role of 'patriotism' in all this
I realize 'patriotism' is extremely important to Americans of all stripes, and that it means a lot of different things to different people in your country, but on this side of the world the concept doesn't mean much at all and hence (just for the record) I prefer to cast this whole battle in terms of amoral lying scum trying to misrepresent dissent and the use of free speech. Simple as that.