"A lot of pandering started going on, and you'd see soldiers and the American flag in every video. It became a sickening display of ultra-patriotism."
"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."
So whined Natilie Maines of Dixie Chicks fame showing us all her level of intelligence and awareness (read).
Maines is representative of a segment of the American population (who knows what their numbers are) that live complacent lives filled with the conveniences, rewards, pleasures and a full belly that are possible when a people are free to “pursue happiness”. Where and how did these things come to be so available to us when a great portion of humanity still live in utter poverty and oppression? Blank out by the Dixie Chicks. All that they have must have dropped from the sky somehow.
So why do so many people care about patriotism and love of country? Blank out. The Dixie Chicks just cannot make the connection between despotism and poverty and death on the one hand and freedom and the right to your life and pursuit of happiness guaranteed to us by the blood of our founding fathers on the other hand. We care about America because it was founded on a radical idea that has allowed us flourish beyond anyone's wildest dream in just 250 years. That idea is the notion that an individual should not have to submit to anyone and governments are instituted among men to protect the individual against despotism and criminality.
The Chicks just cannot comprehend why so many of us Patriots thank our lucky star for having been born or having immigrated to this land of bounty and opportunity. Their ignorance of America’s unique place in history and the shining star that it is tells the shame of our uneducated young of today. And I place the blame squarely on our dismal public education system.
Chicks – READ YOUR AMERICAN HISTORY – then you will come out of the wilderness of your ignorance.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
The Palestinian/Israeli Laboratory
Robert Tracinski http://www.tiadaily.com writes a great article comparing Palestine and their morality of self-sacrifice - mayhem, destruction and death and the Israelis and their western morality of concern for the self - the business of living, production and happiness.
"It is only by understanding this worship of the suicide bomber that one can understand the political choices made by the Palestinians. Taking the suicide bomber as their moral model, they seek to emulate his fate: in their lust to destroy Israel, they are willing to accept the utter destruction and collapse of their own society.
"It is important to recognize that, aside from the cynicism of a few corrupt officials, for the great mass of Palestinians this worship of sacrifice is sincere and thoroughly un-self-interested. By rejecting every chance at peace and coexistence with Israel—breaking every truce and turning down every peace offer—they have lost everything and gained nothing. Their decisions are driven, not by any narrow, practical goal, but by a moral imperative: the morality of self-sacrifice.
"Look to the other side of the security barrier and you see a very different society. While the Palestinians raise their children on visions of blood and murder, the Israelis—like us Americans—are largely preoccupied by the business of producing, creating, making a living. Consider, for example, the vast Gaza greenhouses handed over from the departing Israelis to the Palestinians. In the hands of the society that "made the desert bloom," these greenhouses produced millions of dollars worth of produce. Under Palestinian control, they were looted and their products have literally been left to rot.
"As with the Cold War examples of East and West Berlin, Palestine and Israel offer side-by-side laboratories for opposing moralities. The contrast to America is even more vivid."
"It is only by understanding this worship of the suicide bomber that one can understand the political choices made by the Palestinians. Taking the suicide bomber as their moral model, they seek to emulate his fate: in their lust to destroy Israel, they are willing to accept the utter destruction and collapse of their own society.
"It is important to recognize that, aside from the cynicism of a few corrupt officials, for the great mass of Palestinians this worship of sacrifice is sincere and thoroughly un-self-interested. By rejecting every chance at peace and coexistence with Israel—breaking every truce and turning down every peace offer—they have lost everything and gained nothing. Their decisions are driven, not by any narrow, practical goal, but by a moral imperative: the morality of self-sacrifice.
"Look to the other side of the security barrier and you see a very different society. While the Palestinians raise their children on visions of blood and murder, the Israelis—like us Americans—are largely preoccupied by the business of producing, creating, making a living. Consider, for example, the vast Gaza greenhouses handed over from the departing Israelis to the Palestinians. In the hands of the society that "made the desert bloom," these greenhouses produced millions of dollars worth of produce. Under Palestinian control, they were looted and their products have literally been left to rot.
"As with the Cold War examples of East and West Berlin, Palestine and Israel offer side-by-side laboratories for opposing moralities. The contrast to America is even more vivid."
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