Everywhere else, patriotism means attachment to the land, the language, the culture, the history, the people. You can criticize the government, the president, the elite, even call for their removal, and still be considered a patriot. In fact, in many places that is considered the highest form of patriotism refusing to let the country be run into the ground by incompetent or corrupt people.
In Russia it often looks inverted. Patriotism = simping for the sitting president and the political class. Question the decisions, point out obvious corruption, or suggest the country is being harmed by its own rulers, and suddenly you're a "traitor," "foreign agent," "fifth column," or "not a real Russian." The elite has successfully sold the idea that the state = the nation, and therefore the current office-holders = the Motherland. Blind support is patriotic; independent thought is suspicious.
Examples are endless. Economic decline, demographic collapse, massive capital flight, elite families living abroad while ordinary people are told to tighten belts "for the Motherland" .... all of it gets framed as tests of loyalty rather than failures of governance. People who notice the gap between official rhetoric and reality are attacked more viciously than the actual problems. Opposition figures or just ordinary critics get painted as enemies of Russia itself, not critics of a particular administration.
Compare this to other countries. Americans can call their president a disaster and still fly the flag without being accused of hating America. Poles, Hungarians, Japanese, Israelis argue viciously about their governments while remaining fiercely attached to their nations. Even in more authoritarian places the equation isn't always this total. Why is the Russian version so totalizing?
-When did loving Russia become synonymous with loving the current vertical of power?
-Is a Russian who wants better governance for his own people less patriotic than someone who defends every failure with "but the West is worse"?
-If the elite's interests diverge from the actual long-term interests of the population (and they often do), why is siding with the elite the "patriotic" choice?
-Can a country that systematically punishes internal criticism ever course-correct, or does this version of patriotism just guarantee more of the same?
To be clear. Objectively:
Patriotism is love of one's country, people, culture, and future. It is NOT loyalty to temporary rulers, not silence in the face of corruption or self-destructive policies, and not attacking fellow citizens for noticing problems. The Russian state-promoted version that equates patriotism with blind support for the political elite is objectively sick: it turns the natural feeling of attachment to one's homeland into a tool for protecting power, suppresses the very feedback mechanisms a nation needs to survive, and ultimately harms the country it claims to defend.
I can understand why the russian state tries to use this as a tool, but I don't understand how the fuck can you people suck it up without resistance? Please explain.
Throughout soviet times the machine used the "patriotism" and "motherland" as a propaganda tool and the feel of being part of something big was apparently a comforting replacement for traditional national/cultural unity that modern nations are based on, after your own original historical cultural identity and roots had been destroyed by the soviet machine. After soviet collapse, unlike many other post soviet countries, the people simply never have experienced real feel of national unity. There was simply a cavity and a group of lost souls and a new state elite looking to fill in that void with whatever it pleases.
I don't think Russians have never experienced a real national unity. European countries fought for their independence, fought civil wars and built systems for themselves a century ago, which brought up real feeling of being part of something valuable. Russians had their chance in 1917 but for some reason, lost to a small minority. Russia is still lacking the real spark that is necessary for empowering the people and nation. A real revolution and a reset of power with the people taking what belongs to them. Untill that happens, patriotism is and will always be just a gimmick word used to fool the obedient cucks.
> Everywhere else, patriotism means attachment to the land, the language, the culture, the history, the people. You can criticize the government, the president, the elite, even call for their removal, and still be considered a patriot
In Russia too
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