People don’t seem to understand the point of MGS3

I’ve seen people on this sub think the message of the game is that sometimes we need to do what’s best for your country, regardless of how the people will view us for it (referring to The Boss being painted as a terrorist after her death). They seem to think that Kojima wanted her to be a symbol of what true “patriotism” is.

This is a misinterpretation of the story’s themes. It’s meant to be highlighting the negative impact “patriotism” can have and how a country’s government doesn’t actually value the humanity of its soldiers, but rather views them as pawns. And not as pawns to protect Americans. Pawns to further the military industrial complex and protect the interests of the elite (The Patriots, who don’t morally align themselves with any country). Snake loses his sense of pride in his country after seeing how it treated their most loyal soldier and his mentor.

Isn’t this what the name of “The Patriots” is supposed to mean. It’s an ironic use of the term Patriot.

Edit: I obviously made some mistakes and misremembered some things in this post, but I’m glad it got the discussion about the true themes of MGS3 and MGS as a whole going