What Patriotism Means to Me. Part 2

It’s been a while since part one of my “What Patriotism Means to Me” series. A lot has happened in this country and around the world since July 4th, 2023, and I have lots of opinions I want to share about what has happened since. In part one of this series I went over some the many flaws present in the US and in American society. I only *barely* scratched the surface of the problems we are facing, things like gun violence and racism. Maybe I was a little angry when I wrote that, but I stand by what I said. Far, far, FAR, too many people refuse to learn or accept the fact that this country is not perfect. Their ignorance is one of the biggest reasons why. Americans as a people are more divided now than at any point in our lives. There were definitely points in history where America was worse off. The Civil War for instance where brother went against brother and where the fabric of our nation was torn. But for people alive today, especially for Gen Zers like me, this is the worst it has been.

Things have gone downhill so fast in the past 9 years since the 2016 election. It’s honestly shocking thinking of a time when people weren’t seemingly ready to tear each other apart. I and others my age have grown up in a time when discourse, societal stability, and optimism are all but non-existent. But why? Why is this country perpetually shooting itself in the foot? What can we do to heal our societal wounds, ditch the polarization, and finally, once again, move forward to our more perfect union? I think the solution could be as simple as, learning how to think for ourselves again, and talking to each other. These days, it feels like independent thought is on a downward trend. As much as I love tech, and as much as I do sincerely believe in the promise of modern technology, I think it is pretty self-evident that we are letting our computers and phones do our thinking for us.

Before the introduction of the smartphone in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the Internet mostly served as a means to expand our minds. All the information you could think of accessible in seconds if you know where to look. But since the smartphone has put all of this in our pocket, we have begun to let the Internet (More specifically the Big Tech companies that run the internet) control rather than expand our minds. How does this relate to American patriotism? Well, I believe that the sorry state Americans find themselves in is a result of us giving up the control and agency we had over the Internet to soulless corporations that harvest your data for money. The platforms we use such as Instagram and Twitter (Not calling it X) are serving us content based on what it thinks we want to see. This algorithm is meant to increase the time we spend on these platforms. The more time we spend, the more money the ghouls who run them get. This has had the consequence of dividing us into little tribes that fight amongst each other. It has also reduced our ability to think for ourselves and seek out content we actually want to see.

We are divided into echo chambers with every opinion we send into the void getting sent back and confirmed over and over and over. If you lean more towards the conservative end of politics, and you say something about how you think that illegal immigration is going unchecked, your opinion will bounce back and forth between other conservatives further and further right until you are returned with a conspiracy theory about how “they” (Usually the Jews) are “importing” your black and brown neighbors into the country to “replace” you. Since you only really get your news from your social media feed, you will see little counterargument. This exact scenario has played out time and time again across the world and, it has resulted in actual death and destruction. These algorithms birthed the terrorists who attacked black, brown, and Jewish folks in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Christchurch, El Paso, and countless other cities across the globe. These people lost the ability to think or question things independently, and they were bounced back and forth to what they see as the only logical conclusion, mass violence.

Many people know this, but I feel like too many people see it as exclusively a conservative phenomenon. Progressives are just a susceptible to their brains being hijacked by echo chambers. Since the terrorist invasion of Israel on October 7th, 2023, Jews worldwide have experienced a rapid rise in antisemitism. Antisemitism is usually associated with far right elements of society, but historically it has been everywhere. Progressive individuals are being shown the brutal consequences of war over social media. The noble cause of liberation and freedom for the Palestinian people is being used to send progressives down the same kind of rabbit hole that their conservative counterparts are going down. People with large followings are parroting literal terrorist propaganda and the people who follow them who probably can’t point to Israel on a map are growing increasingly, and disturbingly, ok with the violence perpetrated against Israeli civilians. I have seen it described as “resistance to imperialism” amongst other terms in an attempt to justify it.

Many of the protestors on our campuses are getting there information from short form content on apps like TikTok. They are taking everything at face value and applying an American lens to a foreign conflict that has been raging since before there grandparents were born. They are refusing to think for themselves and just like with the resurgent far right, innocent people are suffering. Just a few days ago, a 12-year-old Jewish girl in France was raped by a gang of boys who were making antisemitic statements about her and shouting at her about Palestine. Synagogues and Jewish schools have been receiving bomb threats across the country because of the ignorance that apps like TikTok spread. It is only a matter of time before this escalates. That is only the tip of the iceberg. Jewish folks deserve as much respect and dignity as everyone else. It shouldn’t be this controversial.

The reason this is happening is, as stated above, social media is leading to a decrease in critical thought. It has enabled conspiracies to thrive as people mindless scroll and share. Our attention spans are being reduced, and we are being trained, knowingly or unknowingly, by these big tech companies to hate our neighbors. Certain politicians are taking advantage of this to gain power, no matter how many people him and his cultish followers end up hurting. Influencers across social media are exploiting the ignorance young people in this country have about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to spread chaos in the name of “freeing Palestine”. People are getting hurt and killed by our refusal to think and to recognize the innate dignity of each other.

So what does this have to do with patriotism? I think that patriotism, as in being proud of who we are as a nation, is the key to fixing our issues. Patriotism to me entails learning about how our country and society works both in the past and the present and putting that knowledge into action for the future. Many people of my generation are taking what they have for granted. They are being bombarded with news about how terrible this country, and the world in general, can be, and they are beginning to think that that’s how it always will be and that they can’t do anything about. This is untrue. The story of America itself is the story of a long, hard, and often bloody but undeniably fruitful march towards progress. From the revolution onward, Americans have been dreamers, dreaming of a better world. A world free from they tyranny of a king, the oppression of slavery, and the inherently un-American inequality Americans of different races have felt. America IS progressive by nature.

What my generation has to do is embrace that legacy that the progressive leaders of our past have left for us. Important figures like Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Frederick Douglass, MLK, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B DuBois, and so many more men and women throughout our history fought hard to bring change. We need to fight hard. We need to break the chains that big tech has on our brains, and we need to embrace our legacy of hope and optimism. We need to intently study each issue we face today, from gun violence and racism, to women’s rights and climate change. We need to figure out our best course of action, and we need to elect leaders and representatives who best align with our stated values.

We also need to put our values into practice. I am sure the most young Americans would say they agree with what I have said. But actions speak louder than words, and we need to show our values through our actions. This involves taking part in the world of politics no matter how tiring it will be. It is our futures that depend on the choices we make now. We need to evolve past the age of mindless scrolling and use the awesome power of the internet to change people’s minds and hearts. The internet has the knowledge we need about the issues we face. We absolutely must learn all we can about them. That would involve looking at both sides of issues and determining what is fact and what isn’t. Our divisions have lead to the very idea of fact coming under fire. There is no such thing as alternative facts. That is an invention of the mindless scrolling era. We need to find the true facts. Sometimes that will involve changing our minds and being flexible. That’s how the world works. It will absolutely involve reaching out across the aisle.

We hold in our hands the destiny of the 21st century. Who we vote for now will determine the course of history. It will determine the actions our governments take on climate change, it will determine the lives of impoverished and unhoused citizens, it will determine the fates of countless numbers of women who will die if they are unable to get abortions, it will determine the course of LGBTQ rights for potential decades to come, it will determine the fates of immigrants, school children, veterans, gun safety, and minorities of all color, shapes, and sizes. It will determine if we are even America anymore. If we do not have the right to free and fair elections we are worthless as a country. If we are unable to reject these un-American and undemocratic ideas, we as a nation will be swept into the fires of Hell and of dictatorship. We all will.

So why am I voting? Why am I writing this? Why do I even care about a nation so profoundly troubled and broken? Because I believe in this nation. From the moment I was able to comprehend what America is, I have believed in its promise. When I was a kid, I would spend hours reading about the bravery and integrity of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. How they saw such powerful injustice and were able to defeat it. Especially Abraham Lincoln. He gave his life for his country and everyone in it, black and white, free and enslaved. That kind of bravery and dedication is what every American should have. Later on I was inspired by the stories of Martin Luther King Jr. How he used the power of the people to change what Black Americans could be. How he brought voting rights to millions of people and how he brought equality and hope to more millions. And ultimately how he too gave his life for his cause.

This country breeds progress and it breeds change. More than that it breeds the people who bring change. We have the tools, and we have the talent to turn this broken and divided land into the most prosperous and most free country the world has known. The American dream that has long been a myth for so many is within our grasp. But we need to start caring, we need to stop doomscrolling and start working. Hate and division are the tools of our oppressors. The people who want to destroy America. We need to fight back against that.

I am voting because I believe in America. Because I want to build a country for my children and for my future wife that we can be proud of. Where everyone is free do to what they want and is free to think, believe, and say what they want. A country where human beings can access the most basic of needs, where people of all aspects, Jews and Muslims, Atheists, Blacks and Whites, people of all genders and orientations, people of all kinds. Humans. Americans. We are all Americans. That is what patriotism means to me. To be a patriot is to do everything you can to improve your country. Today, not only do we celebrate our Independence Day. But we fight for our future. This is OUR day. That flag they fly upside down is OUR flag. The country we live in is OUR country. This is OUR century. Fight for it. Vote or die.