I am not a
patriot.
I dislike
flag-waving. I dislike
patriotic music, aside from
Sousa marches. I dislike
nationalists and
nationalism. I dislike reading
essays about how
America (or
Britain or
Russia or
Belgium or
Bangladesh or even
Texas) is the greatest
nation ever and can do no wrong and will horribly
punish its enemies. I have no
patience with
old fat congressmen,
generals, and
pundits who demand
nuclear retaliation like
testosterone-pumped
junior high boys at a
pep rally. Listening to patriotic
speeches and
prayers make me want to go away and watch something more
uplifting, like "
Faces of Death" videos.
I am not a
patriot.
But my utter lack of patriotism is tempered by at least a little
common sense. America isn't the greatest nation, but we're pretty
good. No, I wouldn't say we're neccesarily better than
Britain or
France or
Russia. We might be better than
Bangladesh, but I'd need to do some more
research first. And I also know that people
bitch about their country
all the time. They do it in
France and
Germany and
Japan and even
Afghanistan. People also bitch about their
sex life, but it doesn't mean they quit liking
sex.
Ya ramble much, Jet-Poop?Awright, let's put it this way. Talam: What you see as
disloyalty and
opportunism, from the
press and other unspecified persons, is just people doing what people do. People bitch because
life is hard, things are
fucked up, and ya gotta
complain or ya go
nuts. And the press reports about people complaining because they have to; if you never saw a
news report about people being
unhappy about
unemployment,
race relations,
crime, the
cops, and the
president, you'd assume, quite correctly, that there was a
coverup going on. People complain, the press reports on it, and life goes on.
This was
different.
When over 3,000 lives get snuffed out before our eyes on live TV, it's not something anyone
forgets. Over five years have gone by since the
Oklahoma City Bombing, and everyone still
remembers that. Over 50 years have passed since
World War II, and everyone still
remembers that. If you think people forget
national and international tragedies that easily, you need to study some more
history.
Check your school library. They've got tons of books.I'm not a patriot, and I never will be. But I'll remember this, because I have
no choice.