Posted on 01/17/2002 6:21:17 AM PST by newsperson999
With the passage of time, every day matters. The direction of events and the ultimate consequences of the pivotal transformation in America, cannot be clearer. Yes, the War on Terror, is changing the Nation more than the horror of those eight Clinton years. The prime fault lies not with the Bush administration, but rests with the American People. That is not to exclude the President or his appointees from allowing this frightful trend to take hold. So what is this threat to civilization and the national heritage? Well, it should be obvious, it is called Patriotism.
Now before you lynch the messenger, consider the nature of National Loyalty. We are told that Patriotism is love for one's country, which is valid. But in practice, the current version of devotion to country, is defined as blind faith and obedience to government policies. We are continuously told that at no other time has the American public been so united. But the reality is, never have they been more wrong. Wrong to support a false and destructive policy to police the world, American style. CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE..
What, I wonder, does this mean in English?
Considering the ongoing and vigorous debate we have on FR concerning all of the issues Mr. Sartre brings up, I'm not sure he has much of a case concerning repression of dissent. In fact, a casual glance at what really does happen on this forum on a day-to-day basis makes him sound a bit silly, IMHO.
So you agree that our liberties are being threatened?
The gall of the ideologues never ceases to amaze me. Are there any other libertarians squatting on FR who want to tell Mr. Robinson he isn't a "real American patriot"?
Do you believe that a dishonest defense of them is harmful?
I am an American. I used to be proud to be an American. But I'll tell you something - the flag I hung in my living room window after 9/11 had 13 stars, not 50 - because what that 50-star flag represents is no longer the free country that so many gave their lives and fortunes to found 225 years ago. And there is very little sacred honor left among those who "lead" us today.
I wish it were not so. But all the sheep-like "patriotic" bleating since 9/11 is really no different than what the German masses did when Herr Hitler came to power. People, you'd better wake up, and soon - because if you don't, the fate of this country is going to be far far worse than what happened in Germany.
To be honest I'm just glad someone is discussing it. Anything that stimulates discourse or motivates people to examine events around them is useful in it's own way.
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Peculiar Mind, checking in.
It's not so much that I find truth in conspiracy theories themselves. It's in the debunking of the theory and the analysis of the Source and the Intent that, indeed, one does apprehend a certain amount of truth.
That's one of the things that made this place just an attraction in the beginning, actually. Sure, plenty of tinfoil wrappers around but -- before some decided it was their job to protect from disinformation any of us Stupid Americans who surfed FR and took steps to personally smear or attack any who asked a question or weighed in with anything more substantive than "ASH ALERT" -- it was a great means to sift wheat from chaff and attune oneself to the propagandist's art.
The same thing goes for the current debate over Debka.
Perhaps many have been disarmed by the mainstream media's fawning over Bush and his administration -- particularly the likes of black female Condi Rice. Because the media's had a change of heart and now is on "our side", it appears there is no longer any need to fact-check or wonder at the trend of increasingly lockstep support for the Feds' every move.
IMHO, "Good News is No News" where the mainstream's concerned at the moment. I see no reason we can't be industrious and adult enough to cobble together real facts ourselves and resist the urge to sit enthralled at the feet of the same who'll cast Bush's decision on ESCR as a "clever" means to keep his campaign promises.
The only problem I see where FR is concerned is the way many tend to view it as their "news source" and FR accomodates that feeling by allowing the posting of only "legitimate" news ... as if any and all articles posted here somehow meet with FR's seal of approval.
Objectively speaking, I don't see anything particularly legitimate or truthful about the mainstream. Where a post oversteps the rules at stated on FR's main page or the poster fails to flesh out his post with the proper caveats and supporting facts or links to whatever point he IS trying to make, it should be deleted as trollsome garbage. Simply because a source has no NWO Pulitzer prizes as proof of its Fourth Estate bona fides is no reason to axe it as a matter of course, though.
Where FReepers can err on the side of reason instead of the rank Emotion (as curried by the press and the administration), they may find they learn something during the dissection of this conspiracy theory or that bit of agit-prop. Certainly they'll get a chance to think analytically for a moment instead of just war-whooping.
Dear Cultural Jihad ... please know that even I find this a little rich coming from you.
Are you talking about those who respond to whatever facts or history I post with the usual "YOU just HATE Bush, don't you?" schtick?
I re-read the article and all I see is opinion. Which facts are in question?
Jim Robinson, by the way, is an American "patriot" of the highest order.
But, again, please outline solutions to the "Hitleresque" patriotism you see as the major problem in our country today re: blindness to what is coming for America.
The march towards statism is one that is horrendous in its potential destructiveness - but I am asking - where and how would you stop it?
What can an "ordinary Ameircan do"????
I think Jim Robinson has done more than most "ordinary Americans" could do to facilitate shining the light of TRUTH on the events of our day - don't you?
However, we have been attacked by an enemy of our nation. I know memories are short. But I will never forget September 11th.
Of course the totalitarians in our government want to use September 11th to install their version of the "third reich" in America.
I am asking you - what else - besides provide a forum where the light of truth can shine on events as they progress - can one person do????
Defending the nation from enemies, both foreign and domestic - you can't get much more patriotic than that.
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