Letters to the Editor
-
this is the hill you're willing to die on?
So, if I read the majority of writers correctly, you are willing to have McCain (the Bush clone) elected because you are going to stand on your laurels and show the American public how non-patriotic you are (seeing as how patriotism is, so, not the thing to be). That's right. Don't wear your American pin, because it's stupid patriotism. Don't say the Pledge of Allegiance, because it's stupid patriotism. And once McCain's president, you can all stand on the corner and shout about how you are not a patriot. Or write to Salon, and denounce stupid patriotism (and when McCain continues Bush's legacy, the telecommunications companies can record everything you say, so they will know you are not a stupid patriot). Ann 1960 simply said that to play the game, you have to play the game correctly. Do you really think Joe American will vote for someone who does not wear an American pin? At a job interview, you wear the "man's" suit. At Thanksgiving dinner, a polite athiest should keep his/her mouth shut when someone says grace. It's the right thing to do. If you want to save this country, shut up, wear the pin, say the Pledge and then work on solving the problems. Or suffer the consequences of another 4-8 years of Bush, war, suffering and political disaster.
-
WHY IS THE MEDIA GIVING CLINTON THIS LEVERAGE
I have no doubt that the Clinton Campaign is behind the Reverend Wright story. They keep stoking the fire, while claiming innocence. What they have done is take someone like me, prepared to vote for whomever the democratic nominee was, to someone who cannot and will not support Hillary Clinton.
She is stirring up racism as no one has since George Wallace - all the while smiling and feigning innocence. She is one devious broad. She knows she cannot win the 2008 Democratic nomination, so she has decided to sabotage Obama so she can try again in 2012. She doesn't realize she is instead destroying her party and potentially this country with this bizarre behavior. Or maybe, just maybe she does.
-
Amen!
To quote from article "Today, after five years of a catastrophic war driven by patriotic vengeance, it's still not acceptable to disturb the myth of eternal American innocence. As David Bromwich wrote in a recent piece in the New York Review of Books, "the uniformity of the presentation by the mass media after 2001, to the effect that the United States now faced threats arising from a fanaticism with religious roots unconnected to anything America had done or could do, betrayed a stupefying abdication of judgment." Stupefying indeed: Patriotism has proved to be a stronger opiate of the people than religion."
And in this presidential campaign we have two of the central archetypes of American mythology: John "Wayne" McCain and Hillary "Scarlett" Clinton. (Please note that both were thoroughly racist, that is Wayne and O'Hara.) And there is Obama who represents the tradition Kamiya writes about, perhaps even that of Teddy Roosevelt with his "Walk softly and carry a big stick."
Last week Obama explained black perspective of patriotism (Good Morning America) comparing it to difference between Sousa marching band and jazz. Someone on dailykos thread suggested that country music was "white man's" jazz. I responded that interestingly, since its inception country music had never evolved beyond its original form, whereas w/in its first 50 years of existence, jazz had developed into several different forms.
Someone else responded w/ sarcasm that calling white folks "simple" would "really help". My response is that to the extent that white working-class folks can not - or WILL NOT - understand that their ECONOMIC interest are linked to black folk AND that Clinton does NOT best represent their interests, then YES, they are simple-minded. After all, "stupid is as stupid does."
And again, note that it has been - and continues to be - working-class white folks who buy into the above mythology wholesale. For this reason - and some others related, i.e. has anyone thought for a moment that Obama's background may assist him in eliminating Bin Laden? - Obama as president would go a very long way toward disabusing this nation of its patriotism/racist mythology.
-
Patriotism
Look everybody, get this through your heads: Patriotism is an easy emotion. Who doesn't love their country? It's like asking, who doesn't love their families? There are a few, but they're the exception.
As a German, the easy patriotism of most right-wingers sticks in my craw. The whole flag-waving crap makes me ill. Look how many horrible things have been done in the name of a flag.
To be a true patriot, you've got to always question your country's motives, stances, government. That's not quite such easy patriotism.
On 9/11, I watched the aftermath of the Twin Towers' collapse on T.V. at my office. I turned to a co-worker and remarked (feeling sick), "This is the result of years of bad foreign policy by the U.S." He nodded.
You guys! Do you really believe we were attacked because "they hate us for our freedoms?" HOW INFANTILE.
Rev. Wright dared to speak the truth in this country. Because it was an "uncomfortable" truth and "put us in a bad light" does not mean it's not the truth.
GROW UP, AMERICA.
P.S. I'm not sure how dense these right-wingers are. But they know an easy target when they see one. Obama's pastor saying "God damn America" is merely an easy target. Be very clear that that's all it is. It's certainly not an unpatriotic statement.
-
TO BROONHILDA
"If the only way we can win is by pretending to be who we're not because it's expected of us, what sort of damage does this do to society?"
So, you are saying that if you wear the pin, you are pretending to be a patriotic American? Pretending??? Obama IS a patriotic American, so there is no pretending here. Let me break it down this way so you can understand me: I am a Christian, but I seldom wear a crucifix. If I were to become pastor (leader) of the church, I would wear a crucifix because it is part of what a pastor wears. I would not be pretending to be a Christian, I AM a Christian. Ergo, if Obama wears the American pin, he is NOT pretending to be a patriotic American, because he already is one. Get it??
The pin is an American flag. Obama is running for the highest office in the land. Like a priest or a nun who wears a cross, it is simply showing the belief system one embraces. That's all. There's no lie if Obama wears the pin, and he is not selling out, but if it helps put voters at ease who don't know this man, then I'm all for it.
And speaking of damage to society, when McCain wins, I'll think about you.