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them. There
have also been those willing to commit atrocities for them. This seemingly-blind devotion to one's
fatherland has persisted throughout history, and gone by many names. In the time of Chaucer, it was
part of the code of chivalry. At the dawn of the industrial age, it was nationalism. And in modern times,
we call it patriotism. Patriotism plays a different role in every society, and while there are many different
studies on how it can shape a culture, there are but a scant few on how it is shaped by culture. This
paper will attempt to describe exactly how the aspects of a society can affect its patriotic beliefs, and is
structured as follows:
Section 1: Patriotism in the Past
Thermopylae
The American Revolution
The Third Reich
Section 2: Propaganda - The Propagator of Patriotism
Uncle Sam - Fighting for the Fatherland
Nazism - Propaganda as a Way of Life
Section 3: Patriotism and Pretension
The Western Way
USA: Number One!
perhaps the country most greatly affected and influenced by patriotism was the newly-formed United
States across the sea, which was founded upon patriotic ideals from the start.
they're protecting. Even outside of wartime, he serves as the country's mascot, and has
survived even into the modern day. One has to wonder however whether Uncle Sam's longevity
says anything about the USA's militaristic nature. After all, there would be no need for him to
want us to enlist were we not always fighting someone to enforce freedom or put down a
rebellion.
Europeans genuinely believed that they were doing just that, this behavior was the cause for
the genocide of the American natives and the destruction of countless ways of life because
theirs was 'better'. This behavior also led to the start of the Atlantic slave trade and later on the
deeply rooted racism that many former colonies still have trouble with today. Europe went
from being a relatively unimportant peninsula to the center of all things civilized, and even
today the word 'western' tends to be used as a synonym for culture and correctness.
Works Cited
Brewer, Susan A. Why America Fights: Patriotism and War Propaganda from the Philippines to Iraq. Oxford:
Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
"The Most Famous Poster (Memory): American Treasures of the Library of Congress." The Most Famous Poster
(Memory): American Treasures of the Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
"Nazi Propaganda." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 20 June
2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
Sobel, Robert. The Origins of Interventionism; the United States and the Russo-Finnish War. New York: Bookman
Associates, 1961. Print.