FUCK ALL THIS FALSE PATRIOTISM!

article i found

As I'm sure you are well aware, it has been a few months since the September 11th terrorist incidents took place. And I'm sure you have listened to the media endlessly ramble on any way imaginable about the events. I, like everyone else who has half a conscience, mourn the loss of life. The events on September 11th are no exception.

Take just a second and try to think about how life has changed since then. Some things might come to mind such as 'national unity' and increased security many places. There is one thing, however, that is just as horrifying as the attacks themselves - America's new interest in patriotism itself.

Since September 11th, our nation has been plagued with millions of newfound 'patriots' who seem more like brainwashed billboards than true, thinking American citizens. Everyone from elementary school students to senior citizens is buying in on the 'patriotism' craze. You can't escape all of the flags that are being whored around our country as well as the meaningless September 11th merchandise. It's a sad day in our country when the only way you can show you care for America is to buy a New York City Fire Department hat and/or slap a cheap American flag sticker on your car.

The newfound 'patriotism' in our country today is nothing more than a meaningless fad that steers us away from looking at what our government is really doing. Everything our country does now goes without much question at all. We're the "land of the free", the most wealthy, and "best" country in the world. We could never do anything wrong - right? Every day we take steps away from our freedom, whether it is intolerance for antiwar protesters or loss of personal privacy. Laws like the Patriot Act (which passed with virtually no public hearing or debate) allow police to search peoples' homes without a warrant as well as expands the definition of "terrorist" so broadly that it could include non-violent protesters at an anti-war rally.

This brings us to the most important point of this whole paper - true patriots aren't the ones who are wearing shirts saying cheap slogans like "God bless America", and they probably won't be found with American flag stickers all over their cars. Patriotism is in one's heart, not on their possessions. Patriotism means questioning what American society and government does and not letting others silence your beliefs. People who try to silence you are far from patriots. They are traitors to the principles on which this country was founded upon. Lines like "love it or leave it" only prove their stupidity. Open your eyes.

well put!

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves,

and, under a just God, cannot retain it."

-Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

"Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained."

James A. Garfield, July 12, 1880

"Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?"

George Carlin

i wrote it myself actually, but feared people would talk more shit just because they hate my drawings. eh. i'm glad you liked it.

or maybe the new found patriotism is because people here finally realize what we have compared to other places? its not all "oh shit let me hop on a bandwagon and fly a flag." For people to unite, it takes a tragedy usually....and it finally happened on our home soil. Maybe you say what you say because you yourself feel that if you flew a flag, put one on your car etc that you would be doing it out of "false patriotism" and going along with the newest trend. one thing you gotta realize is the fact that as previously stated, tragedys cause unity...dont expect for the shit to disappear now either...its going to stay here- anyone who doesnt care for america - thats cool...i used to be that way...but the more i think about how good i have it here compared to living in some undeveloped 3rd world country....it makes me hella glad that i live in what people call the united snkaes...yeah we got just as many scandals as the next place if not more....but think about what an unfair advantage at life you have over someone living in another country- im just waiting for your rebuttal......it will be interesting im sure chuck...

america is a nice place to live, i agree. but i just find it sickening that the media has brainwashed people into "god bless america" idiots. it seems as though now people are less tolerant of others' beliefs than ever, whether it be protests or opinions such as mine on patriots.

If we are all Americans, then what's wrong with blessing and praying for our neighbors, family and friends? It doesent always have to do with people getting brainwashed by the media or the government.

Originally posted by SenorSeven

...i used to be that way...but the more i think about how good i have it here compared to living in some undeveloped 3rd world country....it makes me hella glad that i live in what people call the united snakes...

All these stupid flags flying everywhere and stuck on people's cars don't really do anything but make the people who are selling them more money. Most people who are trying to show support for their nation/government/country don't really have any sort of vested interest in what that gov't is even doing with all the tax money and voter support they funnel into it, beyond making them happy in their fairly comfortable, American lifestyles. I'm not knocking anyone for being truly supportive of something, but I agree with the article above about people not applying any objective thought to their displays of national pride. Personally, I don't think being patriotic should have anything to do with just loving where you live, I think it should be related to agreeing with the actions of your government and showing support in that area.

Stop some of these people with American flags flying from their cars or who are wearing God Bless America T-shirts and ask them how much they really know about the workings or effects of government actions and policies surrounding 9/11-- I guarantee most of them won't know much.

Patriotism is a scary thing when it comes in the form of uncontested support.

"pay-trioti$m"

well put pat.;)

you know it is a holy day when mr. bojangles gives you a positive compliment

:o

all you gotta do is say/show somethin worth seeing.

Fuck The Media!!!!!!!....chumps$.

Bravo patrickjilbert! (and yes that is a compliment)

I remember hearing a saying a while ago, i cant remember who said but it went somthing like this

"I'd rather see a man burn the flag and wrap himself in the constitution then burn the consitution and wrap himself in the flag"

And did anyone see the new bin laden tape? He's one clever mother fucker.

"If killing those who killed our sons makes us terrorists, then let history show that we are terrorists"

I laughed when i heard this and saw the headlines on the news saying BIN LADEN ADMITS TO BEING A TERRORIST! I'm pretty sure most of the brainwashed fake partiot american public didnt really understand what he was saying by that. If you dont know, think about it a little bit.

Again i dont remember the exact quote but here goes

"The us government will lead its people and the west in general into a choking and unbearable life"

He called it. Thank Ashcroft and Tom Ridge for dimantaling our Constitution. Our Government has become exactly what our forefathers faught against, i bet they are turning over in their graves now.

just tonight i pull up at a stop light to some lady who throws her ciggeratte out the window then proceeds to cut me off. as she is infront of my i see her "God Bless America" sticker. how considerate of her.

i don't like america and what being american signifies.

Oh yeah, do a search on google on "The Forbidden Truth" It tells about how George W. Bush was negotiating with the taliban early january 2001 to secure an oil pipeline through afghanistan despite knowing that the taliban had terrorist connections. GW also told the cia to stop investigating the taliban so he could continue negotiations with them.

Also, do a search on the school of america's. Its the United States own terrorist training camp. One of the proud graduates of SOA....Manuel Noriega.

To love the place you live, you dont have to know everything about it. You need to know what the place means to you. America means something else to every single place. yeah our government hides a lot, this im aware of....but you are stating it as if other governments do not hide things...theres information that we dont even need to know - they feed us what they want , but we only accept what is fed- if people want to know more, theres ways of doing it...you wont find the whole story, but you can always dig and find more- its not that hard-

everyone who is knocking people making money off of it- how can you do that? our nation is based on capitalism - capitalize off what you can. So people are making money and people with differences are finally agreeing for once? thats a bad thing? i disagree. I mean you can look at it from the Federalist Paper # 10 perspective. James madison didnt want people worrying about the government - so guess what, we are fed what they give us without getting us to involved. Madison wanted people to worry about how they can better their lives by making money this way avoiding the formation of dangerous factions.

Right now our society is performing as it should. we became more united, someone is making money when unfortunately, a lot of companies are losing money - but thats life in a capitalist country-

I could also be looking at this a bit deep...but what can i say...i like politics....too much.

if that is true about james madison then that is pretty sickening. the moment you try to distract the public from government you take steps toward totalitarianism right?

Fro and jilbert are on point here. I'll add another quote, right from founding father Ben Franklin: "Those who would give up essential liberty for a measure of security deserve neither security nor liberty."

I have a lot more I could say about this. But the short version is this: at this point in my life, I'm too smart to be a false patriot, and too selfish to be a true patriot. My selfishness will give out before my intelligence in any case, so I may later decide to devote some time to the ACLU if I think America is worth saving.

patrick - its true...if you want quotes..let me know-

im loving our society..regardless of what everyone else thinks.. if it wasnt for capitalism..you wouldnt be doing what you're doing now...

this is what i study basically..the more i learn, the more i like.

ah and to answer your question-

representative form of government = the people vote for who they want and who they feel best represents their ideas, beliefs etc..

madison didnt think the average citizens needed to be worried about politics/government day to day, but rather their own well being-

state/local goverments are a bit more open, but still mostly representative-

the reasoning of this is because of teh dangers of factions- thats what madison wanted to avoid..highly dangerous factions- but if you have a society without factions, you have no freedoms....politics and religion (in the time federalist 10 was written) caused huge factions as one can imagine.....

experience another form of government....stop looking at corruption and only corruption...

Originally posted by SenorSeven

experience another form of government....stop looking at corruption and only corruption...

So we should turn a blind eye to the corrupt politicians doing fucked up shit only to further thier career? Why are you defending our corrupt government? Because you are a patriot? Because you dont care what doesnt directly affect you? Maybe i'm putting words into your mouth, but maybe you should start looking at corruption and learn how fucked up our government really is. You can say all the shit you want about expericencing other goverments. Yeah not all of them are shining beacon's of freedom, yeah some of them are really fucked up. But why should that be an excuse for our goverment to be fucked up?

I agree with Giving Tree Whole heartedly(Sp?). That man knows whats up.

Originally posted by SenorSeven

experience another form of government....stop looking at corruption and only corruption...

be aware of what's going on but constant negativity and always trying to find fault is exausting. eat a better breakfast

I think nationalism is the more correct term to describe the feeling of the masses rather than patriotism.The blind jingoist editorials in my local newspaper are very disturbing.This is certainly not the first time America has acted like this and im sure its not the last.

if you only accept what the media says...then you're only accepting what you're told.......everyone is saying fuck the media without even thinking of "i can look deepr if i care to"

look, heres the way it is. granted people now have "jumped on the fucking bandwagon" as my boy would put it, who had just recently joined the army before all this shit went down, but that doesnt mean it isnt good. true people are now patriots due to events and not personal decisions, but you know what? fuck it, for what ever reason before or after, they now stand by their country in the same way i do.

i feel america is one of the most crooked countries to have existed from day one, considering i'm indian an i take much pride in that, but guess what? nobody's perfect.

you know how the white man made it up to the indians? casino's and reservations for a generalization. you know what? yea i think its wrong but theres nothing i can do about what has happened but there is something i can do about what will happen.

so as for the current situation, wether your a patriot for this reason or that? i personally dont give a fuck. patriots are patriots. i will stand by you just like you stand by me for that same common bond. for whatever reason. through thick an thin.

i'm an american. be ashamed of our actions maybe? be proud of our accomplishments? why the fuck not? but i swear if you do not take up arms for whatever you believe in, givin the situation requires it, you are a coward.

so good or bad, for or against, as for me i got myself figured out, its not my job to figure out the actions of other people.

but i know what i stand for, an thats all that matters to me.

"why do we we only pray to god when shit goes wrong"

and as for giving tree, the boy knows what hes talkin about.

"the unexamined life is not worth living" - socrates

that was some knowledge that hits so close to home, im almost ashamed of not knowing that for myself.

i know exactly what im talking about-...this is what i fucking do....and hope to do for the rest of my fucking life...is talk this type of bullshit basically.....you're going to find shit corrupted everywhere...but if all you do is bitch about a place...try doing somethingabout it instead of being like the 10 of parachoils and just sitting there- i bet half on here could careless about voting thinking "my vote doesnt count - idrather bitch about it online and say i know what im talking about"...the fuck.

im also getting sick of all this god bless america bullshit....god during the olympics all we are going to see is this god bless america..."i won this medal for the firefighters of 9-11" crap.....seriously, if it took 5,000 lives to wake up america then thats pretty sad