Is Patriotism A Hate Crime ???

Here is an excerpt from my novella No More Patriots, which is available in the Kindle Store:

But what was patriotism anyway? Most dictionaries defined it as some variation of love for or devotion to one’s country. Certainly there was nothing wrong with loving one’s country, but the manner in which this type of “love” often manifested itself had become a real conundrum. Its ultimate expression was to voluntarily join the military, learn the arts and sciences of war, journey to foreign lands, and gleefully kill or maim the people who lived there and destroy their homes chiefly because they loved their country as much as you loved yours.

In reality patriotism was a hate crime, pure and simple.

According to the US Department of Justice, hate crime was the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability. The purveyors of hate used explosives, arson, weapons, vandalism, physical violence, and verbal threats of violence to instill fear in their victims. This was precisely what “patriotic” warriors did, and their victims were chosen chiefly because of their national origin. Other motivations were often given as excuses for patriotic behavior (e.g., national security or “they attacked us first”), but the underlying reason for this particular hate crime was simply that the victims lived in another country and didn’t look, think, or act like us.

http://www.amazon.com/No-More-Patriots-Howard-Uhal-ebook/dp/B00X2SU5Q6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1432083151&sr=1-1&keywords=no+more+patriots