is patriotism natural for an aspie?

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I'm a proud fascist nazi Canadian

The practice of having small children pledge allegiance in school bothers me quite a bit.
For one thing, it is often done in public schools. The parents of many of the children can't afford to send them elsewhere for an education, so their only recourse if they object is to have their child singled out in front of the class by not participating. Who's going to choose to make their child the class weirdo?
For another thing, the children don't even understand what they're saying. Clearly it's only being recited in order to indoctrinate them before they reach a level of understanding where they can make choices about patriotism for themselves. It's CREEPY.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srx30lxH9Rw[/youtube]

My answer to how patriotic I am depends on whether we consider UK patriotism, or Scottish patriotism.

UK patriotism: Rather than go into a long rant about it, a measure of my lack of patriotism in the UK lies in the fact that if I wasn't already British and was born and live in the UK and am a citizen, I would have nothing to do with the UK and would have boycotted the UK for ethical reasons. Or at least an economic, political and cultural boycott, because it's not like I'd have nothing to do with the people because they're individuals and may possibly themselves be oppressed by the state or the country's culture. I enjoy the positive cultural aspects of the UK, it's just that the ethical reason happens to be a big deal to me and the UK has managed to overstep it. But being British, I just co-exist as best I can with Britishness while having very little pride in it.

Scottish patriotism: Here I feel a little more patriotic. My main possible concern is that if Scotland was to become independent (or even if it doesn't), it's just the sort of country that would happily retain the nanny state crap of the UK. Culturally it would no doubt take after countries such as USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand in this vein. And I can't look at any country, including Scotland, without seeing it bogged down by some negative cultural aspect or another. That said, for example I wouldn't ever support anyone else at football, rugby, or any sport, or feel any shame whatsoever expressing Scottishness.

I nevertheless agree that patriotism is something you are trained into and not born with. I guess patriotism is a form of respect, and respect has to be earned.

Good question!! !

It could end up being an obsession, but most Aspies on average are probably less patriotic than the average person. I've always seen the National Anthem/Pledge of Allegiance as just being a pointless tradition and not something that really matters, but I guess most people think otherwise, or at least claim to think otherwise.