teams “build or re-build” a playground together, come with a price tag.

Fourteen NFL teams were paid a total of $5.4 million by the Department of Defense to cover the nationalistic propaganda filling downtime during the games….

According to the Post, this is what the National Guard (who coughed up all but $100,000 of the millions) receives in return for its spending:

A Hometown Heroes Salute segment, online advertising and meeting space for a meeting or events, digital advertising on stadium screens, and advertising and marketing services including a kickoff video message from the Guard.”

How about those journalists taking orders on what to write from the military? Hell, how about the Propaganda division of the military actually working for CNN?

How about all those war movies lately?

Read more at Disinfo.com

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Nationalism and religion are the 2 biggest dividing forces left on global society. 2 things most of us have had little to no choice in.most people had no choic where they were born or what religion they follow. We still see how on ATS we have members who take credit for what their nation did in history, while editing out the bad parts.

a reply to: DisinfoCom

I don't disagree with what you're saying, believe me, but I would like to add just one quick thing before we all devolve into complete cynicism; don't let those who would try to take control of your mind as it relates to love of your country destroy the natural love for the land from where you come and the fellow people who inhabit, have built, and like you, toil every day.


I absolutely love the movie LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD. I just think it's fun and fantastic. In one scene when Justin Long realizes that the fire sale is underway, he looks despondently at Bruce Willis and says something to the effect of; "You know, I used to want a fire sale, just bring the whole system down." Willis chides him and says (again, paraphrased), "It's not a system, it's a country, made up of people and families who are scared and uncertain right now." I think that's an important thing to remember. If you can't find the love of country, find the love of compassion for the victims of the same machine that you rail against. Even if they seem blind to you, who hates a blind person for being blind? No one!

The mantra given Spiderman by his uncle was this: With great power comes great responsibility. If you see more, than you've a greater burden inside the very nation for which you've been given such clarity of sight.

I commend you for carrying the USSR flag and wearing your red and black sweater to formation. Whether you realize it or not *gasp* it was a very patriotic thing to do. America was built on rebellion and freedom of expression. You used it to your full advantage; only to decry it years later. Very odd.

a reply to: Baldryck

TextAmerica was built on rebellion and freedom of expression.

Not to mention the slave trade, but as I said, lets edit that part of history and talk about liberty and freedom.

Human beings love to congregate together under a leader that gives them purpose. The pack or herd mentality is something that's innate within us at a genetic level.

Humans all long to feel a sense of belonging, and to have a driven sense of purpose given to them. It's just always been this way. In packs of animals we see similar behavior. Human beings are part of the animal kingdom as well.

So, it's no surprise that we also behave the same with sports teams and social circles as we do with politics and religion. Humans have some kind of need to organize, classify, segregate, congregate, unite and demonize others.

This natural human psychology is used and abused by those in positions of power and wealth. If you aren't controlling others, you are being controlled.

a reply to: woodwardjnr

This has nothing to do with slaves. This has to do with him enjoying his First Amendment rights, then complaining about people being proud of being an American. I don't own a slave, I have never owned a slave, the slave issue was rectified a long time ago.

Edit to add... I did say I commended him for his actions. I am glad he wrote the article. Any protest or rebellious language I am happy to entertain, I think it is wonderful these things are still being discussed. When they stop, I will worry. You are attacking the wrong person.

originally posted by: woodwardjnr
a reply to: Baldryck

TextAmerica was built on rebellion and freedom of expression.

Not to mention the slave trade, but as I said, lets edit that part of history and talk about liberty and freedom.

I see it both ways.

On one hand it's hard to be patriotic to a system that enslaved millions and killed millions more.

On the other, is patriotism to the system itself, what about patriotism to the governance of getting rid of such barbarism and evil?

Can one say that MLK was the epitome of a patriot, fighting the good fight to show what the Nation was/is capable of?

It's a tricky concept Patriotism.

One man's patriot is another man's racist.
One man's patriot is another man's communist.

And those in the middle are patriots except to those clowns to the left and jokers to the right.

I like the article Authors defiance to wear communist apparel at such a time in history...
But maybe they should have listened to the propaganda about gulags and purges before making such a decision.

originally posted by: woodwardjnr
a reply to: Baldryck

TextAmerica was built on rebellion and freedom of expression.

Not to mention the slave trade, but as I said, lets edit that part of history and talk about liberty and freedom.

What? And disregard all those who died to end it. Those whites that slew their fellow whites hip and thigh?

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs


I wonder if all the black that ever fought and died for their country were Uncle Toms of a sort?

originally posted by: Logarock

originally posted by: woodwardjnr
a reply to: Baldryck

TextAmerica was built on rebellion and freedom of expression.

Not to mention the slave trade, but as I said, lets edit that part of history and talk about liberty and freedom.

What? And disregard all those who died to end it. Those whites that slew their fellow whites hip and thigh?

That's what makes me wonder about the Notth South divide narrative...

I've heard rather that it was brother against brother, father against son etc


So really as civil wars go it was not geographically limited to N & S.

Just a side thought a little off topic, but not considering.

Methinks the author does not know or understand the difference between "nationalism" and "patriotism."

Nationalism is "Rah! Rah! USA right or wrong!!!"
Patriotism is wanting the best for your nation, and therefore her people, and acting accordingly.

Big difference.

I agree, patriotism is an indoctrination tool used to divide people based on an arbitrary line drawn in the sand. That's the entire basis of war for most countries and their soldiers, a sense of pride that they are fighting and killing people in the name of their country. It's akin to Aryanism, a belief that one group of people is more important or better than another group. Hitler used the same tactics as the current military and government of the United States uses.

All countries use the same tactics, yet if it's your country doing it it's not propaganda, only when another country does it is it considered propaganda. I'm not patriotic to my country, I'm patriotic toward the entire human race. If only more people would see it that way we may not have war, or at least not at the rate and scale we currently do.

originally posted by: woodwardjnr
Nationalism and religion are the 2 biggest dividing forces left on global society. 2 things most of us have had little to no choice in.most people had no choic where they were born or what religion they follow. We still see how on ATS we have members who take credit for what their nation did in history, while editing out the bad parts.

Agreed. Some of the major religions have genocided whole cultures---yet they have superior history rewriting campaigns---so they can claim to be "the good guys".

A similar thing happens with many governments.

However between unavoidable cultural contamination and the media, most of us have been so "chowder-head-ized and pacified; that rewriting history is no longer required.

Kev

originally posted by: Logarock
a reply to: CharlieSpeirs


I wonder if all the black that ever fought and died for their country were Uncle Toms of a sort?

I wonder the same.

Saw in another thread the other day a headstone of a Muslim who died in 2007, only 20 years old.


A Jihadist martyr in my eyes, a Kharijite to those he fought.

Eye of the beholder I guess.

a reply to: Boadicea

Patriotism is an emotional attachment to a nation which an individual recognizes as their homeland. This attachment, also known as national feeling or national pride, can be viewed in terms of different features relating to one's own nation, including ethnic, cultural, political or historical aspects.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Although there is no denying that you are right, I think that what you are right about is something that is engineered. Obviously I will not be able to find any basis for the idea that we anything BUT a mob of cruelty but I like to believe that we are better than that.

How much effort is spent getting us to follow a centralized program? I think a lot. And that wouldnt be necessary if we naturally followed a centralized program.

I have read this paper over and over because it is so simple to understand and have referenced it many times on these topics. Here is a bit of it.

The first World War was the first time there was highly organized state propaganda. The British had a Ministry of Information, and they really needed it because they had to get the U.S. into the war or else they were in bad trouble. The Ministry of Information was mainly geared to sending propaganda, including huge fabrications about “Hun” atrocities, and so on. They were targeting American intellectuals on the reasonable assumption that these are the people who are most gullible and most likely to believe propaganda. They are also the ones that disseminate it through their own system. So it was mostly geared to American intellectuals and it worked very well. The British Ministry of Information documents (a lot have been released) show their goal was, as they put it, to control the thought of the entire world, a minor goal, but mainly the U.S. They didn’t care much what people thought in India. This Ministry of Information was extremely successful in deluding hot shot American intellectuals into accepting British propaganda fabrications. They were very proud of that. Properly so, it saved their lives. They would have lost the first World War otherwise.

In the U.S., there was a counterpart. Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1916 on an anti-war platform. The U.S. was a very pacifist country. It has always been. People don’t want to go fight foreign wars. The country was very much opposed to the first World War and Wilson was, in fact, elected on an anti-war position. “Peace without victory” was the slogan. But he was intending to go to war. So the question was, how do you get the pacifist population to become raving anti-German lunatics so they want to go kill all the Germans? That requires propaganda. So they set up the first and really only major state propaganda agency in U.S. history. The Committee on Public Information it was called (nice Orwellian title), called also the Creel Commission. The guy who ran it was named Creel. The task of this commission was to propagandize the population into a jingoist hysteria. It worked incredibly well. Within a few months there was a raving war hysteria and the U.S. was able to go to war.

A lot of people were impressed by these achievements. One person impressed, and this had some implications for the future, was Hitler. If you read Mein Kampf, he concludes, with some justification, that Germany lost the first World War because it lost the propaganda battle. They could not begin to compete with British and American propaganda which absolutely overwhelmed them. He pledges that next time around they’ll have their own propaganda system, which they did during the second World War. More important for us, the American business community was also very impressed with the propaganda effort. They had a problem at that time. The country was becoming formally more democratic. A lot more people were able to vote and that sort of thing. The country was becoming wealthier and more people could participate and a lot of new immigrants were coming in, and so on.

So what do you do? It’s going to be harder to run things as a private club. Therefore, obviously, you have to control what people think. There had been public relation specialists but there was never a public relations industry. There was a guy hired to make Rockefeller’s image look prettier and that sort of thing. But this huge public relations industry, which is a U.S. invention and a monstrous industry, came out of the first World War. The leading figures were people in the Creel Commission. In fact, the main one, Edward Bernays, comes right out of the Creel Commission. He has a book that came out right afterwards called Propaganda. The term “propaganda,” incidentally, did not have negative connotations in those days. It was during the second World War that the term became taboo because it was connected with Germany, and all those bad things. But in this period, the term propaganda just meant information or something like that. So he wrote a book called Propaganda around 1925, and it starts off by saying he is applying the lessons of the first World War. The propaganda system of the first World War and this commission that he was part of showed, he says, it is possible to “regiment the public mind every bit as much as an army regiments their bodies.” These new techniques of regimentation of minds, he said, had to be used by the intelligent minorities in order to make sure that the slobs stay on the right course. We can do it now because we have these new techniques.

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

I totally agree. I may be an American, but my allegiance is to the entire planet; not a small patch of it.

Tribalism.

a reply to: DisinfoCom

Man. It's just a shame that a bunch of fellas calling themselves patriots wrote some crap down on a piece of "paper" that secured your right to carry a soviet flag and scream Soviet names out in a fit of teenage angst.

It's a shame a bunch of guys who thought the promise of America meant not wearing chains and working for free so somebody else could reap the benefits of your work.

It's a shame we live in a country where many view non-conformist ideas and speech as the very fabric of the term patriot.

I congratulate you, sir, on being such an incredible patriot that you so willingly use the rights given to you to rail against the country you reside in. May you carry on with your patriotic endeavor for all your lifetime.