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Taylor Dunaway
Professor Suzanne Thomas
UWRT 1102-058
7 April 2015
Patriotism: The Change in US Culture
Patriotism is defined by Wikipedia as cultural attachment to
ones homeland or devotion to ones country. It is something that the
United States was originally defined by, however recently we have
seen a shift in US citizen beliefs. Previously, mostly all citizens would
positively identify themselves with their country. Now there are many
more citizens feel less patriotic towards their country for a variety of
different reasons, these ranging from newfound access to information,
the mistrust of the government, or a result or the combination of wars,
terrorist attacks, and politics. The change can be seen in many
aspects of American life, from waning voting turnouts to general
apathy about the state of the government and the political landscape.
According to Qiong Li and Marilynn B. Brewer, patriotism is what
countries such as the United States use to unite its people together
under a common cause. Patriotism is known for being compatible with
liberalism and having a tolerance for diversity. However this should not
be confused with nationalism. Nationalism is much more commonly
associated with militarism and less so with internationalism. Terrorism
groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda both have hyper-nationalistic beliefs,

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or an extreme love for their country. This has been linked with
authoritarianism, intolerance, and warmongering. In many cases we
have seen the US under attack by these warmongers. ISIS has released
multiple videos of American prisoners and Christians being killed in
ways ranging form decapitation to being burned to death. The
disturbing acts of terror performed in these videos display to us how
devastatingly horrific a group of hyper-nationalists can be. Another
example of this in our history would be Hitler and his followers. Hitler
was able to join the Nazi Party when it only had a few members, and
with this party he would almost take over the world. However, one of
the more disturbing actions weve seen ISIS take part in lately is
recruiting US Citizens to join ISIS and plot terrorist acts against the US.
According to CNN, over 20,000 foreigners have joined the fight for ISIS,
with an estimated 180 of those being Americans. It is unclear the age
spread of these 180 Americans, however it is known that some of
these were only mere teenagers who were recruited via social media.
With these recruitments a question can be asked, the very simple
question why? A study by Dr. Jerrold Post, a professor at the
University of George Washington teaching Psychiatry, Political
Psychology, and International Affairs, believes that there is no single
consistent mindset for terrorist. Instead, he has noticed consistencies
with individuals joining the group:

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There is a tendency for marginal, isolated, and inadequate
individuals from troubled family backgrounds to be attracted to
the path of terrorism, so that for many, belonging to the terrorist
group is the first time they truly belonged, and the group comes
to represent family.
With this feeling of belonging, the individual is brainwashed, and made
to think that everyone in the group is good, while everyone else not
affiliated is evil. Deceived, the individual will search for self-fulfillment,
and an anarchist is born.
There are specific times in our nations past where there was an
increase in patriotic views, most of these were a result of terrorist
attacks or other national tragedies The day is September 11, 2001; I
was sitting in my kindergarten class when my teachers phone rings,
she answers, her expression changes completely and a look of disbelief
fills her face, she places her hand over her mouth, then walks out of
the room followed by her teaching assistant. Later that day I was
signed out from school. I went to the front office and left with my mom,
on the way home she explains to me that there are bad people in the
world and that something bad happened. At the time I didnt
understand it, but now that I look back I remember how different things
were after this day. The teachers were nicer, classes werent as loud,
and the work wasnt as hard. Li and Brewer put emphasis on the
importance of 9/11, as well as the aftermath: The 9/11 attacks

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resulted in immediate, visibly evident increases in expression of
national identification and unity throughout the United States.
(Brewer, Li) The 9/11 attacks, although tragic, would not serve without
purpose. US citizens were brought together under a certain cause for a
brief amount of time, proving that if needed, the US has the capability
of being nationally unified once again. A more recent example of a
spike in patriotism occurred shortly after the Boston Marathon
Bombings on April 15, 2013. The Boston Marathon Bombings killed
three and injured an estimated 264 others, sixteen had leg
amputations rather on scene or at the hospital. This event launched a
massive manhunt for the two brothers who committed the act of terror;
they were later apprehended. Two days after the bombing, at a Boston
Bruins game, during the National Anthem the whole crowd joined
together as one, and sang the national anthem in harmony. At the
same time this game was being shown live on television. This
illustrates the term, Boston Strong, which was given to Boston shortly
after the attacks. Acts such as these re-illustrate the possibility of
patriotic uniformity.
A question that we could ask is why or what has made patriotic
ideas change between the old to younger generation. Some things that
could be a factor in this that the nations millennials (18-35 year olds)
havent seen a large world war, and many have parents that also
havent. Many of our young adults just simply havent had a need to

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become more patriotic. The group that has the most patriotic belief is
the Silent Generation (70-90 year olds in todays society). Thats
because these are the people that had to deal with things such as
World War II, Vietnam, and the Korean War. I think that by witnessing
all of these events take place during their lifetime; they have a much
greater appreciation for their homeland than young adults. I
understand that there are still wars we are currently involved in,
however we are not being constantly impacted by these wars. There is
an article by Joseph Kahne and Ellen Middaugh that touches on issues
of teaching patriotism in school. The article states that since 9/11,
American education has generally made a mess of a teaching
opportunity by focusing on tolerance and multiculturalism, not civics
and patriotism, (Kahnye and Middaugh) The article also goes on to
explain that, too many students today learn all about what is wrong
with our society without gaining any knowledge of our societys great
moral successes. To establish a sound cognitive and affective
foundation for citizenship education. Kahne and Middaugh both
believe that American education is what is causing the patriotism
dilemma in the US. A survey was completed in 2005 on 2366 high
school seniors, the survey asked these seniors whether or not they
thought that the US was a great country. Of these 2366 high school
seniors, 73% of them agreed that the United States is a great country.
According to Cecilia OLeary, the push for patriotism to be taught in

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school began in 1880 when the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a
fraternal organization composed of United States Veterans, persuaded
schools across the country that things such as the Pledge of Allegiance
were a Badge of Citizenship. OLeary describes to us how education
was basically a increasingly powerful machine which was used to
spread the image and heritage of the nation and to inculcate
attachment to it. This worked very nicely for a notable amount of
time, however somewhere between then and now, the teachings and
interpretation of patriotism changed dramatically.
From a different approach, what if it isnt just the fault of the
nations youth, but is a result of a combination of other things?
Jonathan Cowan believes that disengagement with civic life is an
imminent disaster. Cowan gives us four lessons that he believes will
help youth advocacy. Lesson one: The Real Problem is Politics, Not
Young People.. Cowan believes that it isnt our youths fault that many
of them havent engaged in civic duties. Cowan believes that our
youths minds have been poisoned so to speak, by their parents. When
a young adult grows up hearing nothing but negative about a subject,
it becomes hard for that adult to develop an opinion of his or her own
on the subject. They would rather just adopt what their parents have
taught them their entire life. Lesson number two is Service leads to
Service, Not Politics. Cowan doesnt believe that by expanding the
nations service movement we will engage the youth in political

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activism. Cowan believes that we need both increased community
service and renewed political participation in order to revive our
democracy and come up with a solution. Lesson three is Dont
Agonize, Organize! This lesson simply tells us that we shouldnt worry
about the work that will come with something, or be apathetic for this
reason. We need to take action and start making something of our
ideas instead of sitting on the sidelines and waiting for them to solve
themselves. The fourth and final lesson is New Politics Begin At
Home. With this lesson Cowan highlights the importance of changing
our ideas at home. If people want to see the United States change, we
can no longer continue teaching ideas of racism and intolerance in
homes across America. I agree with Cowans beliefs, I think that the US
youth has the most influence from their parents; and much of this
influence is strictly negative. However you run into a dilemma when
coming up to a solution with this. Theres no fully effective way to start
influencing change across the whole country. Its more so up to young
adults now to be informed of these findings, and what they can do to
help change the future generations.
A very heated issue that has recently come into conversation is
police brutality. There has been much national attention surrounding
cases involving mostly minorities being killed by police officers. A
recent case that has caused an outcry by the public is the death of
Freddie Gray, who died while in police custody on April 12, 2015. Upon

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investigation it was determined that Gray had suffered from 80% of his
spine being severed at his neck, and three fractured vertebrae. Within
an hour of the arrest he went into a coma and would later die from the
injuries he suffered. On April 27, 2015, following Grays funeral, riots
erupted in the streets of Baltimore, resulting in 34 people arrested and
15 police officers being injured. Many people on social media have
talked about their resent for the United States because of its
incarceration rate, which is the highest in the world. Although the
United States only represents about 4.4% of the worlds population, it
maintains around 22% of the worlds prisoners. These numbers are
staggering, and people constantly exposed to violence and police
presence are more likely to develop a resent towards police and/or the
United States.
Continuing on with our research of young adults in America, CA
Bartling and R Eisenman conducted a survey of 306 young adults to
determine their opinions on military service and important job
characteristics. All in all there were 70 total questions in this survey. Of
these 306 young people, 31.3% of blacks and 45.4% of Hispanics
admitted that they are entering, or are considering entering active
military service, while only 15.1% of whites were considering this
action. This is an interesting statistic because of the 306, there were
very few whites who are considering going into active military service.
One reason that could explain this is that there is no need for many

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majorities to join the military service because they have a higher
average income. Meanwhile, minorities may need assistance to get
through school or maybe they simply just dont have any other options,
and the military is the best way for them to get this assistance.
It is now very obvious that there is a difference in patriotism
between the older generation and the younger generation. With the
younger generation more apathetic towards the United States
economy / politics, it leaves us to worry about what the future of the
United States may hold. However by viewing all the evidence, we can
say that many of these problems begin at home. Looking at the voter
turnout in recent years, we can see that in 2008, 54.9% of U.S. Citizens
voted. Although this doesnt seem like a lot, it has been consecutively
rising since 1996, when it was at its all time low of 49.0%. Hopefully
this trend will continue, and voter turnout will increase over the
upcoming election.

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Works Cited
Bartling, CA, and R Eisenman. "Attitudes Of American Youth Concerning
Military

And Civilian Jobs." Adolescence 27.106 (1992):

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Text. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.

Cowan, Jonathan J. "The War against Apathy: Four Lessons from the
Front Lines of

Youth Advocacy." National Civic Review 86.3: 193-

202. Ebsco Host. Web. 30

Mar. 2015.

Li, Q. and Brewer, M. B. (2004), What Does It Mean to Be an American?

Patriotism, Nationalism, and American Identity After 9/11. Political
Psychology,
Kahne, Joseph, and Ellen Middaugh. "Is Patriotism Good for
Democracy? A Study of

High School Seniors Patriotic

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Commitments." Patriotism and Education 87.8 (2006): 600-07.
Sagepub. Phi Delta Kappan. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.
Leary, Cecilia Elizabeth. To Die For: The Paradox of American
Patriotism. Princeton,

N.J.: Princeton UP, 1999. Print.

Macedo, S. "Just Patriotism?" Philosophy & Social Criticism 87.8 (2011):

413-23. Sage

Journals. Philosophy and Social Criticism. Web. 24

Mar. 2015.
Parker, Christopher. "Symbolic versus Blind Patriotism: Distinction
without

Difference?" Political Research Quarterly 62.1 (2010): 97-

114. Serialsolutions.

Sage Publications. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.