Patriotism: Obstacles To Critical Thinking And Fallacies

“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and supporting your government when it deserves it.” Merriam Webster defines patriotism as the love for or devotion to one’s country. The critical thinking skills mentioned in Chapter One “Why Critical Thinking Matters” and Chapter Five “Obstacles to Critical Thinking and Fallacies” help me to determine why I disagree with the statement David Lettermen quoted from Mark Twain. A good critical thinker requires clarity and analytical information before they can properly develop their own position in an argument, as mentioned in Chapter One. Chapter five suggests a critical thinker must be able to detect what prevents such thinking. These impediments are in two categories: (1) Those hindrances that arise because of how we think (2) Those that occur because of what we think. Thinking critically challenged me, to separate my own beliefs aside from the quote and base my disagreement on why it is not factual. If …show more content…
Not supporting one is essentially not supporting the other. The United States government is made up of three branches. The Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the Legislative Branch. Each branch is responsible for making sure we have laws that help America to be a better country, police and presidents to help enforce laws, and a judicial system to help interpret these laws. All of these things, play a role into how citizens view the United States. The government and its three branches have an affect on the entire nation, whether you’re community is big a small. So if one finds that the government is being unjust, it is only natural they will seize loving the country and begin to protest what they feel should change. If people loved the country and supported it all the time, issues such as slavery, genderism, sexism, racism, and many other issues would still exist