Rise of Patriotism on the Internet

When I entered the term Patriotic into the Google search engine I was met with

14,200,000 patriotic web site results and 140,000 patriotic images. To my surprise,

most of these results were decidedly American. With the World Wide Web being

just that - world wide, why is it then that there is so much content on the

Internet related to American Patriotism?

Even before the horrors of September 11th, Americans were a vocal force on

the Web; promoting national pride in many and varied ways. This broad-based

army of poets, politicians, artists, spiritual leaders, business people and

average citizens has redoubled itself in the time since 911 with tens of thousands

of blogs, forums, webrings, personal, community, church and commercial patriotic

Web sites only a keyboard away.

Upon closer inspection, I see a vast array of individuals, groups and companies

out on the Internet trying their best to express pride in American. The most

notable of the range are the average everyday American putting their thoughts

and images out on the Internet for the world to consume. Just go to http://www.blogspot.com" target="_blank">www.blogspot.com

or http://www.journalspace.com" target="_blank">www.journalspace.com and

do a search for "Patriotic" and see what I mean.

I went back to Google.com and dug a little deeper into some of the top Patriotic

sites of today. As of the day that this article was written, the number one

Patriotic site on Google.com, in a testament to free speech, is a Web site that

parody's the Whitehouse site. The http://www.whitehouse.org" target="_blank">www.whitehouse.org

link leads to a page selling t-shirts that make fun of the Bush Whitehouse.

Number two is Patriotic

Music Online, a USAF band site featuring patriotic music. Further down the

results is http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4601/patriotic.html." target="_blank">http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4601/patriotic.html.

This site provides patriotic graphics for use by others building patriotic Web

sites. It is a site that is unique partly because of how it is hosted. Geocities

is Yahoo's offering for free hosted websites. Geocities and hosts like it offer

the opportunity for anyone from anywhere to build their own webpage. This level

of accessibility to the Web was unheard of only a few years ago. It has helped

the cause of the patriotic Web page enormously.

There are many other examples of patriotic personal statements in the form

of communities or forums: http://p211.ezboard.com/bpatrioticamerica," target="_blank">http://p211.ezboard.com/bpatrioticamerica,

http://www.pro-american.com/forums/" target="_blank">http://www.pro-american.com/forums/

and http://www.network54.com/Forum/193764." target="_blank">http://www.network54.com/Forum/193764.

For a collection of patriotic sites, I found http://www.usa-patriotism.com/," target="_blank">http://www.usa-patriotism.com/,

http://www.thefreedompage.org/" target="_blank">http://www.thefreedompage.org/

and http://www.usflag.org/" target="_blank">http://www.usflag.org/

to be outstanding.

If you would like to make your own patriotic Web site, you can sign-up for

free at one of the many free hosts like http://www.geocities.com," target="_blank">http://www.geocities.com,

http://www.tripod.com" target="_blank">http://www.tripod.com or

http://www.bravenet.com" target="_blank">http://www.bravenet.com

to name only a few.

Individuals are not alone on the patriotic World Wide Web. Many businesses

have taken to the Web to offer a wide variety of patriotic American gifts and

products. Everything from patriotic t-shirts to home decorations is available

online today. I have sampled a few online patriotic stores and here are my top

picks: http://www.patriot-mall.com" target="_blank">http://www.patriot-mall.com

- This appropriately titled site offers a bit of everything including clothes,

jewelry, decorations and party supplies. James Mindor, the sites owner had this

to say: "We have seen a steady increase in traffic and sales since our

opening ten months ago. The appetite for American patriotic merchandise is strong

and very active online. The response to our site has been fantastic!" Second

was http://www.politicalgifts.com." target="_blank">http://www.politicalgifts.com.

This site has a much more political feel than http://www.patriot-mall.com" target="_blank">http://www.patriot-mall.com

but it has some very cool merchandise. Last in my top three is http://www.promowebsite.com/usa-items.htm." target="_blank">http://www.promowebsite.com/usa-items.htm.

They sell more promotional items but they are unmistakably patriotic.

To quote James Mindor from http://www.patriot-mall.com:" target="_blank">http://www.patriot-mall.com:

"Americans are extremely proud and vocal about patriotism. Some of us come

from oppressive backgrounds. The Internet is the perfect venue for patriotism

and patriotic gestures. It is free of oppression and loves freedom"

To answer my own question: "With the World Wide Web being just that -

world wide, why is it then that there is so much content on the Internet related

to American Patriotism?"

We as Americans have always been vocal in our defence of our liberties and values.

The Internet is an especially fertile place for the planting of personal ideals

and the expressing of personal pride in country. I believe that as a direct

result of our democratic ideals, we have been blessed with the tools, time and

freedom to put our hearts and minds on the Internet for all to read.

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