Patriotism is Justifiable

I am grateful to Con for his argument. Unfortunately, it contains multiple problems.---> L O V E - O F - O N E ' S - C O U N T R Y - I S - S U B J E C T I V E. <---"Patriotism is the supposition that the country into which you were born is better than other countries, and you should defend it for that reason. If all countries were equally good, then there would be no reason to favour your home country above them."I disagree with this explanation. To understand the cause of patriotism, one must first look into why there are countries in the first place. Geography, language, ethnicity and tradition all serve to divide humans into political entities that call themselves nations. There is a sociological concept called "structure," and to understand this, first think of basic tangible structures as examples. A molecule might be part of an apple, or a metal beam may be part of a building. They inherently belong to something else.I argue that culture is the same way. Each person is influenced by their culture, and his language, beliefs, customs, and where he lives are all generated from it. He is "part" of the ethnocultural group in the same way a star is part of a galaxy. To reduce nations to mere collections of humans is utilizing part-ontology which states that the subject is the parts.I anticipate arguments that humans have intelligence and can reason as to which culture is the more ethical without being biased towards our birth culture. This brings me to my main contention. (As we will see later, culture is not the be-all and end-all in terms of ethics or ideology.) To say that people are "judging" their own culture to be superior to others is absurd. Someone might love their home, and prefer it over another house, but the difference is that it is subjective. He does not judge his home to be somehow "superior" to any other place, but simply prefers it. America and Australia, for starters, are some of the most patriotic countries in the world [1. http://arminius1871.deviantart.com...] but both countries also happen to be some of the most tolerant [2. http://www.rankopedia.com...].---> P A T R I O T I S M - I S - N O T - R A C I S M. <---"Patriotism not only was the root cause of Manifest Destiny, but also of various other similar ideas throughout history. The Romans believed that it was their destiny to rule the world (and all patriotic Romans, of course, had to believe this) and so they proceeded to do so with merciless massacres of populaces including the massacre at Alesia in 52 BCE, where Gallic villagers stuck between Roman walls (partially intended to keep defenders in and partially to keep attackers out) and the Gallic fort starved to death."The examples I have given in the first point prove that patriotism does not necessarily equal racism. Simply the fact that nations are no longer purely defined by ethnicity shows that progress has been made since the time of Rome. I don't feel that I have to respond to my opponent's arguments about colonialism, war, or racism unless he demonstrates that patriotism inevitably leads to them. If he does not, then bringing those examples up are quite irrelevant to the resolution.---> P A T R I O T I S M - D O E S - N O T - N E C E S S I T A T E - A B S O L U T I S M. <---"Serbian patriots (members of the "Black Hand" terrorist group) were responsible for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the subsequent beginning of WWI, with all that that entailed for the future."My opponent makes the association with causation fallacy when he provides examples of terrorism and other atrocities that were justified by patriotism. More enlightened or pacifistic people would likely not resort to terrorism to unify their country. Again, there is no direct, unvarying link between patriotism and terrorism. Con must prove that for this point to be valid that patriotism invariably causes terrorism."Senator McCarthy backed his communist witch hunts with the idea that those hunted were "unpatriotic," leading to the deportation of many of America's greatest writers, actors, civil servants and thinkers, many of whom weren't even communist let alone affiliated with the USSR."This involves ideology and not necessarily patriotism. Fear of communism was not caused by patriotism but rather a strong abhorrence toward it as a concept. Simply because patriotism was used as a weapon against communism does not mean that it directly caused the anti-communist movement, much less the "witch-hunts" themselves."On the other side of the cold war, patriotism was appealed to by the USSR in various classrooms throughout Russia, where Soviet values were appealed to above all else.Therefore, patriotism convinces one to "love one's country" even if that is not always, or even often not, the right thing to do. Was it right to be a patriotic German during the Third Reich and all the atrocities that Germany committed at that time? Is it right to be a patriotic North Korean despite mass famine, a police state, and countless other atrocities?"Again, for these points to be valid my opponent must establish that patriotism necessarily leads to the extreme nationalism that was seen in those countries at the time rather than simply being used as a propoganda tool. Simply the fact this is not observed in all countries disproves this point."Even if patriotism, which is strictly defined as pride in one's country, is limited to only certain times when that country is doing right, how can one say for sure that that country is doing everything right, and why commit to the blind assumption that it is right to be proud of everything the country is doing?"I'm not sure where Con is getting this viewpoint. Being patriotic does not necessarily mean believing that everything a country does is right. As I have shown, America is among the most patriotic countries in the world, but it is also sharply divided by politics. Conservatives, liberals, and libertarians all disagree on their fundamental worldviews and each group believes that it's own belief system can solve the current dilemmas or promote a more ethical society. Don't take only America as an example- there are inumerable countries with their own unique cultures that still have internal disparities of values, ethics and politics. While patriotism may influence some of these beliefs, it does not control them entirely and certainly does not prevent a rational judgment of them. It could easily be argued that ideology itself creates more blindness and conflict than patriotism does. Thus, the resolution is affirmed.I await my opponent's reply.