US News Metro Long Island Politics

Sports NFL MLB Olympics NBA NHL College Football College Basketball WNBA

Business Personal Finance

Entertainment TV Movies Music Celebrities Awards Theater

Lifestyle Weird But True Sex & Relationships Viral Trends Human Interest Parenting Fashion & Beauty Food & Drink Travel

Health Wellness Fitness Health Care Medicine Men’s Health Women’s Health Mental Health Nutrition

Science Space Environment Wildlife Archaeology

Today’s Paper Covers Columnists Horoscopes Crosswords & Games Sports Odds Podcasts Careers

Email Newsletters Official Store Home Delivery Tips

Patriotism and its enemies — the Jack Hughes-Eileen Gu Olympics debate

The Winter Olympics had its thrills and spills — and a deep philosophical divide represented by two American, or American-born, athletes. 

Jack Hughes, the Gold Medal-winning American hockey player for the US team, gave voice to a patriotic reflex in his unhesitating, heartfelt expressions of love of his country. 

Eileen Gu, the Gold Medal-winning American-born free-style skier competing for China, exemplified a cosmopolitan ideal that purports to float above mere nationhood. 

This difference — between the bloody-mouthed hockey player draped in his own country’s flag and the exceptionally talented part-time model resistant to any questions about national loyalty — drives many of the divisions in American society. 

Is loyalty to country a matter of choice, or an unalterable commitment?

Do borders mean anything?

Amid Olympics, new documentary recalls America’s Miracle on Ice — and what ‘The Boys of ‘80’ won for red, white and blue

AOC’s ignorant slam of Marco Rubio’s Munich speech proves she’ll never be ready for prime time

Olympian Eileen Gu’s decision to snub US and ski for China is nothing short of a hypocrisy

Is our common culture essential or dispensable?

Is the appropriate attitude toward America one of fundamental gratitude or critical distance?

These types of questions are involved in disputes over immigration policy, over American history and how to teach it in schools, over........

© New York Post