I really like this because I loath politics as much as I do religion. Both are harmful destructive forces. Tools in the hands of madmen, but granted to them by the masses.

At the same time, I'm aware that history is full of legends, myth and propaganda and religion always transmogrifies its own teachings. So the cure for patriotism isn't the careful study of history it is the emotional process or disassociating yourself from history and your place within it. The same applies to religion, but in the case of the later the scriptures are helpful in this so long as the careful study of those is done independently from any religious school of thought.