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anxiety is that patriotic concern for one’s community might easily be translated into depriving other communities of scarce resources even when the demanded assets are within their boundaries (McCabe, 1997). Lev Tolstoy pointed out that nations seldom surrender resources, so any support of the patriotic idea to transfer assets from another nation to the patriot’s nation is bound to end with war. This logic leaves one with a deep contradiction between patriotic motivation and democratic ethics (Nathanson, 1989). Thus, during the last decades, Western society has adopted a new consensus according to which patriotism belongs to days of yore, and it holds the capacity to ruin human society. These voices have been amplified by the destruction brought about by the two world wars and the devastating nuclear abilities constantly developing all over the globe (Grodzins, 1956). Intellectuals have also pointed out the dark side of patriotism, in which internal rivalry is overcome through the funneling of hatred toward external groups, defining other nations—and particularly other ethnic groups—as enemies (Grodzins, 1956).
The second half of the 20th century was no better for the image of patriotism. The end of the Cold War, primarily symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall, became an invitation for reconsideration of whether patriotism could be counted as a decent political term at all. Whatever the reasons might have been for the new world peace, whether it really existed or not, patriotism was no longer considered a positive value or a civil virtue. According to Francis Fukuyama, who expressed a general feeling that had been typical for the West, world crisis situations were on their way to becoming rarities (Fukuyama, 1992), and, therefore, patriotism was to become anachronistic and useless. The great optimistic expectation in Western societies was that once collective threats to nations disappeared, patriotic behavior would be pointless (Abbott, 2006).
However, patriotism’s positive dimension reentered Western society’s discourse following the events of September 11. Particularly in America, a new connection has been established between the younger generation and public institutions. Municipal leadership, national management, police, firefighting squads were all suddenly thrust into a situation in