Sources: Wnat is Patriotism?

                    My topic for our upcoming writing prompt is that of how the media portrays patriotism and how the U.S. government uses these representations to gather support from citizens or from other countries. In researching a source for this topic, I made an attempt to look through the TAMU library website to locate a journal from Jstor. What I have found is a scholarly journal titled What Does it Mean to Be an American? Patriotism, Nationalism, and American Identity After 9/11. This article comes from the Political Pschology Journal Vol. 25 and was written by Qion Li and Marilynn Brewer from Ohio State University. Before I even read the article, we can safely assume this is a credible scholarly article due to where I found it, (its location on Jstor); it’s documentation of who wrote it, and where they gathered their information. 

  

                 The article itself discusses the psychological impacts of buzzwords such as nationalism and patriotism in the media and how they affect the masses.  The article describes this by stating, “The differentiation between the positive and negative manifestations of national identification is represented in social psychology by drawing a distinction between ‘patriotism’ and ‘nationalism’ with the former connoting pride and love or the country and the latter referring to chauvinistic arrogance and desire for dominance in international relations.” This is a very important point that the article is making to describe the disparity between the two. The article continues to go into pre-9/11 history and how this was consistent throughout history with Presidents such as President John F. Kennedy’s quote, “Ask not what your country can do for your, but what you can do for your country.” This rhetoric itself, which the article concludes, is the reason that we see a sense of “with us” or “against us” mentality in the political spectrum.  Do you believe that this discourse is correct? Incorrect? Tell me what you think!