Patriotism

Well I am a patriot, doesnt mean I agree with everything that Norway do, for one we could bugger out of the peace negotiations in the middle east. Not our problem to solve. We have enough things to solve in Norway and we better deal with them before we start looking abroad.
Even so I am a patriot, not the same as being blind through extrem national ideology/nationalism though. There is a boundary there and if you are enlightened you see that line

Originally posted by The Omega
How can you love your country and not it’s leaders? The leaders are an integral part of what makes the country in question what it is, both in regards to foreign and domestic relations.

You might love the people, or even the land itself. I love my hometown, I love the people here, and the place is just beautiful, but for a long time there I really doubted our local government. That's not so true anymore since we elected some different people, but you get my point...

Darth> Then what IS patriotism? I won’t say I love everyone here in Copenhagen, or everything about Copenhagen. But I like it here, the people I do care about are here.
But love is too strong a word top use in relations with something as abstract as a geographic region and culture.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Well, now this is just becoming a continual outpourting of anti-patriotism! It does not do to ignore its positive effects on a country. The most successful countries, over all time, have also been the most patriotic.

Right on, Patriotism is important for nations

Well what is the difference between partiotism and nationalism. I think patriotism is being proud like Omega said. But Nationalism is when it sarts to exaggerate to the point of overlooking injustices.

patriot

\Pa"tri*ot\, n. [F. patriote; cf. Sp. patriota, It. patriotto; all fr. Gr. ? a fellow-countryman, fr. ? established by forefathers, fr. ? father. See Father.]
One who loves his country, and zealously supports its authority and interests. --Bp. Hall.

So that sounds like Tpt's definition of a nationalist.

nationalist adj : devotion to the interests or culture of a particular nation including promoting the interests of one country over those of others; "nationalist aspirations"; "minor nationalistic differences" [syn: nationalistic] n : one who loves and defends his or her country [syn: patriot]

So here patriot is basically synonymous with nationalist.
Both seem to be scary concepts that can easily go to far. Who benefits from either? The leaders of the country in question...

One who loves his country, and zealously supports its authority and interests.

One who loves his country, and supports its authority and interests. just as good definition for patriot just a bit more neutral

from dictionary.com:

patriotism

\Pa"tri*ot*ism\, n. [Cf. F. patriotisme.] Love of country; devotion to the welfare of one's country; the virtues and actions of a patriot; the passion which inspires one to serve one's country. --Berkley.

na·tion·al·ism __ _P___Pronunciation Key__(nsh-n-lzm, nshn-)
n.
1. Devotion to the interests or culture of one's nation.

2. The belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals.

3. Aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination.

Now, I think the second definition of nationalism is at least a little what Tpt is talking about--the belief that your country will do just fine if it ignores all the other countries. That doesn't work in a lot of cases, because there are things that only go down well if everybody contributes to the cause. Like air pollution--we all share the same air, it's not like there's an invisible wall between all the countries...

So I think it depends on what definition you look at, but there is always a fine line between the two.

EDIT: I asked my mom, the English major, what she thought. She said that nationalism is the belief that your country is better or superior to all the others, and that it tends to be more aggressive. Patriotism is merely the pride of one's country.

She said that nationalism is the belief that your country is better or superior to all the others, and that it tends to be more aggressive. Patriotism is merely the pride of one's country.

Finti who did you quote there

cause that is indeed the difference IMO

Fire> DR's editing

Thats what I got from my AP history class.
It was described that the Germans in WW2 were nationalistic (or something like that)