Reflections on Patriotism & Anti-Americanism

This brings us to “anti-Americanism.”

There is nothing at all wrong with criticizing one’s country, just as there is nothing at all wrong with criticizing one’s family, one’s friends, or oneself. In fact, love, whether self-directed or other-oriented, must inspire a willingness to be critical, because love is an uncompromising concern for another person’s well-being. Only through criticism can we be made aware of our weaknesses and be prompted to overcome, or at least manage them. Some criticism is indispensable to both personal and national well-being.

There are two crucial qualifications to keep in mind, however. For criticism to be consistent with love, for it to serve the productive function of helping the beloved to realize its potentialities, it first must be directed toward aspects of the beloved’s being, not the beloved itself, and secondly, it must be articulated charitably and episodically, not contemptuously and incessantly.

What distinguishes the anti-American critic from the pro-American critic, the unpatriotic from the patriotic, is that the patriot has a healthy love for his country while the anti-patriot does not.

There are those who criticize America for being conceived in slavery and genocide. They say its very structures are imbued with such abominable evils as racism, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, and classism. These people must want the concept of American to be radically rewritten. They must want to abolish the America that exists and favor constructing one that has never been. This is not love, or at least not the kind of love to which most people (who aren't suicidal) would want to be subjected. Would we say a man loves his wife if he wants to destroy her so she can be transformed into an entirely different person?

The critic who I describe as being “anti-American” could respond by insisting that he really does love his country, just as the abusive husband believes -- with every fiber of his being -- that he loves his wife more than life itself. Perhaps this critic is sincere. I don’t pretend to know exactly what love is.

I do know, however, that a love like this is far worse than hate.