Hi David,
Very well stated!!! And I agree with Senator Obama too. No more stupid
wars!!!
I do love this country. I love the mountains, plains, valleys, rivers,
lakes, trees, flowers, etc. & etc. It's a beautiful place to be.
Marsha
----- Original Message -----
From: "david buchanan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, July 04, 2008 2:19 PM
Subject: Re: [MD] Soldiers as victims
Marsha quoted from Wikipedia:
Anti-patriotism is the ideology that opposes patriotism; it usually refers
to those with cosmopolitan views and is usually of an anti-nationalist
nature as well. Normally, anti-patriotism stems from the belief that
patriotism is wrong since it forces people born in a country, whether they
like it or not, regardless of their individuality, to love the country or
sacrifice themselves for it; consequently, people who oppose patriotism
may
oppose its authoritarianism, while others may believe that patriotism
leads
to war because of geopolitical disputes so it may be viewed from a
pacifist
or anti-militarist point of view. Usually, this term is used in a
pejorative
way by those who defend patriotism or nationalism, and terms such as
cosmopolitanism or world citizenship may be used to avoid the bias that
comes from the typical usage of the word anti-patriot or
anti-patriotism.[1]
Because Platt quoted Thomas Sowell writing in The Washington Times:
"In France, after World War I, the teachers´ unions launched a systematic
purge of textbooks in order to promote internationalism and pacifism.
Books
that depicted the courage and self-sacrifice of soldiers who had defended
France against the German invaders where called `bellicose´ books to be
banished from the schools. . . . The once epic story of French soldiers'
heroic defense against German invaders at Verdun, despite massive French
casualties, was now transformed into a story of horrible suffering by all
the soldiers at Verdun -- French and German alike. In short, soldiers
once
depicted as national heroes were now depicted as victims - and just like
victims in other nations´ armies. . . . Did it matter? Does patriotism
matter? France, where pacifism and internationalism were strongest,
became
a classic example of how much it can matter. . . . During World War II,
France collapsed after just six weeks of fighting and surrendered to Nazi
Germany. . . Charles de Gaulle, Francois Mauriac, and other Frenchmen
blamed a lack of national will or general moral decay for the sudden and
humiliating collapse of France in 1940. "
Sowell concluded with a sobering question:
"Our media are busy verbally transforming American combat troops from
heroes into victims, just as the French intelligentsia did - with the
added
twist of calling this `supporting our troops.´ Will that matter? Time will
tell."
Reminds me of the Hippie chant of the 60´s during the Cold War expressing
a
similar lack of patriotism - "Better red than dead."
dmb says:
Sure, patriotism matters. France, as well as the rest of Europe, felt the
full force and horror of extreme forms of nationalism. Germany, Italy, Spain
and Japan were extremely nationalistic in this period. They were also
extremely anti-intellectual, militaristic, anti-democratic and bigoted. Like
Sowell's French heroes, Hitler also thought that the lack of patriotism was
a sign of decadence or moral decay. (The Washington Times is perhaps the
most right-wing newspaper in the USA, by the way.) If Pirsig is right, the
opposite is true. Patriotism is part and parcel of the all-out glorification
of social level morality. It's not that those dominated by intellectual
values are likely to hate their country or even fail to love it. But I think
that reasonable adults are willing to admit that there government does good
things and bad things, just like every other government. When it comes to
patriotism, it is simply too dangerous to believe that love is blind, to
believe we are above criticism or beyond improvement. Patriotism shouldn't
be equated with blind faith, sentimental clap trap or delusions of grandeur
but that's exactly what it is in the hands of today's conservatives. It is
used to force compliance with certain attitudes and feelings. It is sheer
nonsense and wouldn't pay any attention to it except that it happens to be
causing a lot of damage these days. How do you think we ended up in Iraq? It
was the worst kind of blind patriotism, that's how. We've spent trillions of
dollars, tens of thousands of lives and a whole world of good will for
nothing. Zip, zero, nada.
I'm with Obama, who said something like, "I'm not against all wars. I'm just
against stupid wars".
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