Patriotism In The National Anthem

Patriotism is one’s devotion to their country. Americans are patriotic individuals. American patriotism is demonstrated through the many American holidays celebrated, such as Independence day, which is celebrated on every fourth day of July. During this holiday, Americans display their love for the country by embracing the American flag, and wearing red, white, and blue. Fireworks spectaculars are funded by the citizens of America, so Americans can view them every July 4th. An American is a person that shows love for their country.

American Patriotism can be defined in different ways. When people think of the word patriotism, most often say "to love one 's country". That is true in some aspect, but being patriotic means much more than that. In the words of Mark Twain, he states, “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” True patriotism is to support what 's best for this country and contribute in ways to help that can be beneficial for everyone. However, to a socialist, patriotism can be viewed within three main perspectives: the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspective.

In August of 2016, Kaepernick began his protest during a NFL preseason game where he initially sat during the singing of the national anthem. At the time, his rebellious efforts became unnoticed, but he soon enough made headlines when someone took a photo of him sitting during the anthem. Thus a social issue was born from the public’s reaction from the photo.The negativity of the public’s reaction stemmed from the norm that it is customary that people raise their right hand over their heart while facing the flag when the Star-Spangled-Banner is playing, so if one does not follow this norm it is identified showing disrespect. Inevitably, the prediction of the people’s reaction were to be expected as they were outraged when Kaepernick broke the norm. Although, it is legal for individuals not to follow these sacrosanct protocols, citizens of the United States find this norm obligatory.Would you stand by and constantly watch the same social issues to keep reoccurring in your neighborhood? Not only that but it keeps happening to different people by the same organization? When numerous acts of police brutality occurred, Colin Kaepernick decided to protest. He could no longer stand by and do nothing; he decided to take a knee. For professional National Football League (NFL) player, Colin Kaepernick, his response was “no”. One of the last waves that came toward the end of the summer is the kneeling while the national anthem played during sporting events. When Kaepernick decided to

P - patriotic; Patriotism is a quality that shows one's love for his or her country. By being patriotic, a person is being loyal to their country. It shows that they support and care for the things others have fought to give them. I display my patriotism by something as little as saluting the flag to say the Pledge of Allegiance daily.

One of the things that stand out in in Anthem is the little amount of freedoms they have. The society has been completely turned on its head every little thing they do in life is dictated and controlled down to who they can like. They aren't even allowed to be taller or different looking from their brothers. One of the freedoms missing that stands out to me is the freedom of speech. For people here in America, the freedom of speech is something we all take for granted and don't think about all that often. We know it's one of our rights and we know that some other countries don’t have it, but we don't tend to stop and think about what it would be like if we had that taken away. That is something that everyone needs to think about from time to time.

Americans have been standing for the National Anthem since 1891. This tradition started in the military, before The Star Spangled Banner became the National Anthem. Players in the NFL weren’t always required to stand on the sideline for the Anthem; it became a regular occurrence for players and teams to stand in 2009. Recently, many teams and players in the NFL have disrespected the flag and the unity within the country that is portrayed in the song. They do this by kneeling, sitting, and not coming out of the locker room during the playing of the National Anthem. All American citizens should always stand for the National Anthem, in respect for the flag and for the men and women who fought for the freedom we have.

Many people believe that they are patriotic people. But, what truly makes one patriotic? In “Saying Goodbye to Patriotism” Robert Jensen critiques the effects of patriotism on today’s modern society, the United States, and globalization after the attacks on 9/11. Jensen defines patriotism in his talk delivered to the Peace Action National Congress as “love and loyal or zealous support of one’s own country.” (Jensen 741) But, that is not the only definition of patriotism. One may love living in the United States so does that make them patriotic? Patriotism is probably one of the hardest words to define in today’s society.

Patriotism is a way in which we can strongly express our pride of for our nation and simply a way to honor our homeland. A feeling that has been spreading throughout the world for thousands of years. Patriotism has been such an influential aspect of literature, it has changed the historical ways of writing. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry expressed their ideas of patriotism in very different ways, but they all one idea in common, to share their powerful writing throughout the world. In many pieces of literature patriotism was shown repeatedly through the writing. For example, The Crisis No. 1, The Speech of Virginia Convention, and The Declaration of Independence all thoroughly conveyed patriotism and a revolutionary pride.

All Americans should find their opinion on patriotism and voice that opinion. There are many different views of patriotism and many will clash, but if we continue to talk and use our minds instead of our fists or guns, we can eventually come to a compromise of both ideas, which will best represent everyone’s opinions on patriotism. Through more clearly and fairly defined ideas of patriotism we can better understand the actions of our fellow Americans and avoid more unnecessary conflicts caused by extremist ideas being the only ideas heard.

The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams. It is the most popular sports league in the United States. While the NFL mainly consists of football, some players find the need to bring politics into the league. These politics include racial discrimination and police brutality. Even though these issues need to be taken care of in this country, the National Football League is not the place to deal with these political problems.

In the article, “National Anthem Protests”, written by Steve Byas on The New American, on October 24, 2016, states that when the San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, decided to kneel during the national anthem that his protest wasn’t about the police brutality on blacks but to disrespect this country. Texas senator, Ted Cruz, states in the article that “it’s very easy when you’re sitting there, rolling in millions of dollars to disrespect this country” (13 Byas). Kaepernick and many other NFL players have stated that they are not disrespecting our flag but kneeling in protest to the police brutality on black people across the country. Although the players have said this, people beg to differ.

“An athlete silently protests during the national anthem. People respond with taunts of "traitor," "you're a disgrace" and "leave our country!" Are these angry tweets aimed at National Football League players kneeling during the national anthem?”said by writers Lonnie Bunch and David Skorton.Due to half of the 49ers team kneeling during the National Anthem 49ers fans are burning their jerseys due to the refusal of the players to stand during the National Anthem.Many fans are outraged and boycotting National football because of the fact that football players are disrespecting the flag by kneeling during the National Anthem.The reason players should stand for the National Anthem is because the United States Flag stands for the individuality and

Many National Football League players started kneeling during the National Anthem to protest the injustices against African Americans, police brutality, respect, unity, and equal opportunity. They are protesting with untrue statements, such as police brutality. In 2016, 233 African Americans were shot by police, but the vast majority were armed and dangerous. Only 16 African American male victims of police shootings were unarmed. In 2015, a police officer was 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male was to be killed by a police officer. Many African American National Football League players believe they are being treated unequally. Kneeling during the National Anthem is disrespectful to the flag, the soldiers, and the people of the United States.

I believe that athletes should be required to stand during the national anthem. The way they are protesting is incorrect, not working, and extremely disrespectful. First off, the way they are protesting is incorrect for what they standing for. The protesters are trying to protest against black oppression, with the recent black shootings motivating them. Not standing for the national anthem is not the right way to protest this. The events of the shootings are local problems, not problems caused by the entire nation. This was stated well by NewsELA Pro/Con | National Anthem Debate, “There have been some tragic events lately involving black men and the police. America did not cause these tragedies, though. They occurred in Charlotte, North Carolina,

Anti-patriotism is another form of showing to be an ideal global citizen. Promoting and what is heard often, “my country this, my county that” is not in favor of global citizens. One must be open to all forms of people and their cultures. A global citizen is one that can travel to any country and adjust to the customs or at least be open to them.