The idea that one needs to have loyalty to a governing body in order to be considered a patriot is not true. A patriot, when looking at the definition of the word, does not have anything to do with the government. By definition, a patriot is “a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors”. This definition does not anywhere mention the government, but merely the “country.” While this may come off as vague and some may consider loyalty to a country to be loyalty to its government, the Latin roots of this word clarifies to whom a patriot is loyal. The Latin word patriota, which patriot is derived from, means “fellow countrymen,” making it amply clear that a patriot serves his country’s
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Whenever a person is classified as a patriot, it is always done by a person who is loyal to a government. Take, for instance, the Founding Fathers, who in America are considered as the greatest patriots there are for the United States. While Americans hold these people in high esteem, across the ocean, the people of the UK for a long time considered the Founding Fathers as traitors and terrorist who defied the colonial power of Great Britain. The opinion on whether someone is a patriot or not depends on the critic’s point of view, and generally those who are viewed as patriots are those who support the current and popular governing body of an area. When looking at the example of Martin Luther King, a civil rights activist who is today widely considered a patriot, it is clear that the government’s eventual approval of his movement is what helped him earn that title. During the time that King was actively pushing for the rights of African Americans, the FBI was wiretapping King, trying to find ways to discredit him, and Lyndon B. Johnson, the president at that time, even passed disapproving remarks about him. It is also well known that there were multiple death threats against King and that his house was burnt down at one point, expressing the disapproval of the public as well. Clearly, King was not viewed as the hero is regarded today until the
Whenever a person is classified as a patriot, it is always done by a person who is loyal to a government. Take, for instance, the Founding Fathers, who in America are considered as the greatest patriots there are for the United States. While Americans hold these people in high esteem, across the ocean, the people of the UK for a long time considered the Founding Fathers as traitors and terrorist who defied the colonial power of Great Britain. The opinion on whether someone is a patriot or not depends on the critic’s point of view, and generally those who are viewed as patriots are those who support the current and popular governing body of an area. When looking at the example of Martin Luther King, a civil rights activist who is today widely considered a patriot, it is clear that the government’s eventual approval of his movement is what helped him earn that title. During the time that King was actively pushing for the rights of African Americans, the FBI was wiretapping King, trying to find ways to discredit him, and Lyndon B. Johnson, the president at that time, even passed disapproving remarks about him. It is also well known that there were multiple death threats against King and that his house was burnt down at one point, expressing the disapproval of the public as well. Clearly, King was not viewed as the hero is regarded today until the