You're speaking of indoctrination here. Not patriotism.
You want our citizens to be Pavlovs dog.
At the raising of a certain piece of cloth or playing of a certain song, they should be ready to kill or be killed regardless of the worth of their actions.
To me, loving your country means being able to see the problems within it and doing your best to rectify them.
I've been told to "Love it or leave it" since I protested the Vietnam war at 17 years old.
I'll continue to love it and try to change it for what I perceive to be the better.
I don't think you can say you know what it's like to grow up and live as a black person in this country.
They were slaves for 200 years. Beaten, raped and sold like cattle.
Even after that they were segregated and couldn't vote, drink out of "white" water fountains. Eat in the same restaurants.
Young black men were lynched in the south for so much as whistling at a white woman.
This was but a short 70 years or so ago.
But. oh, this country has given them so much. [sarc]
Forget about all that other stuff. Look how great you have it now.
And if you don't think that 300 or so years of slavery, segregation, and oppression didn't contribute to the mindset of some of the black community leading to fatherless families, etc., then you are in denial.
Yes, they need to help themselves. But they deserve our help and participation.
Black men, women and children are killed during altercations with police and it is said" Well they resisted or look at their past record, they deserved it".
A 17 year old white kid shoots three people with an assault rifle and Don Jr. says "Cmon, what 17 year old hasn't made a mistake?".
I don't think anybody is saying that systemic racism is leaking from every pore of our society.
But it is there.
I think especially in our system of justice.