This study theoretically examines the metaphors and values associated with exceptional patriotism and Christians in order to examine the support of military drones in bombing attacks against terrorism. Utilizing George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By, I used these identified values to explain the differentiating motives between those who do not support drones in bombing attacks against terrorism and, more particularly, those who do support drones. This study shows that historical, patriotic values support drones due to their strong ties to American exceptionalism. Therefore, military technology is quickly developing based upon traditional types of patriotisms, and despite more critical forms of patriotism.

With respect to its theoretical foundations, this study showed three significant expectations were upheld in binary logistic regressions. First, exceptional patriotism increased the odds of drones in bombing attacks against terrorism. Exceptional patriotism was defined by its patriotic values and American exceptionalism rhetoric. Next, against all other religious preferences, Christians had higher odds of supporting drones until its interaction with the white male variable was introduced into the final model. The addition of this interaction variable showed that being white and male was a significant moderating variable for Christians in drone support. Lastly, another expectation was met in the relationship between patriotic Christians in the West and drone support, as patriotic Christians in the West had higher odds of drone support. Using the observations of 1,970 respondents from data collected by the Chicago Council Survey of American Public Opinion and U.S. Foreign Policy of 2014, a series of binary logistic regression models were used to examine these expectations.