Letters to the Editor
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The problem is even more endemic than what Kamiya suggests
Kamiya is right - the problem isn't Wright or the furor around it. It's actually not clear to me what "patriotism" really is. I imagine it's a sense of community - a willingness to support and sacrifice for a community that has cared for you. And if it hasn't cared for you, then you should be encouraged to criticize it and try to change it. Today's knee-jerk reactions toward labelling actions and words as unpatriotic is frighteningly close to what the Iranian government's use of the "anti-islamic" clause in suppressing criticism and freedoms.
But even the tacit misdefinition of patriotism is really just a manifestation of the more general problem of 'parrotism'. When people lose their interest or ability to think for themselves, to ask 'why?', they start parroting whatever simple meme's they are fed, and pretty soon the cacophony of carefully chosen terms by the likes of Frank Luntz becomes the national truth. It's simple and it's spoon-fed. And then it's easy to confuse Al-Queda with Saddam (they're both Arabs, right?), or with Iran (they both seem to hate the US, right?), so what the hell, let's level them all.
I don't know that it's much worse here than in other countries. Problem is, ignorance is much more dangerous when the buffoon is also the bully. As the saying goes, a fool with a tool is a more dangerous fool.
Wish I knew how it could be fixed.