The distinction is distinctly Orwellian. I realize that some things so collective could be so subjective. On patriotism, at this time, perhaps Filipinos are not really ashamed of their country, not really. Filipinos are just disgusted about the kind of politics that makes a real big mess of everything. Maybe qualified OFW’s can come back and run for office. If he wins he can send some of these crookediles here overseas for good. Send them all as high-ranking ambassadors to Iraq. In 2007 we really need alternative politicians. Filipino patriotism that welled out to overflowing in many instances in our history is just in there, not seen but not lost.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/06/22/175803.php

“George Orwell wrote that nationalism was one of the worst enemies of peace. He defined nationalism as the feeling that your way of life, country, or ethnic group were superior to others. These types of feelings lead a group to attempt to impose their morality on any given situation. When those standards were not met, more often then not, war would result.”

“In contrast he stated that patriotism was the feeling of admiration for a way of life etc. and the willingness to defend it against attack. The obvious difference between the two is that while patriotism is a passive attitude, nationalism is aggressive by nature.”

That said, I ran across one of the comments from a Parisian resident in a UK site (The Times) on a piece on the resurgence of patriotism brought about, of all things, by the World Cup competition:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2239123,00.html

“On the subject of patriotism, I would like to compare Thailand and the Philippines. The Thais are very patriotic, whereas the Filipinos are ashamed of their country. The Thais want to make their country work, and the Filipinos want to leave it. And I think that Thailand has a good future, but not the Philippines. Growing up in Ireland during the horribly poor 70s and 80s, there was little national pride. Now of course, we think we’re the bees knees. In any case, in spite of the “Beneton PC brigade”, nationalism is a powerful and potentially very positive force. It would be nice to see a bit less self-flagellation from the French, who are uneasy with public expressions of patriotism at the moment. (And I hope Germany win the World Cup!).” Samuel Young, Paris, France

Cvj, on the 52% ‘s share of others’ animosity for Bush whom they voted in spite of or because of everything Bush had done so far, seems to me like you’ve drawn the line clear on that 2004 choice, has the 52% gone down to what % since then, most want Bush impeached just as much as we want GMA impeached.

For instance, Canada, a great exception, quite exemplary really, have opted for multiculturalism as their national identity as Canadians and it seems to me that this identity is what feeds their sense of patriotism.

The Americans, on the other hand, have done it the other way around – a call to patriotism was the backbone of the American republic; it was patriotism that fed and continues to feed their various emigrant cultures (and sometimes to the detriment of some ethnic minority groups), hence we find the constant clashing of cultures (latinos, wasps, asians, Afro-Americans, etc) which, in order to stand out as one, America must always be bully or thug like even against its own. Sometimes, I am surprised why Americans need to scream “We are the most powerful nation in the world…”, stomp their foot and screech “I AM AN AMERCIAN”, belt out “You are either with me or against me…” or “Things must be black or white!”, etc. Clearly, there’s something wrong there somewhere.

I believe the Filipinos on the whole are ‘patriots’ but the nation’s lack of a clear national cultural identity seems to thrive on the clash of regional cultures which tends to defeat the very essence of patriotism, hence, I think it is important to identify a national culture and develop that into a cultural nationalism to serve as the backbone of patriotism. Perhaps, there will be more unity when that happens or less disunity.