Barack Obama famously stated in 2009 that he believes in American exceptionalism just as the Brits believe in British exceptionalism or Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. It’s sad that if someone disagrees, and believes that America really is the greatest country in the world, he or she now has to hide or apologize for it.

But this is commonplace now, and there are many examples of this in recent years. The latest example is from Valley High School in Iowa. According to Fox News , students apologized for wearing the American colors of red, white and blue to a basketball game, where the school was playing against Des Moines North High, whose team has some players from refugee families.

Valley High assistant coach Morgan Wheat wondered why the students wore these colors instead of the school’s colors black and orange, stating, “Any normal person, any educated person can look at that and think what the hell are these kids thinking.”

However, the students at Valley claimed they have worn the American colors to previous games as well, and it wasn’t meant to offend the other team.

Nevertheless, Fox reported that Valley High student leaders succumbed to political correctness and sent an apology letter to Des Moines North.

“It has been brought to our attention that the decision by the Valley High School student section to wear U.S.A. apparel at our game last night was offensive to members of your community and fan base," the letter writes. "We are deeply sorry if we have offended anyone in any way. We have traditionally dressed in such a fashion for great games such as the one last night. Everyone here at Valley has immense respect not only for your team and players but for your community as a whole. Please know that our intent was in no way to offend or demean—just to support our team in a way we have done before.”

It truly is unbelievable that we can’t show our patriotism and support for the U.S. in our own country. Ironically, one would think that refugees that came here to bask in the freedom our country offers would be happy to see people explicitly showing their patriotic beliefs for the same reason. Refugees allegedly escape totalitarian regimes to come to this country for its freedoms, liberties and opportunities. Why, then, would refugees, who successfully made it to the country they wanted to come to, be offended by pride in that country?

Des Moines North coach Chad Ryan emphasized this point. He claimed that he didn’t think it was fair to judge these students. They were trying to make a statement.

“I don’t want to judge those young people not knowing their motives,” Ryan said.

But sadly, political correctness once again trumps basic logic. It has become so embedded in our culture that we react with it instinctively rather than take a moment to critically think. So, to answer Coach Wheat’s question on “what the hell are these kids thinking,” they thought that they live in the greatest country in the world that would openly accept oppressed refugees. And they didn’t let the 'PC' mindset trap them. In other words, they thought.