Patriotism as Political Correctness
29th December 2010
Bryan Caplan is always worth reading.
Political correctness isn’t just hypersensitivity; it’s hypersensitivity designed to place a permanent stamp on impressionable young minds.
Not so long ago, as Eugen Weber observes, most people were only dimly aware of what nation they “belonged” to. They took little offense at insults to their country, its people, or their flag, because they just didn’t much identify with their country, its people, or their flag. Then came the patriots, descending upon their nations’ schools like locusts. They taught children a litany of bizarre nonsense. They urged them to love millions of complete strangers who happened to live inside a Magic Line (a.k.a. “the border”), and loathe those who snickered during the Pledge of Allegiance or improperly folded the flag.
Well, almost always.