"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." - Howard Zinn

What does this statement mean to you? Throughout this semester, I've been highly involved with foreign exchange students who have only lived in America for about three months. After many conversations with them, I've come across many different views of America, only one of which is that America is "blindly" patriotic. In their experience, American citizens have deep national pride, but it can be very unfounded. In other words, Americans are ignorant. I do my very best to defend America, but at the end of the day, I have to agree with them on this point. Many Americans have the perspective that America is the best and it doesn't need to change, the rest of the world does. So what does this quote really mean? I would argue that dissent, or having a differing opinion than everyone else, is actually the most patriotic thing a person can do.

In case you didn't know, America isn't perfect and it definitely isn't the greatest nation on Earth. To think otherwise is, in my opinion, ignorant. Yes, I am proud to be American and I love this country, but being American doesn't make me better than other people. I believe that anyone who loves America wants to see it become better. There's always going to be disagreement about what will make America better, but it's important that we keep open minds. Between discussions with foreigners and my own experience, Americans can be exceedingly stubborn and resistant to change or other opinions. In fact, just in class today there was a discussion about how people no longer seek information, they seek information that justifies their opinions. Rather than approach things with an open mind and formulate opinions based on the facts, people form an opinion and then find research to support it. It's entirely backwards, but we do it anyways.

This includes me! To be perfectly honest, this article is an example. I have this opinion and I went and looked for a quote to back me up, give me some credibility. Granted this opinion wasn't totally uninformed before the writing of this article, but it's similar. I hate to be cliche, but the first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is one. The fact that America has problems doesn't detract from how amazing America is; every country has their own struggles and flaws. But I think, more often than not, we don't want to talk about the flaws. We want to appear like everything is together, and that really reflects certain aspects of American culture. We're all about appearances, aren't we? Even the dirt poor have smart phones. People go through every measure to protect themselves in order to hide something they don't want seen, but that just lets problems fester. For example, American education is very broken. This isn't bashing my education. In fact, my education and schooling is what opened my eyes to the parts of our education system that need fixing. Just imagine for a second if our bodies operated the same way our collective American education system did. Right now, schools receive funding based on test scores so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Now what if our body did that same thing? I just got a cut, but my body is going to send the blood away from the cut to focus on the parts of the body that aren't damaged. How does that make sense? Our body sees damage and sends nutrients to repair it. Our poorly funded schools are those cuts and money is the blood. We're just not sending it where it needs. If we're being honest though, throwing money at the education system isn't going to solve the problem.

So what are we going to do about it? I can't make you do anything. You are well within your constitutional rights to remain ignorant, stubborn, and to certain extents stupid. I have that same freedom. Another quote I like for this situation comes from Jurassic Park. "Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should." Doesn't that fit with how we approach freedom? We're free to say whatever we want and do (for the most part) whatever we want, but that doesn't mean we should. Completely ironic. We have freedom and now we're only using it to destroy ourselves. Our own freedom is perpetuating ignorance which is leading to stagnation in the country. We aren't excelling and it's our own fault.

I want to change that. There are so many opportunities to change. Read more and listen more, and not to the same old sources you always use. If you watch Fox News, go and watch MSNBC (without getting angry), or better yet, go and watch BBC or another country's news media. Talk to new people. Seek opinions that aren't the same as your own! I can't remember the name of the scientist, but there was a scientist I learned about in class who actually hired someone to disagree with her and try to prove her wrong. This allowed her to refine her research to "perfection." Finding all the places your boat will float will do nothing to help you when you find a place it won't. We NEED diversity, and no, that doesn't mean people of different skin colors or orientations. It just means people with different opinions; EVERYONE can bring diversity. So start looking to be proven wrong; your country will thank you for it.