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Originally posted by vsp
People are now spending a LOT of money on red-white-and-blue fervor. Does this do anything constructive? Does this send a practical message to Osama Bin Laden, who'll recoil in fear at the tri-colored show of unity? Could that money be put to much better use if it was sent directly to the American Red Cross, the victims' family support groups, the rescue workers, or similar causes? Is there something wrong -- or unpatriotic -- or sinister about those who aren't buying flags as fast as they can make them, or wearing red-white-and-blue ribbons wherever they go?
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You bring up some good points vsp. I don't deny that this situation has made me feel more patriotic to a degree. I am proud to be an American citizen, and believe that we have to bind together as a nation in this tragedy. As a whole, I think people have rushed to the Stars and Stripes and the whole patriotism wave because they need something to cling to--we need to seek comfort in something b/c what has happened is so unthinkable.
However, I'm not rushing out to buy my flag. In this newfound patriotism that is overtaking the country is a bit too much emotion and some hate-mongering. That scares me. Bush is revving the nation up by calling this "the first war of the 21st century." Hate-mongers make a march on a Chicago mosque on Wednesday. In a separate incident in Chicago, a man was attacked with a machete because he looked Arabic. A Philadelphia cop pulls a handgun on a Pakistani worker at a 7-Eleven in Bala Cynwyd. Other random attacks, not only on Muslims and Arabs, but on people perceived to be Middle Eastern. And even here on the Cellar. THAT is scary...and it only fulfills our image as a country of "shoot first, ask questions later" dopes.
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We have people ready to frame this as a new Crusades, a religious war, ready to drive the Muslims into the sea. (And, I'll grant, many of them are ready to do the same to us.) I read Ann Coulter ranting that "We need to invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." I watch Jerry Falwell foam at the mouth about how gays, feminists and the ACLU share the blame for this tragedy, because they've been "mocking God" and this is somehow the divine consequences. I listen to angry people on the radio calling for nukes, calling for immediate air strikes, calling for bombs to wipe away the faces of those who cheered the explosion on TV. And, somewhere in the pit of my stomach, an ulcer forms, because this is _reinforcing_ the things they hate about us and helped cause this mess in the first place.
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Falwell is a fucking idiot period. One in a line of "God-bringers" who take religion and twist it into their bully pulpit against those different from them. What's worse is that some people BELIEVE him.
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And no flag, no T-shirt, and no grandstanding displays of patriotism can make a meaningful difference, or bring our lost people back. We need to put our energy and our emotions into more productive channels.
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Good words...