Gitmo Reversal

Whenever I hear talk of American exceptionalism (AE) I wonder what does that mean? How different are we from a banana republic when one attack on native soil creates an atmosphere of fear so strong constitutional law goes out the window? How exceptional are we, when military courts hidden on foreign islands, is the best we can do? How exceptional are we when religion freedom means you can't build here because we hate you? This is just another example of how far America has traveled from its core values.

But maybe AE like all things is just a myth used when necessary, forgotten much of the time. "Such tendencies in American Life as isolationism and the extreme nationalism that usually goes with it, hatred of Europe and Europeans, racial, religious, and nativist phobias, resentment of big business, trade-unionism, intellectuals, the eastern seaboard and its culture - all these have been found not only in opposition to reform but also at times oddly combined with it. One of the most interesting and least studied aspects of American Life has been a frequent recurrence of the demand for reforms, many of them aimed at the remedy of genuine ills, combined with strong moral convictions and with a choice of hatred as a kind of creed." Richard Hofstadter circa 1955, 'The Age of Reform'

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Conservative Apologist

If one thing is clear from the Arizona shooting, it is the inability of those on the right side of the political spectrum in America to face the reality that their words have power. The barrage of excuses and finger pointing is the consistent reaction of a political ideology that dominates much of the air waves today. One would need to believe that Jared Loughner's anger materialized out of thin air and his selection of victim had nothing to do with the political climate in America. This is just another example of an inability of most on the right to face the real world with eyes open. Today there is a bustling business in revising history, and there is conservative money to recreate the past in any number of ways. Examine only the conservative and corporate sponsored think tanks, bloggers, or the so called grass root movements that get lots of press but are corporate sponsored. To be clear, it is money that comes from ideologues who have done well under American capitalism, but ...
Read more

JM's favorite, mostly short, quotes in alphabetical order.

JM's favorite, mostly short, quotes in alphabetical order. Posted blog 02/2019  last edit 04/15/22 List is getting too long but have fun just read the ones that start with a word. ie If or ? "A belief is an uneducated guess." Mokokoma Mokhonoana "A book is a mirror: When a monkey looks in, no apostle can look out."  "A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking." Jerry Seinfeld "A brilliant liar; he has total recall." Witold Gombrowicz "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." Douglas Adams "A compromise is an agreement between two men to do what both agree is wrong." Lord Edward Cecil "A conservative believes nothing should be done for the first time." Thomas Fuller "A day without laughter is a day wasted." Charlie Chaplin "A daydreamer is prepared for mos...
Read more

America, The Stupid

The other day a fake commencement address by a right wing talking head, Neal Boortz was praised as the best ever online. Since I know many teachers, and the work they do, and the difficulties they face in a society in which only money and sports are worshiped, I took umbrage with such nonsense. My solution to the buffoon's 'libelous'* speech - I am not sure what word to use when someone who earns their living talking shit all day criticizes people who actually contribute to society - was the old fashioned one, a good punch in the mouth followed by a toss off the stage. How else could you rationally debate a total jackass. I was raised in a world in which the teacher was in charge in the classroom and the student listened. Today in America every moron, with equally moronic parents, is not only right, but the teachers wrong. And then when asked why our students do so poorly, the teachers are blamed. Imagine if little Joanie studied instead of texting and kicking a ball al...
Read more