Posted on 07/02/2007 10:46:00 AM PDT by ColoCdn
On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.
Is not nationalism -- that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder -- one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?
These ways of thinking -- cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on -- have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.
National spirit can be benign in a country that is small and lacking both in military power and a hunger for expansion (Switzerland, Norway, Costa Rica and many more). But in a nation like ours -- huge, possessing thousands of weapons of mass destruction -- what might have been harmless pride becomes an arrogant nationalism dangerous to others and to ourselves.
(Excerpt) Read more at progressive.org ...
Whoever said that God singled out America for His blessing???
National spirit can be benign in a country that is small and lacking both in military power and a hunger for expansion...
What expansion??? Iraq? You mean liberation? Did we steal their oil? Have we not been begging that country's leaders to get their constitution and oil sharing agreements in order so WE COULD LEAVE!!
Typical leftist liberal. They subtly change the entire context to float the their lie. They are evil in their intent.
I don’t get why people like this guy don’t just move to Europe or someplace else where self-loathing is the norm.
Nope...
Hey don’t question their patriotism, just because they hate Western Civilization in general and America in particular, doesn’t mean they don’t love their country. OK they admit they don’t love their country, but at least they claim to love people in general, except that there are too many of them, and they’d like us to be subservient to invertebrates. But at least they care about life, well except for unborn babies and the infirm. I guess what I’m saying is that you must be racist or a homophobe if you are questioning them. [sarcasm off]
Give this chump the Philip Nolan treatment from Man without a County: When Nolan said “D—n the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!” the judge granted him his wish: he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life on warships of the United States Navy, in exile, with no right to ever again set foot on U.S. soil, and with no mention ever again made to him about his country.
No barf alert? Really, that wasn’t nice.
Nah—it just makes them look better. Besides, did you see he was born in 1922? He’ll die of his own accord soon enough.
Who is the most influential historian among young people? Filmmaker Ken Burns? Could it be the Democrats’ court historian, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.? Biographer David McCullough? How about the late Stephen Ambrose, whose triumphant view of American history has brought alive such colorful characters as Meriwether Lewis, Crazy Horse, and George Custer?Do a search for "zinn syllabus" if you want to see how many college and high school courses use this Communist to teach American kids about history.Though an argument exists for any one of these men (even the ones who lack the proper academic credentials), a strong case could also be made for a decidedly less establishment figure: Howard Zinn. For readers who prefer their history to be an accurate retelling of the past rather than marching orders for the present, Zinn’s writings disappoint. While every historian has his biases, Zinn makes no effort to overcome his. What is considered vice by most historians—politically motivated inaccuracies, long-winded rants, convenient omissions, substituting partisanship for objectivity—is transformed into virtue by Zinn.
“You should have said “If you don’t like it, come and try to take it down”. This guy has got to be one of the biggest cowards to ever put pen to paper.”
***
Actually, I was going to use some stronger language on him, but (a) I would have been banned; and/or (b) I didn’t want to stoop to his level. :)
Howard Zinn — poisoner of minds.
He didn’t say we can’t salute. I vote we all send this moron a special one-finger salute! Happy Birthday, USA!
My Arse.
It is idiots like this that make me want to go postal.
I love the US and Swore six times to defend it. I will continue to do that to my dying days.
And liberals wonder why they do not have success on talk radio. The peeples do not want to hear this constant, America bashing, American hating crap.
Millions of kids are being propagandized with Zinn's neo-Communist view of America as an evil imperialist nation gratuitously harming others.
Well, yes, since you put it that way, I agree.
Where do you find that kind of nationalism, the kind that must express itself in mass murder, racism, religious hatred?
Nationalism separated from a moral center can lead you straight to hell. But somehow, I don't think this is what the author is talking about. He's not talking about the countries that are actually guilty of mass murder and hatred, currently or in living memory, he's talking about the countries that have opposed such countries both currently and in living memory.
The US and Canada and Britain and Australia shed blood to put down precisely the kind of monstrous nationalisms the writer is talking about, and continue to shed blood to hold back that same kind of mass murder and hate.
So when they fly their colors, any sane person should feel a stirring in his soul, a bit of pride, a silent prayer for the dead, and another prayer of thanks for a land that is still free.
They live in the big cities on the coast and never see rural America, where flags fly from front porches for the Fourth of July.
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