 bbdevil08 says: what is wrong with these people? Scary. "The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner." So tar & feathering a person back then wasn't "torture"? Hmmm...I thought putting panties on heads was torture. So that makes it right somehow? No, it doesn't 'make it right', but 'it' does not render the entire military... or mission... unfit, unjust or dishonorable. We are a nation of 300,000,000 people; a standing military of some 1.5 million. Of course there will be mistakes and errors. However, there has never been a nation, nor significant military, that has performed so honorably, doing such universal good, over such an extended period of time, as the United States or its armed forces. Oook! Wow, bb, you better get out some history books. Start with Howard Zinn's A History of the American People. It's true there is much good in America, and much to be proud of. But the wrongs perpetrated on the world and on many of our own people in the name of patriotism are far larger than "mistakes." True honor will not run from them, nor mistake patriotism for getting lost in misty-eyed emotion, but set about insisting we become as good as our founders hoped we would be. From Publisher's Weekly: According to this classic of revisionist American history, narratives of national unity and progress are a smoke screen disguising the ceaseless conflict between elites and the masses whom they oppress and exploit. Historian Zinn sides with the latter group in chronicling Indians' struggle against Europeans, blacks' struggle against racism, women's struggle against patriarchy, and workers' struggle against capitalists. First published in 1980, the volume sums up decades of post-war scholarship into a definitive statement of leftist, multicultural, anti-imperialist historiography. I would not call progress or exploring these subjects "revisionist" which seems to be an automatic dismissal of historical analysis someone does not agree with. Those are all worthy subjects. Read it and make up your own mind. As for the rest, I am truly tired of banging my head against the wall. I simply had enough. I would be glad if we could celebrate the goodness of the American dream without fearing that it would dim our objectivity. But so often, when patriotism rises and turns into nationalism (as happened after 9/11), politicians seize the moment to take us to war. Though 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq were unrelated overseas, one made the other possible as politicians used the rise in patriotism to quash questions that were badly needed. 4,000 Americans died as a result, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. True patriotism would have risen up and defended America from the loss of those wonderful people. But we were too enmeshed with the thrill of it all to worry about the consequences. It just... And now, the worst thing that could happen to us is that a wave of blind nationalism would make it possible for Bush to invade Iran. As Mark Twain said, "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." The fact that I am enjoying our little colloquy prompted me to not concede an appropriation of specific words which I suspected might have meanings which have become elastic. In fact the first word for which I sought clarification... nationalism... now appears to be even more contentious than I had suspected. Without further specific investigation I have no doubt about the malleability of such terms as 'multi-cultural' and 'anti-imperialist'. Accordingly, such emotionally charged terms let us foreswear further use. Having spent some time on the Hill, you will get no argument from me as to the cravenous behavior of politicians regardless of party or directional leaning. Actions by or on be... Thanks for the invitation and the thought-provoking comments. I'm tied up tonight, too, but am looking forward to thinking a little more on the issues you raise. I enjoyed your last comment a great deal, and deeply appreciate the tone of it, and the opportunity for dialogue. And on patriotism and nationalism, this clip offers a description similar to what I mean by those terms. |
View the Top Clips from July 4, 2008
Embed This Clip In Your Site...
|
|
|
|
