Posted on 09/26/2007 8:39:57 AM PDT by Starman417
Close readers may have noticed that I am increasingly vexed by cosmopolitanism, the idea that we are not citizens of a country or products of a place but rather "citizens of the world." See this old G-File, particularly the second half for a fuller explanation of my views.
Well, here's Katie Couric speaking at the National Press Club yesterday:
“The whole culture of wearing flags on our lapel and saying ‘we’ when referring to the United States and, even the ‘shock and awe’ of the initial stages, it was just too jubilant and just a little uncomfortable. And I remember feeling, when I was anchoring the ‘Today’ show, this inevitable march towards war and kind of feeling like, ‘Will anybody put the brakes on this?’ And is this really being properly challenged by the right people? And I think, at the time, anyone who questioned the administration was considered unpatriotic and it was a very difficult position to be in.”
What a fascinating little slip! How deeply disturbing it is when Americans refer to the United States in a time of war as "we"! Some may think this is a little thing, but I truly don't. I hear liberals refer to the United States as "this country" quite often, usually accompanied with an eye roll, as in: "Of course, in this country, we have to pay for our own health care." Or, "in this country people think it's 'unpatriotic' to call America an evil empire." The "in this country" thing makes it sound like some sort of accident or mistake that the speaker was born here. Woops got off the bus one country too early on the Northbound express!
A critic might respond that I'm perhaps overly sensitive to this sort of thing and therefore I probably pick up on it too much and think it's a bigger deal than it is. That may in fact be true. Indeed, to some extent I'm sure it is. But just as my sensitivity to this sort of talk says something about me and my views, doesn't Couric's sensitivity say something interesting about her and her views? That she was made uncomfortable by the use of "we" to describe the United States of America during a time of war is really quite revealing, at least to my ears.
As Tonto said to the Lone Ranger when they were surrounded by screaming savages, and the Lone Ranger said “it looks like we’re in trouble.” “What do you mean, ‘we’, white boy”.
The world is full of screaming savages, and it behooves us to know who WE are.
There was an old hag editorialist on one of the Boston newscasts years ago who started almost all of her spiels with, “All thinking people know...”
“WE, the people...”
Liberals have abandoned the Founders altogether.
Though I disagree with her reasoning (or lack thereof), I do agree with ‘we’ being too inclusive and not all that professional when talking about the war on terrorism.
Detail is key. Stories should reference the men and women on the ground and here at home fighting the good fight. The LEAST we can give them is proper recognition for their efforts.
The overinclusive ‘we’ is bad journalism and bad writing. It’s unfortunate that a hack like Couric had to point it out, but that’s life.
Interesting that many libs don’t like to be included in the “we” that is the people of the United States of America. I have noticed upon occasion, an opposite phenomenon. The wish, particularly by sports fans, to be included in the “we” that is their favorite team.
I chuckle when I hear a caller on one of the sports call-in shows remark that “once we brought in our closer, we really shut them down,” or “once we started blocking, we ran them off the field.” I think the “we” is okay if it’s your home high school or college, but it’s a bit much when using it for a favorite professional team, even one from a distant city.
Listeb closely to mainstream media newscasts. They quite willingly use “we” when referring to poverty, lack of health care, crime, i.e. “we are a rich nation yet have 47 million w/o health insurance.” But, they purposely DO NOT use “we” with regard to Iraq, Afghanistan, the War on Terror, etc., because they (the press) feels they are apart from these struggles. So, for once, the mainstream press is honest. When it uses “we” for liberal domestic causes, we know where it stands. And when it doesn’t use “we” for life and death foreign engagements, we also know where it stands.
Main stream media employees are committed and avowed ‘agent provocateurs’ - trouble makers with no stake in the fight save to fan the flames and profit from everyone elses misery.
Many “professional journalists” sneered at my work. The most common criticism was that I lacked “objectivity” because I called enemy fighters “terrorists” when they used car bombs to blow up civilians, or because I openly admitted that as an American, I hoped “our side” would win. I seemed to get particularly bad marks for describing the outcomes of combat missions with terms like: “killed the enemy,” “shot the terrorist,” or “captured the suspects.” But in the context of the war as I was seeing it, the terminology was accurate.
Denigrating “this country”, and an abhorrence for any support of “this country”, tells us what is in their hearts.
Mat 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
It’s an interesting dilima with which I have wrestled for some time now. In many cases I can say I are not “we”. For example, when a Liberal says, “We” value diversity, I’m not part of the “we”. Others refer to “We the people” when referring to U.S. Americans, except that, as the cracks and fissures in this rapidly balkanizing society reveal, “We aren’t a People”. The Japanese are “A People”.
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