I would rather be in Normandy this Memorial Day. I could be with the spirit of true patriots who put their allegiance to our country above their own selfish interests. It’s hard to believe our country has been destroyed by the minority.
From the Conversation indicating patriotism dies in darkness as does democtacy. Last night, CBS News Radio went dark after nearly 100 years on the air.
The shuttering of the venerable media institution speaks to just how much the information landscape has changed in the internet age. Audience fragmentation and more news sources are not, on their face, a dangerous development. But when coupled with deregulation, corporate consolidation and the weakening of public interest requirements, these shifts don’t bode well for democratic deliberation and civic life, writes Penn State media scholar Matthew Jordan.
And i'd add the US turned into precisely what it rebelled against in 1776 and in 1860 and again when women's suffrage was granted. And again when UN and Nato were formed.
Honestly, it doesn’t mean much anymore. I’m ashamed of what our country (both federal government and many citizens) seem to think is important. “Might makes right” and the money and accompanying power that has corrupted our collective mentality is hideous. There is no longer even a feigned attempt to appear to be “the good guys “. In the interest of transparency I have never been a flag waving “my country right or wrong” person. I was, however, a Republican who believed the US was inherently good and the best place to live. Now neither of those facts apply.
"PATRIOTISM, n. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first." The Devil's Dictionary ~ Ambrose Bierce - https://www.thedevilsdictionary.com/p.html
We cannot celebrate the 4th of July activities this year under this corrupt president and his administration. The conflation of his birthday (UFC fights on WH lawn?), and his vanity projects (an arch, painting the reflecting pool, etc.) disguised as the celebration of our 250th birthday…there is no respect, dignity or reflection. This is Trump’s personalization of any celebration of our country’s independence, something he is trying to destroy. His authoritarian lawlessness and disregard of our freedoms/liberties cannot be ignored. We should be in the house of mourning this year, not in a house of joy.
We were in Missouri last week cleaning out my sister-in-law’s (wife’s sister’s) house. We brought back her husband’s things: his flag, his medals, letters from him and from the army, and the red wrapping in which his ashes were carried.
He died in Nam a few weeks before his enlistment ran out. As a short-timer, he was limited to base in those last days. But he was a restless kid, immature. He got drunk, stole a jeep, and drove around the base making trouble. As punishment, he was sent out to load wounded onto helicopters. That’s where and how he died, shot by a sniper.
I never knew him. She hardly knew him. They were together as husband and wife only a few days. She became active in Gold Star Wives and in Missouri NOW. She poured her life into activism. She was headstrong. Like Butch, her husband.
Patriotism is what they did and who they were.
Patriotism now is bringing these things to our house, into her family, as sacred artifacts, sacred memories. Irrespective of who he was, who she was. This is patriotism now.
“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.” - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism feels like nostalgia to me now. There was a time, not so long ago, when I felt like no matter their personal foibles the people in our government had the best interests of the nation and its citizens in mind when they acted. The pain I feel from the actions of this regime has revealed to me how much I love(d) my country, and for that I am paradoxically grateful. To quote Joni Mitchell, “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
I would rather be in Normandy this Memorial Day. I could be with the spirit of true patriots who put their allegiance to our country above their own selfish interests. It’s hard to believe our country has been destroyed by the minority.
From the Conversation indicating patriotism dies in darkness as does democtacy. Last night, CBS News Radio went dark after nearly 100 years on the air.
The shuttering of the venerable media institution speaks to just how much the information landscape has changed in the internet age. Audience fragmentation and more news sources are not, on their face, a dangerous development. But when coupled with deregulation, corporate consolidation and the weakening of public interest requirements, these shifts don’t bode well for democratic deliberation and civic life, writes Penn State media scholar Matthew Jordan.
And i'd add the US turned into precisely what it rebelled against in 1776 and in 1860 and again when women's suffrage was granted. And again when UN and Nato were formed.
Honestly, it doesn’t mean much anymore. I’m ashamed of what our country (both federal government and many citizens) seem to think is important. “Might makes right” and the money and accompanying power that has corrupted our collective mentality is hideous. There is no longer even a feigned attempt to appear to be “the good guys “. In the interest of transparency I have never been a flag waving “my country right or wrong” person. I was, however, a Republican who believed the US was inherently good and the best place to live. Now neither of those facts apply.
"PATRIOTISM, n. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first." The Devil's Dictionary ~ Ambrose Bierce - https://www.thedevilsdictionary.com/p.html
Less than what it did with Joe
We cannot celebrate the 4th of July activities this year under this corrupt president and his administration. The conflation of his birthday (UFC fights on WH lawn?), and his vanity projects (an arch, painting the reflecting pool, etc.) disguised as the celebration of our 250th birthday…there is no respect, dignity or reflection. This is Trump’s personalization of any celebration of our country’s independence, something he is trying to destroy. His authoritarian lawlessness and disregard of our freedoms/liberties cannot be ignored. We should be in the house of mourning this year, not in a house of joy.
NOT IN OUR NAME.
We were in Missouri last week cleaning out my sister-in-law’s (wife’s sister’s) house. We brought back her husband’s things: his flag, his medals, letters from him and from the army, and the red wrapping in which his ashes were carried.
He died in Nam a few weeks before his enlistment ran out. As a short-timer, he was limited to base in those last days. But he was a restless kid, immature. He got drunk, stole a jeep, and drove around the base making trouble. As punishment, he was sent out to load wounded onto helicopters. That’s where and how he died, shot by a sniper.
I never knew him. She hardly knew him. They were together as husband and wife only a few days. She became active in Gold Star Wives and in Missouri NOW. She poured her life into activism. She was headstrong. Like Butch, her husband.
Patriotism is what they did and who they were.
Patriotism now is bringing these things to our house, into her family, as sacred artifacts, sacred memories. Irrespective of who he was, who she was. This is patriotism now.
“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.” - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism feels like nostalgia to me now. There was a time, not so long ago, when I felt like no matter their personal foibles the people in our government had the best interests of the nation and its citizens in mind when they acted. The pain I feel from the actions of this regime has revealed to me how much I love(d) my country, and for that I am paradoxically grateful. To quote Joni Mitchell, “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”