Suck it, Liberals, I was there first.
Recently (as in every election cycle) there has been another McCarthian bout of ‘our America’ vs. ‘their America’. From McCain campaign surrogates to a Minnesota congresswoman to a talk-show host, this presidential race has denigrated into not a clash of ideologies, but into a drooling, shit-flinging, flag humping quest to prove that not only is the other guy wrong, but he is wrong in a way that pisses on the rich history of this great nation.
Keith Olberman and Jon Stewart both seized on this latest attempt to drive the wedge issue of Patriotism in a very profound and honest way. There are times when I don’t agree with either Olberman or Stewart (although, as I feel with Limbaugh, I have a profound respect for them as gentlemen and people of the media), but I would never attempt to impugn their reputation or persona by attempting to paint them as ‘un-American’.
The problem with bringing in the big-gun of ‘Patriotism’ is that it basically boils down to two things. For one, patriotism is different to each person. Some would define it as a love of this country and it’s people, others pass it to the government, some to the goals and ideals that it represents, many to the flag that stands for the bedrock of this country, even others to the Constitution. The problem is, patriotism is such a nebulous concept that to pin it down to something concrete takes something away from it, it removes a part of it that makes it great; the personal nature of it. Each one of us in this country, if asked separately, would most likely come up with 300 million different definitions of what ‘patriotism’ really means. And the great thing about it, metaphorically and literally, is that it’s an aspect that unites us together. We all have different definitions and meanings of it, but because it’s all rooted in the same sense of….pride, I suppose, it brings us together and makes it a profoundly beautiful thing.
The other problem of using Patriotism to divide people is quite simply, not patriotic. When you seek to debase a wondrous and amazing thing as this to manipulate people, you’re leaving what Jefferson termed, ‘the Marketplace of Ideas’ and starting to enter ‘propaganda’. The ‘Marketplace of Ideas’ is what Jefferson and many of the founding fathers of this country had in mind when they developed the Constitution. Based on the writings of Thomas Locke (‘Life, Liberty, and Pursuit’ – sound familiar?), it’s a very profound and important idea to uphold. Essentially you let any crazed whack-job say whatever they want, and let the audience decide if they should give any credence to what he says.
For example, two guys stand on a stage. One says, “I think that the power should rest with the states, since they are the closest government to the people”. Another says, “I think that the power should rest with the federal government, since it most closely represents the sum total of this nation”. Each individual person would then have a the power to decide which one they agree with. This sounds incredibly easy and simple, and it really is. The problem is sticking to it, when the easy route is to enter in with the idea of convincing people no matter what. That the ends justify the means. That you can say or do anything to achieve what you think is the best possible solution to a problem, and that the route you take to get there is secondary to the destination.
Unfortunately, this is propaganda. This is the idea of not letting people make up their minds, but by concealing truth to achieve an end. The three people who inflamed this fiasco have a very simple thought-process; we want our guy elected, so we’ll say that everyone who disagrees with us isn’t as ‘true American’ as we are. That they are second-class. They don’t belong here. That they shouldn’t be citizens, or even patriots. That their love of country is wrong compared to ours.
“No, I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God.” – George H.W. Bush (never retracted or apologized)
I may not agree with what Olberman and Stewart say 100% of the time, but trust me when I say this, I know exactly how they feel.
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