The Misconstrued Patriots: The Everyday Changing Definition of Patriotism

Patriotism, like religion, is a phenomenon that harbours on the highest order of conviction of the practitioner. However, like religion, it has started deriving its belief not from convictions but from conveniences. While they may sound similar, their connotation is as different as chalk and cheese. One derives its strength from unshakable belief while the other does it from opportunism. One goes beyond a person’s physical being while the other is very much confined to physical and mental conditioning. One hardly ever changes while the other can be as fickle as the weather.

 

Condemn Terrorism But in its Entirety

On the evening of November 13, 2015, Paris, the capital of France, found itself embroiled in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks that killed around 140 people and injured several hundreds. The backlash that followed was reflected both in the print and social media with everyone condemning the attacks and coming out in support of Paris. However, another small piece of news also made its presence felt- that of a terror attack at Beirut the day before, which had killed around 50 people and injured dozens others. Unfortunately, the same people who went about painting their profile pictures on Facebook to that of France’s colors and propagating how they condemn terror attacks of any kind, where not even aware of the existence of Beirut, forget about a terror attack on it the day before. The situation forced me to wonder why such a predicament existed!