the crushing weight of patriotism

I missed Ypsilanti’s annual Fourth of July parade this year. Fortunately, my friend Brett happened to by in the area with his trusty camera. My favorite shots involve a giant yellow ribbon made of lumber being pulled behind an SUV, surrounded by children who could easily be crushed to death beneath its patriotic weight.

Unfortunatley, Brett doesn’t stop there, but goes on to give his cynical, America-hating analysis of the sacred holiday’s origins. Here’s what he has to say:

A tiny group of very wealthy white males, many of them slaveholders, interested in improving their profits by paying fewer taxes and also reducing the growing unrest among the lower classes, signed a document in the hopes of seizing control of the Colonies’ business interests, and uniting the citizenry against a common enemy, under the pretense of patriotism (this technique would be employed again and again, with varying levels of success).

(I suspect he’s just envious of my trolls and wants them for himself.)

As for the holiday, if you’d like a less sacrilegious spin, check out Dan Gillmor’s site. He does a pretty good job of balancing patriotic pride with outrage over the current state of affairs in America.

This entry was posted in Ypsilanti. Bookmark the permalink. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.

One Comment

  1. john galt
    Posted July 11, 2005 at 8:31 pm | Permalink

    From Boortz today, how Moveon.Org is shaping public opinion…

    It’s an interesting time for the left in this country. Their latest tour of duty in the Oval Office ended with Bill Clinton’s reign and it’s been 10 years since they ran the House. They’ve also lost quite a few legislatures and governorships around the country. The Senate is also (barely) run by the GOP these days. But they’ve always been able to count on two things.

    The liberal bias of the mainstream media and the United States Supreme Court. But now there’s a problem. The liberal dominance of the media is being checked, thanks to talk radio, Fox News and so on. They’re also not getting away with broadcasting outright lies, as the now-fired Dan Rather and Newsweek can attest. But there’s always the Supreme Court. Appeal to the Supreme Court, and the liberal majority will rubber-stamp any law, any agenda, whatever the left wants, for the most part.

    Except now that’s a problem too. With George Bush poised to make at least two, maybe three nominations to the court, he’s going to reshape the court for the next 20 years or so. And with that in mind, the left is not going to go quietly. The more they lose, the more power slips away, the louder they get.

    Take Moveon.org. This is an organization of leftists that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars throughout their existence, including the last election cycle. Despite all of the attention they have gotten, where are the successes? Nowhere to be found. They might be getting the message. According to Drudge, talking points were handed out at a recent anti-Bush Supreme Court party, where the media was in attendance. Among the instructions:

    “We don’t want to come across as leftist, liberal activists. We want to come across as we are – regular folks who are finally saying enough is enough to the extremists; that we’re not falling for their extremist rhetoric anymore and we’re finally going to expend the effort necessary to get our country back.”

    Which proves the point: the only way extreme leftists gain favor with the public is when they convince people they aren’t extreme leftists. Another talking point from the same Moveon.org gathering: “Oh, because a photographer will be here, might I suggest we put away our ‘Bush is a Liar’ t-shirts. Let’s look like they do.”

    Good plan. It doesn’t seem to be working.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Connect

BUY LOCAL... or shop at Amazon through this link Banner Initiative Mike Giannouris