"Patriotism ruins history" said Goethe, and I must say that I agree. I do not contest the natural inclination to defend and feel proud of one's home. But there is an aspect of patriotism that indeed proves detrimental to public sanity. There is a tendency of many "patriots" to downplay the past events of America's history, specifically early American history. Often people consider the historic genocide to be an act of "wrong doing" but nowhere near as bad as the acts of Hitler or other maniacal acts committed in human history. My question is: how can one deem any of these events better or worse than the other. The slaying of Jews, the elimination of Native Americans, the enslavement of blacks are all acts of bloody insanity, none of which are to be taken lightly. However, people downplay these events because they happened by the hands of their forefathers.

One might ask: What is the problem with this form of denial?

But a better question might be: If someone is willing to overlook this sort of insanity, due to some sick form of tribal defense, what else is he or she in denial about?