Patriot Games

Thursday, 3 July 2008 by bbbeard.

Tom Maguire skillfully deconstructs Larisa Alexandrovna’s delusions about Jonah Goldberg.

If I haven’t lost you with that lede, let me hasten to point out that this little tempest has to do with patriotism and the diversity of meaning it has for the left and right. It seems that Jonah wrote about BO’s patriotism problem, Larisa took exception to Jonah’s definitions, and Tom gutted Larisa’s analysis.

What we have here is a microcosm of the century-old divide between the nationalist right and the internationalist left. This schism traumatized our country during the Era Of Concern About Communism (otherwise known as the Red Scare). In the ’20’s, ’30’s, and ’40’s, the left saw the salvation, and the future, of this country in the Soviet experiment. I believe the sincerity of those who felt they were being true patriots — lovers of America — by spying for Stalin, although history has shown they were monstrously mistaken.

Perhaps the kindest term for this is “utopian patriotism”. The utopian patriot is so obsessed with the idea of perfecting this country that they believe any act that undermines the existing order is a good thing, and that any evil on the part of its enemies is leverage worth exploiting. Typically, the utopian patriot takes criticism of the enemy as propaganda by opponents of progress, who are imagined to have any of a variety of cryptic motives. Ironically, some of these symptoms fit with a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD; DSM-IV 301.81).

In this same way, I think Larisa feels she is being the truer patriot than Jonah, by undermining our military, repeating anti-American propaganda, rejecting symbols of “nationalism” like our flag, and generally treating our country like a crack baby. She just wants us to be better. In fact she wrote

A mother of a heroin addict, for example, is critical of her child’s drug abuse and wants it to stop. The mother wants only the best for her child. Does the mother’s criticism of the child’s actions in any way illustrate that she does not love her child? On the contrary, it is because the mother loves her child and is devoted to her child that she wants her child to be better, greater than he/she is.

When someone is critical of their country and especially when their country strays from its course, it does not mean the person is not patriotic. It means that the person loves their country enough to want only the best for it. They want it to be greater than what it already is or they want it to be as great as it once was. But criticism of a country is not akin to being un-patriotic.

It is emblematic of how far the loony left has strayed that they think that comparing our country to a heroin addict somehow conveys their love of country.

Larisa’s attitude reminds me of a comparison made by failed-comic-turned-tragic-politician Al Franken. I’m recalling this from memory… he wrote that conservatives love their country like children love their mommy, while liberals love their country like grownups love their spouses — they are able to see all their faults clearly, and to criticize (with the expectation of improvement). It struck me after reading that peculiar insight that if I were married to Franken and he criticized me like he criticizes this country, I would file for divorce.

[h/t Instapundit]

UPDATE: added paragraph on Utopian Patriotism Disorder.

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