# Happy Patriot Day, Everyone!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 11, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091 "2008-09-11T12:51:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/1 "2008-09-11T12:51:40Z")
What an idiotic [name for the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080908-2.html).
On a day called ‘Patriot Day,’ we ought to be able to strike up the band, cheer, and wave the flag, not fly it at half staff.
Once Bush is history, can we pretty please change the name to ‘Remembrance Day’ or some such?
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### Author:  [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/2 "2008-09-11T12:54:27Z")
Please don’t coopt the name [Remembrance Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_day) for this.
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### Author:  [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/3 "2008-09-11T12:58:07Z")
Yeah, because Veteran’s Day totally needs all four of its different names. Take one away and what do you have left? Anarchy, that’s what.
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### Author:  [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/4 "2008-09-11T13:01:47Z")
I had never heard it called Veterans’ Day before coming to the States. Forgive me for not wanting the US to ignore what is an important and emotive day for many people in my home country.
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### Author:  [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/5 "2008-09-11T13:10:58Z")
Fair enough. I’ve lived in the U.S. all my life and never heard it called anything but Veteran’s Day, so I didn’t know.
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/6 "2008-09-11T13:15:36Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#):
>
> Fair enough. I’ve lived in the U.S. all my life and never heard it called anything but Veteran’s Day, so I didn’t know.
It was still sometimes called Armistice Day when I was growing up in the early to mid 1960s, but there were a lot more people around then who still remembered the First World War.
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/7 "2008-09-11T13:16:47Z")
At any rate, I hold no particular brief for Remembrance Day specifically - but something _along those lines_ would be infinitely preferable to Patriot Day.
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/8 "2008-09-11T13:17:25Z")
Is it [April](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriots%27_Day) already?
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### Author:  [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/9 "2008-09-11T13:22:29Z")
How about Terror Day?
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/10 "2008-09-11T13:22:32Z")
If they aren’t making it a federal holiday, why the hell does it need a name at all?
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### Author:  [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/11 "2008-09-11T13:26:18Z")
Since Patriots’ Day was already in use, I guess dropping the ‘s’ and apostrophe should suffice? Because when you’re honoring \*\*thousands \*\*of people from all walks of life who share a single tragic bond, the subject should be singular.
So, who is the One Patriot and why does dying in a collapsing building (or crashing plane) make one patriotic? Just because they died at the hands of terrorists? Does that make the Oklahoma City bombing victims patriots as well? How about the people that died in the as yet unsolved anthrax attacks or the victims of the DC shooter?
It’s one thing to die in commission of defending your country, but a hapless victim is a patriot of equal stature?
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### Author:  [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/12 "2008-09-11T13:30:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> If they aren’t making it a federal holiday, why the hell does it need a name at all?
Seriously. Is there anyone who is unclear on what’s being referenced when someone says “September 11th”?
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/13 "2008-09-11T13:40:15Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#):
>
> It’s one thing to die in commission of defending your country, but a hapless victim is a patriot of equal stature?
Why do you hate America?
> [@](#):
>
> Seriously. Is there anyone who is unclear on what’s being referenced when someone says “September 11th”?
Not now, though I suspect there might well be in 100, 50 or even 30 years. Not to diminish the horror of that day or anything, but in 50 years I think we’ll look at 9.11.01 the same way we now think of, say, the “bombing” of the Maine in Havana harbor.
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### Author:  [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/14 "2008-09-11T13:55:52Z")
I really don’t know if I can quite explain what makes “Patriot Day” so offensive to me, but I’ll give it a shot.
1. Patriotism shouldn’t be about a grudge. That’s the kind of “patriotism” I associate with the Balkans, Israel/Palestine, and other bitter, angry, xenophobic corners of the world. Should I love my country more because some bad guys killed a bunch of us? I want to commemorate the good things the United States has done, not the bad things other people have done _to_ us.
2. September 11th wasn’t about America. Well, to the terrorists it was, but that’s exactly what was wrong with them. They thought it was acceptable to murder a huge number of people because they belonged to the “enemy nation”. Does the President think firefighters and police ran into those buildings because _Americans_ were in danger? No, it was because _people_ were in danger. And they didn’t do that selfless deed because they were good Americans but because they were good people. And the terrorists were bad people because they killed _human beings_, not because they killed Americans, and certainly not because they were foreigners. There are, after all, American terrorists who are just as bad.
3. The terrorists were patriots too.
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### Author:  [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/15 "2008-09-11T14:54:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Not now, though I suspect there might well be in 100, 50 or even 30 years. Not to diminish the horror of that day or anything, but in 50 years I think we’ll look at 9.11.01 the same way we now think of, say, the “bombing” of the Maine in Havana harbor.
I don’t think 50 years is long enough…I think (hope) most people (in the US) know what December 7th means, and that was more than 50 years ago…
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/16 "2008-09-11T15:12:06Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#):
>
> I don’t think 50 years is long enough…I think (hope) most people (in the US) know what December 7th means, and that was more than 50 years ago…
We declared war on Austro-Hungary!
Oh, you mean Pearl Harbor. PH was a _much_ bigger deal. The US is not now and will never be seriously threatened by terrorism; the 9/11 attacks were as much of an impact as they could hope to make, notwithstanding the current Administration’s use of them to start an unrelated war.
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### Author:  [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/17 "2008-09-11T15:15:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Not now, though I suspect there might well be in 100, 50 or even 30 years. Not to diminish the horror of that day or anything, but in 50 years I think we’ll look at 9.11.01 the same way we now think of, say, the “bombing” of the Maine in Havana harbor.
I don’t disagree that in 50 years people won’t much care (unless they make it a Federal Holiday, in which case people will care exactly as much about the root cause of that holiday as they do about Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, or any other day off), although I might quibble with your example (what with the Towers having \*actually \*been attacked, and all).
I will disagree with **Skara\_Brae** , and say that I’m pretty sure that most American’s DON’T know what “December 7th” means, although of course they know “Pearl Harbor”.
So I guess that someday we will need a “name” for September 11th, but I’m guessing that it will eventually come about organically.
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### Author:  [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/18 "2008-09-11T15:22:57Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#):
>
> Since Patriots’ Day was already in use, I guess dropping the ‘s’ and apostrophe should suffice? Because when you’re honoring \*\*thousands \*\*of people from all walks of life who share a single tragic bond, the subject should be singular.
>
> So, who is the One Patriot and why does dying in a collapsing building (or crashing plane) make one patriotic? Just because they died at the hands of terrorists? Does that make the Oklahoma City bombing victims patriots as well? How about the people that died in the as yet unsolved anthrax attacks or the victims of the DC shooter?
>
> It’s one thing to die in commission of defending your country, but a hapless victim is a patriot of equal stature?
Sure, maybe - it all depends on you define patriotism. If Bob Accountant or Joe Janitor voted in every election, paid his taxes, wrote letters and called his congressional representatives to make his voice heard, did his best to live a decent life, and occasionally took a moment to be grateful that he lived in a country that afforded such protections and opportunities, sure he was.
Since when do you have to wear a uniform and carry a gun to be patriotic? It’s about trying to make your country an even better place. Whether or not the name is appropriate for a day of remembrance is a whole other issue.
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### Author:  [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/19 "2008-09-11T15:23:43Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#):
>
> I don’t think 50 years is long enough…I think (hope) most people (in the US) know what December 7th means, and that was more than 50 years ago…
It’s my brother’s birthday, so my whole family knows, but few people my age (nearing 30) and younger do. They all look at me weird when I mention it. ‘Day that will live in infamy’ for a generation, maybe.
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### Author:  [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-patriot-day-everyone/463091/20 "2008-09-11T15:29:22Z")
We could call it USA PATRIOT Act Day! Yay! Happy holiday everybody!
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