Read this article by Gary Kamiya at Slate.
It’s about how incredibly moronic and blind the patriotism of this country has become, very much how I would put it.
And it’s a lot better written than I could ever hope to do.
Here’s a little excerpt:
Maybe we really are doomed to elect John McCain, remain in Iraq forever and nuke Iran. Nations that forget history may not be doomed to repeat it, but those that never even recognize reality in the first place definitely are. Last week’s ridiculous uproar over Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons proves yet again that America has still not come to terms with the most rudimentary facts about race, 9/11 — or itself.
The great shock so many people claim to be feeling over Wright’s sermons is preposterous. Anyone who is surprised and horrified that some black people feel anger at white people, and America, is living in a racial never-never land. Wright has called the U.S. “the United States of White America,” talks about the “oppression” of black people and says, “White America got their wake-up call after 9/11.” Gosh, who could have dreamed that angry racial grievances and left-wing political views are sometimes expressed in black churches?
It’s not surprising that the right is using Wright to paint Barack Obama as a closet Farrakhan, trying to let the air out of his trans-racial balloon by insinuating that he’s a dogmatic race man. But beyond the fake shock and the all-too-familiar racial politics, what the whole episode reveals is how narrow the range of acceptable discourse remains in this country. This is especially true of anything having to do with patriotism or 9/11 — which have become virtually interchangeable. Wright’s unforgivable sin was that he violated our rigid code of national etiquette. Instead of the requisite “God bless America,” he said “God damn America.” He said 9/11 was a case of chickens coming home to roost. Now we must all furrow our brows and agree that such dreadful words are anathema and that no presidential candidate can ever have been within earshot of them. This is absurd. We’re worrying about someone in Row 245 who refuses to stand up for “The Star Spangled Banner,” while the people who are singing loudest and waving the biggest flags are the ones who got us into the mess we’re in today.
Wright isn’t the problem. Stupid patriotism is the problem.
Word.
He is basically saying that America has been blinded by patriotism which has brought us our current wretchedness. Those who are so ignorant to criticize Wright only do so because they are stupid patriots and simply cannot tolerate an open discussion about race, 9/11, and Iraq. I don’t buy this for the following reasons:
I. Assuming what the author says is true, he is as equally guilty of creating the “narrow the range of acceptable discourse” in the public spectrum. He is essentially censuring one group for supposedly doing the same to another. Some are condemning Wright, and he is condemning them for condemning Wright, how is this not hypocrisy? One could equally argue that this blind anti-Americanism is really the problem.
II. Maybe what Wright said truly deserves harsh criticism. It is a genetic fallacy to say that only blind patriots condemn Wright or support the war– it has nothing to do with the actual truth of the claim. His premise (that patriotism is the cause for this scandal) has no bearing on the truth. One has to look at the context of what is being said not the potential motives of the argument. I could easily argue that he is merely writing this article because he is a communist propagandist even though it has nothing to do with what he actually said.
Best
By: John on June 11, 2008
at 10:30 pm