Barton County residents are preparing to join Americans nationwide in celebrating the Fourth of July Thursday. It is a time to reflect on what it means to be a resident of the United States and feel a swelling pride in our country. There is nothing wrong with that, a Kansas State University researcher said.
It is psychologically rewarding for people to affiliate themselves with a group, said Donald Saucier, associate professor of psychological sciences. He studies expressions of prejudice, which include aspects of group identity and in-group and out-of-group distinctions.
“The Fourth of July is important because it allows people to feel good about being an American,” Saucier said. “This country was born on hard work and people wanting an ideal. It’s OK to remember the people who came earlier and allowed us to lead the great American lives that we lead.”
But he said that it is important not to promote ethnocentrism, which is the belief that a person’s group or nationality is better than other groups. Ethnocentrism can lead to disparagement, degradation or even violence toward a group, he said.
“Be proud of being an American, just don’t make the world a bad place for anyone else,” Saucier said.
Patriotism also is celebrated through symbols – such as the flag; the colors red, white and blue; Olympic uniforms; and the national anthem – to express patriotic sentiment. A soldier attending a college class in fatigues or a student reciting the Pledge of Allegiance can be other symbols and ways to show patriotism.
“All of these are things that we can put on and brand our group,” Saucier said. “It can create a cycle of patriotism. People are taught that the flag is good; they display the flag because it is good and then other people learn the flag is good.”
Saucier said American patriots tend to fall in one of two categories: blind patriots and constructive patriots.
A blind patriot sees the U.S. and anything that it does as automatically right, Saucier said. Blind patriots are more compliant and do not challenge the government. Constructive patriots initiate change when they see something happening and they do not agree with it.
Many of the principles on which the country was founded still provide much of the worldview that encompasses our patriotism today, Saucier said. Freedoms–  such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion – are still an important part of patriotism and what it means to be an American.
“Very early on in this country’s formation, we decided what it is to be an American and we have held pride in that for several hundred years,” Saucier said. “Those are great ideals. Those are reasons that we are proud to be Americans.”
In other words, it took people of many stripes to build this great country. Not all of them were perfect and many stumbled along the way.
Being a patriot means more than taking one’s hat off when the flag passes. It means accepting others for their differences, and being proud of the good things and be willing to change the bad.
Have a happy, safe and patriotic Fourth.
Dale Hogg