Response to Siearra's Post "Patrio-Country?"

Siearra poses an interesting topic in her blog post "Patrio-country?".  She explores the definition of patriotism given extenuating circumstances of one individual identifying with a foreign nation more than their birth nation. If the individual relocated to their new desired country and formed affection towards that nation would they still be considered patriotic.  I found this very interesting, deconstructing the broader concepts and the intersection of personal instances that can cause debate.
I began to think:  What if their dedication and support to another country occurred when they were citizens of their birth nation? Would this still constitute patriotism towards Russia or would it be considered a betrayal against the United States?  What if a person was adopted and their affection for their birth nation was stronger than their adopted location? How would the premise adjust to this situation. 

Jensen's Argument about Patriotism

Jensen make extremely poignant and effective arguments in his article "Saying Goodbye to Patriotism".  I was struck a number of times within the first few pages with just how successful he is with correlating his ideas of patriotism being morally devoid and examples from history and present policies.  Jensen writes "I want to put forward the radical proposition that we should care what the facts are. We should start with the assumption that everything about the United States, like everything about any country, needs to be examined and assessed.  That is what it means to be a moral person".     Is this not the fundamental procedure to achieve critical thinking? By making this relation between assessment and examination with critical thinking and comparing the lack of both in regards to patriotism is enough to convince me (my opinion is easily persuaded, especially in this case where patriotism has never been a component in my personal life).
  Jensen further proposes that instead of the conventional method of patriotism in which one assumes their nation is above all others, that person should support their nation for their strengths (not in relation to other countries, just on the basis of how the particular concepts of their nation affect them) and admit their shortcomings.  By participating in this altered sense patriotism would not posses such a stigma of one nation superior from another due to personal opinion. Instead, it would be a recognition and appreciation of the strengths of a nation, while admitting there could be improvements. 
After reading Jensen's article and considering his examples of the shortcomings within America, would you ever consider moving to another country?  Once there would you consider being patriotic for your previously foreign, now domestic, land?

Exploring Extremes of Nationalism

While the concept of patriotism has interesting components, I find myself desiring to explore nationalism further.  Probably due to the intrigue created by chaos and disagreements that I often mind myself attracted to.  Anyhow, we talked in class today about nationalism being based on ideals in subculture in addition to countries.  What are the boundaries of nationalism and who determines them? When an nationalist organization is created, does the opinion of the "leader" determine the primary parameters of the specified group or do the majority opinion decide?  If a group is created in support of women's' rights, for example, is the enterprise exclusive to accepted members?  Would men be allowed if they supported the cause?  These questions falsify the stability of nationalistic ideals, in my opinion.  How can one respect or understand the basis for groups that are unregulated in selecting their aspects?  On a different note, how does this support for subcultures impact the totality of our universal culture? Is there a truly universal culture, or do we ascribe culture based on general assumptions about characteristics of the masses. If a person is not at all patriotic or nationalist do you consider them contributing members of their respective country or cause?