One school of thought holds that patriotism is negative overall, while others disagree. Despite acknowledging certain advantages of it, I maintain that its drawbacks are more significant.
On the one hand, patriotism can admittedly be beneficial to a certain extent. First, the country where most civilians embrace patriotism may be more vigorous in terms of social connections. Rather than separating into different social groups, civilians together aim to preserve national identity and culture, which can mitigate conflicts and strengthen the connection between people. Furthermore, adopting a patriotic mindset can make individuals more informed about their countries’ identity, thus significantly undermining the soft power of others. In the increasingly homogenized world, misinformation and biases can be spread through the internet, books, or music. This practice can significantly weaken social connections and identity visibility of countries, making them easier to manipulate.
On the other hand, I contend that such benefits are outweighed by the drawbacks. One major problem is that excessive patriotism can cause unnecessary conflicts between nations, which is detrimental to international unity. Instead of focusing on cultivating the countries’ culture, these people tend to compare these values with that of other nations and even spread misinformation about them to make their countries stand out. These practices not only cause unnecessary stress for individuals but also affect the international relationships of the countries. Moreover, a rigid patriotic mindset may direct people’s focus toward only the positives of their countries, in some cases, it can also exaggerate these values. This enclosed mindset can make it hard for people to embrace the beneficial changes of other nations, potentially depriving the development opportunities of their countries.
In conclusion, patriotism can confer several benefits, such as strengthening the social connections and preventing soft power of other countries. However, I think that these are surpassed by the drawbacks, which include worsening international unity and depriving development opportunities.