After giving the idea consideration for quite awhile, I feel that the time to act is now definitely at hand: today, I am officially beginning a self-imposed personal moratorium on the use of the word "patriot" and variations thereof ("patriots," "patriotism," "patriotic") until such time I feel that politicians, talking heads, political commentators, self-righteous assclowns, and various segments of American society stop bastardizing it.
I used to use the word frequently to describe myself whenever appropriate; typically within the context of explaining how I feel about things like being an American, or why I pestered my parents until they agreed to co-sign my enlistment papers so as to allow me to begin Marine Corps boot camp at least a full month before I could legally consent on my own (I turned 18 on The Island, right before Phase 2). Alas, over the past few years, I have watched the term being gradually warped and twisted into both a shield behind which to hide from criticism for ones' beliefs or actions, or as a cudgel to silence it.
It has become a catch-all rationalization for all sorts of things people all over the ideological spectrum claim to be zealously in favor of (or diametrically opposed to) but can't be bothered to provide a cogent or logically defensible explanation as to why they feel that way. Many folks who oppose building a Muslim mosque at Ground Zero-- even though it's neither a mosque, nor situated on Ground Zero-- will tell you their opposition is couched in patriotism, just the same as people who think publicly acknowledging a belief in *ANY* divine being-- be it Allah, Jesus, Yahweh, or Vishnu-- amounts to "forcing" ones' religion upon them. People favoring widespread curtailing and encroachment of our most cherished freedoms and civil liberties (and who quite often, it seems, cannot count themselves among those of us who've risked our lives defending them) claim "patriotism" as their prevailing motive. Ditto millions of people who decry the exercise those freedoms by daring to question the motives of the federal government or hold them accountable for any number of things (these being freedoms which I've gathered the architects and framers of our Constitution esteemed above all others). Smug, self-important, and highly-gullible fuckwits who claim membership in the "9/11 Truth Movement" and who seem to think the willingness to believe just about anything, regardless of its implausibility, basis in reality, or violence to sense is the hallmark of a keen intellect and an agile mind (as long as it supports their asinine theories about why WTC 1, 2, and 7 collapsed) are quick to describe themselves as "patriots," and just as quick to cast aspersions upon the patriotism of others who annoy them by demonstrating via logical, informed argument the various reasons why they're utterly full of shit.
But there it is, not to belabor the point. Mind you, this is not a decision made lightly; as I mentioned, I used to hold the word in high regard. Moreover, it does present certain thorny complications for someone such as myself who is an alumnus of George Mason University, whose sports teams and alumni are labeled "Patriots" and whose primary venue for sporting competition, entertainment events, and my own graduation is called "The Patriot Center" (henceforth to be called by me "That Building On Campus Where All the Stuff Happens" until I can think up something better).
I'd like to think that it won't be long before I'm no longer motivated to decide to resume using it.
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