RisiaSkye
Artistic
- Joined
- May 1, 2000
- Posts
- 4,387
This might seem like a dumb thing to even devote much thought to, but I really considered whether or not to go back to my old av. Part of me feels like letting go of the nationalistic one is failing somehow. But, I just can't do it anymore.
And, I'll tell you why (although I fully expect to get flamed for it.)
I believe in this country. Given the options, I am damned lucky to be here, and I appreciate that fact every day, not just when something terrible happens. However, I think that the rallying around the flag that has been going on actually encourages people not to think.
It frightens me that some flag-toting racist moron killed a guy in Arizona. It bothers me that the Muslim Student Union on my campus is "temporarily" closed due to bomb threats and student harassment. And it bothers me more that all of the idiots using this national tragedy as an excuse to further their agenda of hate do it while clutching the flag to their chests.
I'm all for symbols. I understand and appreciate the need for a sense of community, perhaps a more strong need right now than this nation has experienced ever before. But that doesn't mean that I'm willing to blindly rally around the flag without questioning and thinking about what happens as a consequence. It doesn't mean that I support the move toward nationalization of the airlines. It doesn't mean that I think we should close our borders, terrorize people in our lands, blindly assign unilateral military power to the President with no obligation of congressional mandate or public disclosure.
I believe in public debate, it is what makes this nation so promising and often inspiring. I value immensely that I live in a land that (usually) allows the free expression of different opinons, that accepts the differences which unite us under a principle of civil liberty. In the last week, I have watched an unparalleled consensus develop among politicians, and it's a frightening prospect.
I read the name "Infinite Justice" and my blood ran cold. According to Bush's own religious dogma, only God is infinite. Just what are we proposing, here?
I realize that right now we are all still in the immediate response phase, that it's too soon to know what the future will hold. But I watched the President repeatedly invoke the spectre of God being on America's side, and then accuse those "evildoers" of trying to start a holy war without any apparent irony.
I watched John McCain tell a packed audience that America "regretted" sending 100,000 Japanese-Americans to concentration camps (a description he used, btw), and then suggest that such gross injustice could happen again.
I watched my Iraqi refugee neighbor cover his business in flags, hoping against hope that his glass doors wouldn't be shattered again if he could just sufficiently prove he's American enough.
I read the list of 60's peace and protest songs that over 1000 radio stations won't play until further notice, rather than run against the grain of the nation's rush to war.
My heart breaks every time I see the footage, every time I hear that no one's heard from Aimee and that she's probably dead. I feel this tragedy just as legitimately as the next American. That doesn't mean I'll blindly wave a flag over a mass grave in Afghanistan and call it justice. It doesn't mean the flag can substitute for my freedom.
I am an American. I will not live in fear. And that includes fear that I am being insufficiently patriotic, or that I will be penalized for having my own thoughts.
And, I'll tell you why (although I fully expect to get flamed for it.)
I believe in this country. Given the options, I am damned lucky to be here, and I appreciate that fact every day, not just when something terrible happens. However, I think that the rallying around the flag that has been going on actually encourages people not to think.
It frightens me that some flag-toting racist moron killed a guy in Arizona. It bothers me that the Muslim Student Union on my campus is "temporarily" closed due to bomb threats and student harassment. And it bothers me more that all of the idiots using this national tragedy as an excuse to further their agenda of hate do it while clutching the flag to their chests.
I'm all for symbols. I understand and appreciate the need for a sense of community, perhaps a more strong need right now than this nation has experienced ever before. But that doesn't mean that I'm willing to blindly rally around the flag without questioning and thinking about what happens as a consequence. It doesn't mean that I support the move toward nationalization of the airlines. It doesn't mean that I think we should close our borders, terrorize people in our lands, blindly assign unilateral military power to the President with no obligation of congressional mandate or public disclosure.
I believe in public debate, it is what makes this nation so promising and often inspiring. I value immensely that I live in a land that (usually) allows the free expression of different opinons, that accepts the differences which unite us under a principle of civil liberty. In the last week, I have watched an unparalleled consensus develop among politicians, and it's a frightening prospect.
I read the name "Infinite Justice" and my blood ran cold. According to Bush's own religious dogma, only God is infinite. Just what are we proposing, here?
I realize that right now we are all still in the immediate response phase, that it's too soon to know what the future will hold. But I watched the President repeatedly invoke the spectre of God being on America's side, and then accuse those "evildoers" of trying to start a holy war without any apparent irony.
I watched John McCain tell a packed audience that America "regretted" sending 100,000 Japanese-Americans to concentration camps (a description he used, btw), and then suggest that such gross injustice could happen again.
I watched my Iraqi refugee neighbor cover his business in flags, hoping against hope that his glass doors wouldn't be shattered again if he could just sufficiently prove he's American enough.
I read the list of 60's peace and protest songs that over 1000 radio stations won't play until further notice, rather than run against the grain of the nation's rush to war.
My heart breaks every time I see the footage, every time I hear that no one's heard from Aimee and that she's probably dead. I feel this tragedy just as legitimately as the next American. That doesn't mean I'll blindly wave a flag over a mass grave in Afghanistan and call it justice. It doesn't mean the flag can substitute for my freedom.
I am an American. I will not live in fear. And that includes fear that I am being insufficiently patriotic, or that I will be penalized for having my own thoughts.
