Daniel Morgan: Almost all rightly reject racism. It’s good and healthy to take pride in your accomplishments, but feeling proud because you happened to be born a certain race is a hateful shortcut. How is patriotism, taking pride in where you were born, different from racism, taking pride because you were born of a certain race?Matthew Lousteau: I would say patriotism or nationalism is not so easily expressed in seven words. Racism isn’t only pride in one’s race but also hatred for another. Nationalism isn’t inherently bad because pride isn’t inherently hate.Morgan: Patriotism doesn’t have to have hateful intentions to have hateful conclusions. If you believe Americans should get jobs just because they’re Americans, then you also believe Italians shouldn’t get jobs just because they’re Italians. We call a discriminatory businessman racist whether he thinks “I hate black people” or “I love white people.” Is this a mistake?Lousteau: I disagree — positives of one action don’t require the negatives. Having pride and wanting success for your collective group doesn’t mean desiring harm or failure for other collective groups. I am proud of LSU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, but I’d welcome Florida engineers.Morgan: I’d agree with you if the world were one great mixer. But we’re often talking about conflicts where one side wins and the other loses. You can’t cheer for LSU’s football team without hoping Urban Meyer loses. Only so many people can fit at the front of the bus. Racism means giving whites special treatment. Patriotism means giving Americans special treatment. Judging colleges seems valid because people choose where they go to school. Racism and patriotism are evil because no one chooses the color of his skin or where he’s born.Lousteau: Patriotism isn’t the same as racism — even in the case of conflict. Employing Americans isn’t the same as not employing Australians. If two applicants are exactly equally qualified, hiring the American because he’s an American may not be “nice” to the Australian applicant, but it’s not subjecting him to the loss he risked by applying. You say racism means giving whites special treatments, but that’s positive action. Racism is defined as discriminatory or abusive behavior toward others of another race — a negative action. For instance, firing Australians because they’re Australians would be evil.Morgan: Patriotism as a means of choosing between two equally qualified applicants doesn’t bug me much. If they’re really equally qualified, then you can use patriotism, racism, a toin coss or any other random process to choose between the two. I’m more concerned about governments creating special laws that benefit their workers. Outsourcing jobs brings prosperity to the third world. International trade brings cheaper goods to our poor. Economic patriotism gets in the way. Lousteau: Neglecting the workforce needing jobs in America is immoral. Promoting globalism and exchange of diverse ideas is terrific, but globalizing at the expense of American culture seems counter productive.Morgan: The Cajuns and the Kurds kept their culture despite being persecuted by the state. A culture is probably not worth saving if it needs special treatment to be preserved.Lousteau: Preservation and upkeep are realities of living in this universe. Things tend to disorder without input of energy. America’s a melting pot, but without adding heat, things stop melting and just bounce around never forming anything cohesive — like a chunky fondue.Morgan: You seem to be assuming all changes in culture are bad. I don’t think entropy works as a metaphor here.Even worse than bigotry, patriotism creates an opportunity for hypocritical moral spheres. Believing Americans have a “manifest destiny” gave us the moral space to massacre Indians. “American exceptionalism” allowed us to start wars.To the Cambodian civilians whose families and livelihoods were carpet-bombed to hell, America must have looked just as evil as Hitler does to us.Patriotism attempts to hide bloody moral consequences behind a flag.Lousteau: The evil of pride in country depends on the elasticity of your nationalistic fiber. Standing by America and what she does rain or shine, genocide or murder is thoughtless and ignorant. Being the “wannabe journalist” I am, criticizing the poor choices and thoughtless actions of “elected” officials is second nature and an enjoyable hobby.Morgan: I think we can agree to agree on that.Daniel Morgan is a 22-year old economics senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_dmorgan.Matt Lousteau is a 20-year-old mechanical engineering junior from Laplace. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_mlousteau.—-Contact Daniel Morgan [email protected]—-Contact Matt Lousteau [email protected]