Being patriotic is...

Etre patriotique, c'est ...

  • a form of nationalism, controversial.
  • being hopeful.
  • Being Patriotic is a U.S. Nationalist.
  • Being patriotic is raising one's voice when the nation is headed in the wrong direction and lending one's energy to just causes the nation is pursuing. Being patriotic is NOT adopting a "My country, right or wrong" attitude.
  • Being patriotic is respecting the good values of the country and working to change the bad.
  • being proud of who you are and where you come from, praising the good deeds and giving constyructive criticism
  • being proud to be from a place. not necessary in order to live in any country.
  • beneficial in reasonable quantities, but can, many times, cause many people to place less worth on issues outside of their own country.
  • feeling pride for your country and its values.
  • fighting for your country the right way
  • Fine as long as it's not shouted in the faces of everyone else.
  • having a sense of pride for one's own country that connects everyone who is a part of it.
  • having pride enough to admit fault, understanding the true ideals by which a nation was born, standing for that which deserves respect rather than that which expects it.
  • Having pride in one's country/ Supporting one's place/ Spreading the culture
  • illusion, fervor
  • loving your country and appreciating those who serve in the armed forces to keep us safe.
  • loving your country but accepting that improvements still need to take place
  • loving your country dearly
  • not a bad thing.
  • not something that I think often about.
  • overrated. I think for many, patriotism is an action - like waving the flag or singing the national anthem - rather than a considered value. I'm a bit leery of professed patriotism. While a certain loyalty to your homeland is natural, so-called patriotism can easily devolve into jingoism -what we're seeing in the US a lot these days.
  • rather stupid when you really think about it.
  • really about being loyal to one's people, not one's government. In the case of the U.S., true patriotism would mean supporting policies that support people, not corporations or armies. An important part of patriotism is to be supportive of the people belonging to other nations as well. We cannot lift ourselves up by pushing others down.
  • subjective and can hold numerous meanings. One's definition of patriotic could be loving Donald Trump while the other could be kneeling during the pledge of allegiance. Patriotism has many forms and shapes depending on the perspective.
  • Supporting your country's mission in the world despite faults.
  • taking pride in being American, voting.
  • valuing and supporting your country while understanding its flaws
  • agir pour contribuer à son pays et ne pas le rejeter.
  • Aider son pays en respectant la loi
  • aimer et avoir du respect pour la culture dont on fait partie.
  • aimer et respecter son pays ainsi que connaitre son histoire/ses traditions.
  • aimer et soutenir son pays
  • aimer et être fier de sa patrie, de son pays.
  • aimer la culture de son pays avec tout ses défauts !
  • aimer sa patrie
  • aimer sa patrie, aider sa patrie
  • aimer son pays
  • aimer son pays
  • aimer son pays
  • aimer son pays
  • aimer son pays, connaître son histoires et son patrimoine
    vouloir le défendre ainsi que ses valeurs, ses différences culturelles régionales....
  • aimer son pays, sa nation, et y être soudé.
  • aimer son pays.
  • Aimer son pays.
  • aimer son pays.
  • aimer son pays.
  • Aimer son pays.
  • approuver un vif attachement pour son pays et vouloir le défendre.
  • avoir un attachement sentimental à sa patrie.
  • C'est sentir fière de son pays, de sa patrie. Défendre ses convictions. C'est sentir unie à son pays et aux gens qui y partagent les mêmes valeurs.
  • d'aimer son pays natal ou pays d'origine.
  • d'utiliser au quotidien le slogan "liberté, égalité, fraternité"
  • Etre partisan de l'unité nationale.
  • Respecter les règles du pays dans lequel on est, partager avec les autres les fêtes locales, s'entraider dans les valeurs de l'état.
  • revendiquer ses origines ou sa patrie sans pour autant dénigrer les autres
  • rouler en Renault même si ça coûte cher à la fin.
  • savoir aimer son pays sans tomber dans les extrêmes
  • savoir défendre d'où l'on vient sans mépriser les autres, faire partager sa culture.
  • soutenir les valeurs de son pays, VOTER, ne pas tomber dans les extrêmes.
  • suivre sa patrie
  • Tout faire pour son pays
  • valoriser son pays
  • voter
  • vouloir ce qu'il y a de mieux pour son pays
  • Être patriotique, c'est aimer son pays.
  • être fier de sa nation et participer dans les tâches collectives du pays
  • être fier de son pays et de sa nationalité.

Discussion

Je constate que des deux bords l’idée de fierté est récurrente, mais il semble avoir un sens qui peut être plus négatif du côté des étudiants de Bowdoin.
Je me demande pourquoi certains parlent de stupidité quand il s’agit de patriotisme? Qu’est ce qui leur vient à l’esprit? Personnellement je considère que c’est bénéfique dans le sens où ça permet un sentiment d’appartenance à un pays, et l’idée de défendre ce pays dans la diversité culturelle dont chacun de nous est issu.

Xaleis–
Cette question est très interessante. En général, je pense que d’être partiotique n’est pas stupide. La majorité des gens aux États-Unis n’associe pas stupidité à patriotisme. Mais, il reste des personnes aussi qui pense c’est stupide d’aimer notre pays. Moi, je pense qu’il faut avoir le patriotisme. On peut n’être pas d’accord avec le gouvernement où les gens haineux, mais il faut être patriotique si on veut voir un changement dans notre culture.

It definitely seems true that a higher percentage of people from Bowdoin have a more negative, or at least more neutral, perception of patriotism. This may be due to the fact that, many times in the United States, people having an extreme sense of patriotism and pride in their country leads to an apathetic mentality when it comes to other countries and peoples – like immigrants, for example. Furthermore, individuals and groups often have different ideas of what it means to be patriotic, and this has been a large cause of divisiveness in the United States. However, I do not believe that patriotism, itself, is bad, but perhaps seeing and experiencing its sometimes negative impacts has influenced my understanding of it. I do wonder why there is such a significant difference in how the Bowdoin and Toulouse students perceive patriotism. In France, is there just generally a sense of patriotism in a reasonable manner, and not as much extreme, almost xenophobic, expressions of patriotism?

The students in Toulouse seem much more indebted to their nation than we are. In America, patriotism and support for one’s country often gets associated with extremism and protectionism—to the point where having a love of America leads to the exclusion of other people (immigrants and socially marginalized racial groups, for the most part).

Perhaps the students from Toulouse feel the need to hold on tightly to their national values and traditions because of the scale of the country. Because France is much smaller than the US, it is much more easily dominated.

Do you feel you must support your nation even when it is making mistakes? Would you support France even if you didn’t like its political direction and popular culture? Do you think patriotism could mean defending old values in place new ones? Is it possible to be critical of a nation (so as to change it when necessary), but also love it as the place to which you belong?

Both Xaleis and chastin2 question why the Bowdoin students speak negatively about patriotism. I agree with davidf and kayelizabeth’s assessment that many people in the US take the concept of patriotism to an extreme and use it to promote their own, sometimes twisted ideals. The French have a different history than the Americans, and a different relationship with their country, I think. France is a smaller, older country, with a longer history and a population that is unified by that history. Today, the French are very familiar with the concept of “liberté, égalité, fraternité” because it is such an essential part of their culture and who they are as a nation. From the revolutionaries fighting at the barricades to overthrow an unjust monarchy (several times!), to the French Resistance fighters who continued to defy the enemy even as the Nazis marched through the Arc de Triomphe, the French have a culture of resistance that brings them together.

What do the Americans have? We have a revolution that took place so long ago that it is, to many people, only a chapter in our history books. Except for Pearl Harbor September 11, we have never experienced an attack by a foreign power on American soil (unless you count the Russians meddling in our elections. We have a history of immigrants who have contributed to our diverse culture, but we also have a history of subjugation and exploitation of our people, genocide of the native Americans, enslavement of Africans…

As davidf says, in our diverse American culture, patriotism means different things to different people. Patriotism in this context is not a simple concept. When I think of patriotism, I think of the song “America the Beautiful” which speaks of the beauty and abundance of our land - not “The Star-Spangled Banner” which speaks of war and bombs. Is the concept of patriotism simpler in the French culture? Does the concept of “liberty, equality, brotherhood” sum it up for most French?

I think it is really interesting that one Bowdoin student defined patriotism as loyalty to the people of a country rather than the government. Since a lot of the Toulouse students defined patriotism as loving one’s country, is a country in your opinion created by the people or by the government? To which does patriotism apply?

Many Toulouse students defined patriotism being an active citizen and taking active part in political processes such as voting, being bipartisan, etc… In the United States, patriotism has become a political tool especially after 9/11 and I saw Marine Le Pen using it this way in the past election. Is patriotism innately political in your opinion or has it been inappropriately used in this way?

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