Interesting. I don't remember a lot of the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but I do remember spending, oh, 2002 to 2007 or so being intermittently furious at the way people were trying to take the word patriotism away from me by explicitly identifying it with that kind of Group Identity Disorder thinking -- as if, because I was trying to keep an open mind and not see America as the be-all and end-all of the world, I had no right to be proud of my country and its best ideals. I can love my country without thinking it's perfect; in fact, I think that is a better kind of love than otherwise.