Patriotism is love for his or her own country. In Barbara Kingsolver's "And the Flag Was Still There", the Sacramento Bee's "Flag merchants see little letup since Sept. 11", and the Daily Californian "More students considering military, intelligence careers", they all show patriotism in different ways after the September 11th attacks. The terrorist attacks of September 11th have affected patriotism in a positive manner because of pride in the flag, unity in the community, and enrollment in the armed forces. Although the terrorist attacks have affected patriotism positively there are instances where the attacks affected patriotism negatively.
             Yes, there are those few cases in which some people have a false sense of patriotism. In Barbara Kingsolver's, "And Our Flag Was Still There", she mentions an instance when a white man was screaming in the streets that he was an American and then killed a Sikh man wearing a turbine because he was not a native born American. Obviously this incident is a distortion of patriotism; this man interpreted the word patriotism as being the white race. He did not see everyone in this country as being an American especially if that person were of Middle Eastern decent. If he were patriotic the man who killed would have realized that after September 11th was a time that the country had to unite and respect each other. However, this man does not represent the whole country; there were many people in the U.S who represented a true sense of patriotism.
             "Sept. 11 is what made me go out and buy a flag in the first place. It was just such a feeling of camaraderie. It was a symbol -- we were one." That was a quote in an article in the Sacramento Bee by one American who bought a flag after September 11th. The American Flag was representative of the true patriotism of Americans. A storeowner interviewed by the Sacra
             ...