Our Convenient Patriotism

Our convenient patriotism

 I was watching football tonight and was a little surprised that the game was starting a couple of minutes late and I realized of course, they are at commercial while they do the national anthem in the stadium.  For some reason tonight this made me think of the football games right after 9/11 and how for the weeks after that horrible day all of the networks showed the playing of the national anthem.  We do the same on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.  Our patriotism seems to be convenient to whenever it will best play on television or for the right audience.

 During election campaigns patriotism, or at least the appearance of patriotism, is at an all-time high.  Remember all of the flack Obama took for not having an American Flag pin on his lapel, or putting his hand over his heart during the national anthem?  Right now the Republican presidential wannabees are all trying to one up each other on how patriotic they are.  If you listen to one amnesty is the patriotic thing to do for illegal immigrants, if you listen to another you hate America if you give illegal immigrants amnesty.  Because the American public responds to the flag waving, hand over the heart type of patriotism TV networks and politicians use it when it is convenient.

 However bring up the ideals of free speech, the loss of liberty from the PATRIOT Act, or the right to protest overnight in a park and you’re nothing but an unpatriotic, radical hippie trying to take down the government and not adhering to the words, thoughts and deeds of the holiest of holy, the most patriotic of them all, the Founding Fathers!  You know the ones whose words should guide us in everything we do like the shiny beacons of patriotism that they were.  You know the slave-owning, every WHITE MAN is a full man, blacks, not so much, women don’t have the right to vote bastions of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Well,  assuming you are a fully entitled, property-owning white man.

 We interpret history the way we want and we use patriotism when it’s convenient, but if you’re an asshole like me that questions these things you can’t possibly be a patriot, or can you?

Why do we make children recite the Pledge of Allegiance?

There have been a number of court battles and controversy around the Pledge of Allegiance:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/2011/06/justices_decline_to_hear_pledg.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance

The issue that is typically under discussion revolves around the use of the phrase “under god.”  A number of atheists have challenged this unsuccessfully using the argument that the phrase violates the separation of church and state.  A phrase, consequently that was added in 1948, the pledge was originated in 1892.

 However my question is why do we make children recite the Pledge of Allegiance?  I always thought it was ridiculous when I was a kid and I asked my teacher once if I had to do it, she said yes.  So, not wanting to get in trouble I continued to do it throughout elementary school, every morning like clockwork with the morning announcements.  At some point in my school career that little tradition disappeared but quite frankly I can’t remember when.  Today, it’s made fairly clear to students that it is an option and that makes me happy and I think really there is nothing wrong with optional participation.

My thought has always been this, if I told you that there was a country, that every morning made all of the children in the nation swear a compulsory oath of loyalty to the government, most of us would go off the wall assuming of course that we’re talking about North Korea or Iran.  Like a lot of the things we do in our educational system, the pledge is outdated.  In my opinion it was all part of the idea that the educational system should provide a passive, orderly and loyal workforce for the factories.  The world has changed.

Today my hope is that we understand that being a patriot is more about what a person does in their life by choice, not by indoctrination.  A person, particularly a child, is not disloyal or unpatriotic if they critically analyze their nation and its actions and you don’t need to publicly recite a loyalty pledge to love your country or be a patriot.

To Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona, kiss my shiny white Irish A@#!

Hello Governor Brewer let’s get something straight, you signed a bill that makes it a misdemeanor to be an illegal immigrant in Arizona so that local and state authorities can deal with the immigration issues your state is facing.  I understand the difficulties that southern Arizona in particular faces in regard to illegal immigration. You’ve taken a lot of static for that decision and your most recent response, a ripoff Kermit the Frog puppet singing reading is fun, is not only ridiculous but hypocritical.  Particularly in light of the fact that you say this action will not inspire racial profiling, of course you must be talking about the amended bill you signed removing the racial profiling language, so I wonder, Governor Brewer, did YOU read the first version of the bill you signed? Remember, reading is fun!

 If you go to this link: http://immigration.change.org/blog/view/frog_puppet_thinks_reading_and_arizona_sb_1070_is_fun you can see the stupid singing frog video and read a quick little snippet by Alex DiBranco where she quotes Arizona State Rep. Russell Pearce, the sponsor of SB 1070 who goes ahead and admits racial profiling was exactly what he had in mind: “Ninety percent of the illegal aliens in Arizona come from south of the border, so it [appearance] certainly may be a factor.”  At least he’s honest, Governor Brewer doesn’t have the same integrity.

I’m sick and tired of politicians on the right, so-called ”conservatives”, using bullshit reasons to be sexist, racist assholes.  I’m not racist, I’m just against illegal immigration they say, taking a break from telling their beaner and wet back jokes to face a camera.   Rush Limbaugh isn’t sexist as he refers to this or that woman as the news chick, or government chick, he’s just joking around, I mean hey. the term femonazi is a term of endearment, please.  Conservatives don’t understand how students wearing US Flag shirts to school on Cinco de Mayo could possibly be construed as anything other than patriotic.  Surely they are not trying to incite Mexican-American students.

Cut the shit, all of you, just stop, THIS IS AMERICA!  You want to be a patriot, aspire to the actual ideals this country was founded on, a nation where those who cannot find freedom or prosperity in their homeland can come and find it here.  That plaque on the statue of liberty is not just for decoration, nor was it ever intended to be conditional.  In this country we take the poor and the displaced as long as we are able, that’s patriotic.  My great-grandfather immigrated to this country from Ireland, you may have heard of a little something called the potato famine, if not, look it up!  When the Irish came to the US they were spit upon, maligned, beaten, killed and discriminated against.  But my people had an edge, we looked a hell of a lot like the people who were already here.  Mexicans and Latinos immigrating here legally or illegally have a much bigger hill to climb based on nothing more than the color of their skin.  These people are just as hard-working as my ancestors were, they come here and they work here to make a better life for their children, just like my great-grandfather and so many other Irish men and women did.  So Governor Brewer on behalf of myself and all of my Irish ancestors, kiss my shiny, white, Irish ass and get off the Mexican’s back!