Letters to the Editor
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-- Carmela
Has it ever occurred to you that "the myth of eternal American innocence" is the power driving the Obama juggernaut? My read of the folks caught up in Obamamania is that they are looking for a savior to wash them clean. They can pretend that they have not been tainted with the stain of living and thriving in a war mongering nation by getting behind the anti-war candidate. He promises absolution but he cannot deliver it. We are all responsible for the acts of our government whether we were opposed from the start or not. We live here. We're Americans. We are war mongers, murderers, and torturers.
We have all been tainted and the media has been complicit in this enormous silence on matters of occupation, torture and imperialism. Obama is not a savior. Make no mistake that his supporters even harbor that mindless sentiment. This is a movement of the people. The people have risen and Obama just joined the bandwagon to bring this country back to its promise.
What Hillary offers is the same old same old policies of Bush and McCain.
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@Carmela
My support for Obama has much to do with his anti-Iraq war credentials, but I don't consider him to be (generally) "the anti-war candidate". As Obama himself says "I'm not against all wars; I'm against stupid wars", singling out the Iraq War as an example of the latter.
If only McCain and McClinton could make such distinctions.
In short, I'm not seeking absolution. Rather, I want to point our military at those who wish to destroy us rather than wasting lives and resources on behalf of the outstanding grudge borne by Bush against Saddam.
I encourage you to actually listen to Obama, rather than presume some fealty to a thoroughgoing, naive pacifism that he does not support.
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Nice try Gary.
For those of you who actually took the bait, once all the troops are pulled out and they go back to hanging people up on meat hooks and cutting their guts out...while you look the other way...better call the Reverend cause he's just the spiritual advisor your gonna need.
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Gezeligtexas
-It has been well documented that the government was sending drugs into the black neighborhoods of this country.
Oh really? Please provide proof or stfu...While you're at it, can you provide some national race based crime statistics?
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@independent_thinker
" 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."
Let's grant your premise, for argument's sake, which, as I understand it, is that resisting facile patriotism will throw the election to McCain.
Do I have that right? If so, it's a debatable point, but again, let's pretend it's not for argument's sake.
The question then becomes, are there any consequences, long- or short-term, to pandering to this patriotism or perhaps more generally, to "playing the game" as the game is currently played?
Because I believe a core tenet of Obama's argument is that the way the game is currently played is precisely the problem.
That's what he means by not only ending the war but ending the mindset that got us into the war.
He's saying that fear and jingoism and the like are the deep causes of militarism. Not the only causes, perhaps, but substantial ones.
The argument is that, as long as such flag-waving goes unchallenged, so long as we legitimate it by pandering to those who would do it, we will always be quick to find enemies and launch ill-advised wars against them.
The argument is that this variety of flag-waving constitutes a sort of siege mentality which itself is the problem.
As I see it, we can play the game as it's been played, but to do so and expect different results is pretty foolish.
How long until the next bogeyman crops up and the Republicans demand again that we all demonstrate our patriotism by signing off on an unnecessary war?
Am I making any sense at all?
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Flag waving jingoists
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel - Samuel Johnson 1775
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Jeremiad
What we see with Wright is a ancient method of upbraiding a society: jeremiads. They are always needed, but never popular. Seems Wright has taken his given name to heart.
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@ ann1960
"So, you are saying that if you wear the pin, you are pretending to be a patriotic American? Pretending???"
No, I'm saying that the pretending is that there's some correlation between "patriotism" and accessories.
"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."
An excellent point, and gets right to the heart of the matter. Christianity is a very long, extremely diverse tradition. One of its central faultlines is precisely what you mention here: the issue of idolatry and the role of symbolism.
Some sects are radical iconoclasts (Calvinists, for instance) and distrust visible symbols as necessarily hypocritical, as distractions from the spiritual truths of Christianity and the Word.
So no, it is not part of what a pastor wears. You are misinformed.
It's part of what some pastors wear.
Likewise, some aspiring presidents wear flags, while others can legitimately choose not to.
You see?
"I would not be pretending to be a Christian, I AM a Christian."
No, but you would be pretending to be an iconophile (one who reveres icons, or symbols of faith more generally). If you were, say, a Quaker and were called upon to wear a cross to demonstrate your Christianity, you'd probably object to being made to pretend that wearing the cross or crucifix is relevant to your faith when it's not.
"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."
Again, you're profoundly misinformed as to the rich variety of expressions of faith. Your analogy is therefore bankrupt.
"And speaking of damage to society, when McCain wins, I'll think about you."
Ok.