Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Independence Day Reloaded
Alon's and Hank's postings below seems to have ruffled a few feathers. That's fine - that's what we do here at UTI. We do it well.
There's one thing to remember when you're reading or posting comments here at UTI that has been said before, but that bears repeating:
This is a free speech zone. If someone's post or comment pisses you off, then get off your ass and do something about it. Comment. Write something. The best way to air and defend your opinions is to write some. Debate. Be a better debater than the other bloke. A better writer. Make your opinions better-supported than theirs, and argue them in such a way that yours make better sense than theirs do.
I can hear it already, "But Brent, Alon and Hank can write articles that go directly to the front page! How can I compete with that?"
Look, I read every single user blog that gets written by registered UTI users. I front-page many of them. If you're concerned with it, then drop me an email and ask me to front-page the darned thing. It's a pretty good bet that I will.
Now, as to my own take on the recent firestorms here? Well, I'm a patriotic American citizen who loves his country and is a veteran. I don't always agree with my government, but I think that despite it's faults, America - that fucked-up, badly-executed, wonderful, political experiment gone awry - is probably still the best bet our species has for long-term survival.
Do I think America itself will survive? No. No I don't. I'm not nearly that naive. I accuse creationists and ID apologists of not taking the long view, and I certainly don't want to be guilty of the same thing. All nations fall eventually. This is an indisputable fact. However the ideas used to found my nation are what I am talking about. Liberty, equality, the guarantee of civil rights that cannot be taken away from you, as well as the ability to affect change by voting and by swaying your fellow citizen by actions and opinions. America hasn't always executed these ideas perfectly, but we try hard. Even with all it's faults, it's better than 99.9% of every other form of goverment out there - becuase it's a human form of goverment. It's not an artificial load of utopian bullshit that tries to force men and women to be something that they are not. Yeah, it can get ugly, but let's face it, humans are an ugly bunch.
Heh. As Hank said, deal with it.
Piercings don't bother me at all. They are so far below my radar that I haven't even thought seriously about it until Hank wrote about it. After he did, I asked the Inscrutable Wife if we knew anyone with facial piercings. She looked at me kind of funny, as if to say, "Are you feeling well?, and said, "Our daughter and her boyfriend both have facial piercings."
The implied "...you idiot" on the end of her sentence I'll leave as an exercise for the reader.
D'oh! I completely missed that. It just doesn't bother me in the slightest, I guess. So, I found myself looking for facial piercings at the lake, at the mall, driving around town, and walking down the street, etc. You know what I discovered? Two of my immediate neighbors have facial piercings, and a whole hell of a lot more folks have them then I ever suspected.
I just had never noticed them before.
Weird, huh? I'm not sure if that means that I'm Mr. Tolerant when it comes to facial piercings, or if I'm simply an unobservant bonehead. But I do know that some of them are pretty darned cool -- and some of them are downright wince-inducing.
Would I get one? Nah. I'm too old to be sticking shit in my face. Maybe when I was younger, but not now.
Would I change resturants to avoid being served by a person with facial piercings?
To be honest I probably wouldn't even notice them until my wife pointed them out.
So, there are my opinions on those two subjects. What are yours? Lets hear them!
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Patriots
For some reason, 'patriotism' has, in my mind, always been associated with the worst kind of blindAmerican patriotism people here seem to agree is bad. As a Canadian, I agree with and share the idea that freedom is precious and should be as unlimited as is pragmatically possible. I love my country and I'm proud of it but that doesn't mean I automatically support any act by a member of our government or any of the positions that government takes on the world stage. If I criticize Stephen Harper, does that make me a bad Canadian? I don't think so- I think the opposite is true- I think Canada can do better, so I try, in my own little way, to influence maybe a few of my fellows in the belief that the current course is bad- lets find a better one. Freedom of speech really isn't just a perk of living in a better-than-average country. It's a vital responsibility of everyone with a brain to use it- because maybe you're blowing hot air, but maybe the ideas in your head are just a little better than the ones everyone else is thinking, and maybe you can improve things by spreading them around. So not only do I disagree with those who would say a person is disloyal to their country when they speak out against some aspect of it's public policy, I think those who would silence us are the truely disloyal ones. They have substituted true idealism for a crude tribalism that demands loyalty without question to the leader/group/clan/family/race. The only thing truely worthy of unlimited loyalty is a good, constantly rexamined Idea, because anything else can become possesed of a Bad idea. Such is the mindless flag waving patriot.
Patriotism and America
I believe strongly that the heart of America is a body of ideas. For me, it's not a place. It's certainly not a flag. Those things are just garnish. The meat of the thing is the ideas. The concepts. The philosophy.
You all know what those things are: Justice. Equality. Free speech. Compassion. And so much more.
In that sense, for me, America exists in some measure all over the world. England. Australia. Japan. India. And plenty of other places.
And as such, as long as those ideas survive and are cherished, America will survive.
(Believing this is what pisses me off when people start waving flags as weapons "I'm a REAL American and you ain't!" The people who worship the flag, and fail to understand the IDEAS behind it, fall far short of being good Americans. And the people who encourage them in that silly, flat view of American values -- Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, etc. -- are poisonous demogogues.)
We always thought the big threats to America would come from outside, but the biggest ones right now are INTERNAL: the lies, injustice, and secrecy grown up right in its heart -- courtesy of the cadre of little neo-con liars and thieves and backstabbers in the White House.
The fundamentalists who demand the remaking of America into a "christian nation," and thus poisoning it, are another huge danger, in my opinion.
Worms in the apple, killing our nation. But worms with loud voices, money, and flag-draped camouflage. And too many of us too stupid to see through it.
Blind patriotism
A good distinction between kinds of patriotism you made. There's a very good discussion about Blind Patriotism going on over at SEB right now.
Funny - I made a typo in the subject line for this comment, but caught it in preview. I had typed; "Bling patriotism"
Hmm - that's a whole subject in itself.
I'm old enough to think that
I'm old enough to think that facial piercings (an especially tongue-piercings) are a little strange-looking, yet I think it's cool that each generation defines its own aesthetic. :D
Yes, that's my real name
The current style of face-piercings reassures me in a way about that there younger generation.
It's been a long time since I've lived on the streets, but my knee-jerk reaction when I first saw pins through eyebrows, cheeks, etc was that the people wearing them had created zones of great vulnerability if they were to get into a fight: even a partially deflected slap could cause enough pain, blood dripping into eyes, etc, that the bout would be over in a few seconds.
Yet these so-called punks (now there's a word that's done a lot of mutating), scruffy as many of them are, trusted their social milieu not to involve them in physical scuffles - and seem to have been right, as the fashion continues a decade later.
The Kids Are All Right!
Honestly its the conflict
Honestly its the conflict that makes the posts really interesting. I wish more people would just start hammering out what they're thinking... something I probably don't do enough myself.
Brent, I think it's halarious that you didn't know your daughter had piercings. My parents didn't notice mine for 2 weeks after I got it. If they're not over powering on the face, I think they're really cute. But if they're taking over the face, it's not my favorite thing... but its still ...some form of awesome.
Im not American - but I hate patriotism with a raging passion, American or Canadian. I have friends who have got the maple leaf tattooed on them, while that's great for them I think it's pretty dumb. Blind patriotism is the worst, and I've met many people like that. They're very "Hurray the war and America!" yet know nothing about the war, or America for that matter.
Patriotism
The common usage of the word "patriotism" is incorrect. A patriot is a person who loves their country, and who wants the best for their country, but doesn't necessarily agree with everything their country does.
For example, I think the war in Iraq was a terrible mistake. This does not mean that I love my country any less.
I consider myself a patriot because I want to help my country make what are in my opinion the right decisions. I equate patriotism with stewardship and taking responsibility.
"Blind Patriotism" is stupid, I agree.