User Tag List

+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Why We’re Patriotic

  1. #1
    Points: 665,289, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 85.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialRecommendation Second ClassYour first GroupOverdrive50000 Experience PointsTagger First ClassVeteran
    Awards:
    Discussion Ender
    Chris's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    433316
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    197,553
    Points
    665,289
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    31,984
    Thanked 80,905x in 54,720 Posts
    Mentioned
    2011 Post(s)
    Tagged
    2 Thread(s)

    Why We’re Patriotic

    Some interesting points on why we by nature are social.

    Why We’re Patriotic

    ...Patriotism is an innate human sentiment. It is part of a deeper subconscious drive toward group formation and allegiance. It operates as much in one nation under God as it does in a football stadium. Group bonding is in our evolutionary history, our nature. According to some recent studies, the factors that make us patriotic are in our very genes.

    But this allegiance—this blurring of the lines between individual and group—has a closely related flipside; it’s not always a warm feeling of connection in the Cleveland-bound lounge car. Sometimes our instinct for group identification serves as a powerful wedge to single out those among us who are different. Sometimes what makes us feel connected is not a love of home and country but a common enemy.

    ...“Identification with a group prolongs your individual existence because the group has a transcendental existence beyond the existence of any of its individual members,” Kruglanski says. “Once you feel part of the group you are less afraid of death because as a member of the group you acquire a kind of immortality. So it feels very good to be a member of the group, to be part of the collective.”

    Kruglanski has conducted research in Pakistan, Egypt, and Indonesia, among other places, and found a correlation between the degree to which individuals feel they are failing in their personal pursuits and the extent to which they identify strongly with their nation or religion. He argues the tendency to be group-oriented and identify with a group is strengthened when we “cannot very well hack it as individuals.” He adds, “A sense of weakness and anxiety lead us to depend on the group, to run to the group for cover, in the same way as a threat prompts little children to run to their mothers and fathers for cover.”

    Kruglanski pioneered a theory he calls “cognitive closure,” which he equates with an innate need for a feeling of certainty and consistency about the world around you. It’s a research thread that has led him inevitably to the study of groups, and in particular extreme patriotism and nationalism.

    “There’s an intimate connection between a need for closure and group identification, including patriotism,” he says. “Once you become uncertain about your own self, you seek certainty, and that certainty is afforded by the group ideology that tells you who you are. You are a member of this group and you adopt the group ideology.”

    ...
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

  2. #2
    Points: 41,437, Level: 49
    Level completed: 76%, Points required for next Level: 413
    Overall activity: 0.2%
    Achievements:
    Recommendation Second ClassSocial25000 Experience PointsVeteran
    Lummy's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    6307
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Posts
    12,618
    Points
    41,437
    Level
    49
    Thanks Given
    4,948
    Thanked 6,307x in 4,359 Posts
    Mentioned
    60 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I think you read way too much into it. But you know, why ruin the day by dismantling people's celebratory mood explaining why you think they are the way they are?

  3. #3
    Points: 665,289, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 85.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialRecommendation Second ClassYour first GroupOverdrive50000 Experience PointsTagger First ClassVeteran
    Awards:
    Discussion Ender
    Chris's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    433316
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    197,553
    Points
    665,289
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    31,984
    Thanked 80,905x in 54,720 Posts
    Mentioned
    2011 Post(s)
    Tagged
    2 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Lummy View Post
    I think you read way too much into it. But you know, why ruin the day by dismantling people's celebratory mood explaining why you think they are the way they are?
    Because it's interesting, to me at least, where this patriotism comes from, that it's in our nature as social beings.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

  4. #4
    Points: 7,442, Level: 20
    Level completed: 56%, Points required for next Level: 308
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    Veteran5000 Experience Points
    Trumpster's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    355
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    780
    Points
    7,442
    Level
    20
    Thanks Given
    870
    Thanked 345x in 251 Posts
    Mentioned
    5 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I read some of your link and count myself as being "individualistic". Every time I join a group of one sort or another, I end up feeling very bored. I've never had a favorite baseball team or football team. I live in a rather large community that has hundreds of clubs that one can join. But every time I think I have found one that really suits me, I end up getting bored with it.

    Having said that, I'm a proud Republican and I think Trump is a great president.

+ Reply to Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts