{"id":26051,"date":"2015-07-04T05:00:14","date_gmt":"2015-07-04T09:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=26051"},"modified":"2015-07-02T11:48:02","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T15:48:02","slug":"being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","title":{"rendered":"Being Patriotic on the Fourth of July"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I grew up in a home where we celebrated our nation\u2019s founding and past in an overwhelmingly positive way. As I\u2019ve grown my perspective has broadened and I\u2019ve come to see\u00a0social problems and worse\u00a0as central to our nation\u2019s past. There are atrocities, such as slavery and the way the United States has\u00a0treated native populations. There are also other problems that may be less stark but are no less important, such as the lack of rights for women or\u00a0bias against our nation\u2019s immigrant populations. Even our more recent past is far from perfect, what with backlash against\u00a0the civil rights movement and the continued deportation of individuals working to create a better life for their families.<\/p>\n

My more nuanced understanding of our nation\u2019s past and present has often left me unclear about where I stand on holidays like today. In many ways patriotism has become a thing of the political Right, as conservatives wave flags and seek to rewrite our nation\u2019s history while progressives and others on the political Left feel uncomfortable as they grapple with our nation\u2019s often troubling past. But I worry about this positioning, because it aids conservatives as they claim to be true<\/em> Americans while I and others like me are somehow less<\/em> American.<\/p>\n

What does patriotism mean, exactly? Is it love for one\u2019s country? Admiration for one\u2019s country? Devotion to one\u2019s country? Does being patriotic require one to agree with all of the actions of one\u2019s country? Or is it possible to be both patriotic and dissent from the action\u2019s of one\u2019s country? I think part of the problem is that those on the political Right have defined patriotism to mean not questioning one\u2019s country or its past. This makes those on the political Left uncomfortable with the term patriotism altogether. But does it have to be defined that way?<\/p>\n

Our history is not just a history of oppression or injustice. It is also a history of lively and spirited dissent<\/em>. Men like Frederick Douglass, women Ida B. Wells\u2014these people are part of our history too. Eugene V. Debs<\/a>. Pearl Buck<\/a>. Claudette Clovin<\/a>. Mary Beth Tinker<\/a>. These individuals were American too, even as they were discontent with the state of their national and\u00a0fought to change it. Is there any greater act of love toward one\u2019s country than working to improve it, believing\u00a0that it can be better than it is\u2014more inclusive, more fair, more just?<\/p>\n

Rather than allowing conservatives to paint us as unpatriotic dissenters, let\u2019s point out that dissenting is both\u00a0patriotic\u00a0and\u00a0a central\u00a0part of our national heritage. Let\u2019s not let conservatives win the debate through defining its terms. On this Fourth of July, let\u2019s celebrate the movers and shakers, the people who stepped out and put their lives on the line to make this country a better place. That battle continues today, through efforts to bring about immigration reform, through the movement surrounding Black Lives Matter, and through efforts to improve transgender rights. We, my friends, are part of a grand American tradition\u2014and we are part of history.<\/p>\n

How about you? Have you grappled with this holiday, or with the very idea of patriotism? How have you resolved these things\u00a0for yourself? And importantly, what\u00a0heroes of our history would you like to see honored today? And for those readers who live outside of the U.S., how does the idea of patriotism play out in your country? What national celebration\u2019s does your country have, and how do you approach them? How do you grapple with your own nation\u2019s history?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up in a home where we celebrated our nation’s founding and past in an overwhelmingly positive way. As I’ve grown my perspective has broadened and I’ve come to see social problems and worse as central to our nation’s past. There are atrocities, such as slavery and the way the United States has treated native populations. There are also other problems that may be less stark but are no less important, such as the lack of rights for women or bias against our nation’s immigrant populations. Even our more recent past is far from perfect, what with backlash against the civil rights movement and the continued deportation of individuals working to create a better life for their families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[107],"class_list":["post-26051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-holidays"],"yoast_head":"\nBeing Patriotic on the Fourth of July<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I grew up in a home where we celebrated our nation's founding and past in an overwhelmingly positive way. As I've grown my perspective has broadened and I've come to see social problems and worse as central to our nation's past. There are atrocities, such as slavery and the way the United States has treated native populations. There are also other problems that may be less stark but are no less important, such as the lack of rights for women or bias against our nation's immigrant populations. Even our more recent past is far from perfect, what with backlash against the civil rights movement and the continued deportation of individuals working to create a better life for their families.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Being Patriotic on the Fourth of July\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I grew up in a home where we celebrated our nation's founding and past in an overwhelmingly positive way. As I've grown my perspective has broadened and I've come to see social problems and worse as central to our nation's past. There are atrocities, such as slavery and the way the United States has treated native populations. There are also other problems that may be less stark but are no less important, such as the lack of rights for women or bias against our nation's immigrant populations. Even our more recent past is far from perfect, what with backlash against the civil rights movement and the continued deportation of individuals working to create a better life for their families.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-04T09:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-02T15:48:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\",\"name\":\"Being Patriotic on the Fourth of July\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-04T09:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-02T15:48:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in a home where we celebrated our nation's founding and past in an overwhelmingly positive way. As I've grown my perspective has broadened and I've come to see social problems and worse as central to our nation's past. There are atrocities, such as slavery and the way the United States has treated native populations. There are also other problems that may be less stark but are no less important, such as the lack of rights for women or bias against our nation's immigrant populations. Even our more recent past is far from perfect, what with backlash against the civil rights movement and the continued deportation of individuals working to create a better life for their families.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Being Patriotic on the Fourth of July\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \\\"purity culture,\\\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Being Patriotic on the Fourth of July","description":"I grew up in a home where we celebrated our nation's founding and past in an overwhelmingly positive way. As I've grown my perspective has broadened and I've come to see social problems and worse as central to our nation's past. There are atrocities, such as slavery and the way the United States has treated native populations. There are also other problems that may be less stark but are no less important, such as the lack of rights for women or bias against our nation's immigrant populations. Even our more recent past is far from perfect, what with backlash against the civil rights movement and the continued deportation of individuals working to create a better life for their families.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Being Patriotic on the Fourth of July","og_description":"I grew up in a home where we celebrated our nation's founding and past in an overwhelmingly positive way. As I've grown my perspective has broadened and I've come to see social problems and worse as central to our nation's past. There are atrocities, such as slavery and the way the United States has treated native populations. There are also other problems that may be less stark but are no less important, such as the lack of rights for women or bias against our nation's immigrant populations. Even our more recent past is far from perfect, what with backlash against the civil rights movement and the continued deportation of individuals working to create a better life for their families.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","og_site_name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","article_published_time":"2015-07-04T09:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-02T15:48:02+00:00","author":"Libby Anne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Libby Anne","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html","name":"Being Patriotic on the Fourth of July","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-07-04T09:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-02T15:48:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2"},"description":"I grew up in a home where we celebrated our nation's founding and past in an overwhelmingly positive way. As I've grown my perspective has broadened and I've come to see social problems and worse as central to our nation's past. There are atrocities, such as slavery and the way the United States has treated native populations. There are also other problems that may be less stark but are no less important, such as the lack of rights for women or bias against our nation's immigrant populations. Even our more recent past is far from perfect, what with backlash against the civil rights movement and the continued deportation of individuals working to create a better life for their families.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/07\/being-patriotic-on-the-fourth-of-july.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Being Patriotic on the Fourth of July"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/","name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2","name":"Libby Anne","description":"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \"purity culture,\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}