...... if you choose to actually go inside and get a haircut in this shop pro-fessing it's mock patriotism in this way, you might want to avoid any dis-
cussion of politics with your barber until he's finished cutting your hair.
Sadly this lite, one-third-the-calories, less filling platitude is what has become of the intention of the original, full-bodied wisdom, to wit, "My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right," as expounded by Senator Carl Shurz in October 1899 (and my instructor, Peter C. Hinde in his class, The Ongoing Revolution: Latin America vs. U.S. Imperial Foreign Policy, last Monday).
Country, right or wrong, is the inbred cousin of "America, Love It Or Leave It" as espoused by simplistic self-professed patriotic blowhards, many who can be heard daily, M-F, on radio airwaves nationwide inducing millions of their listeners into somnambulistic trance-like states. If very lucky (or unlucky?) you can sometimes spot such proclamations proudly displayed on the ass-ends of their vehicles. It's curt, somewhat threatening, and totally vacuous.
Sadly, the United States which was 37th in the World Health Organization's ranking of national health systems (France was #1 on that one), didn't do nearly as well in the Happy Planet Index. The U.S. came in a dismal 114th!
That makes it all the more important to remember that barbershop sign, "Our country right or wrong!" which, using that blind patriotism, makes it easier to accept such disappointing U.S. rankings I suppose. "Don't question it, just accept it," right?
A recent article entitled The El Paso miracle, "How can a comparatively poor, high-immigration town that sits across the border from super-violent Ciudad Juarez be one of the safest big cities in America?" Originally printed at Reason.com, I found this one of particular interest, residing as I do, in El Paso. And it makes some points worth pondering.
Country, right or wrong, is the inbred cousin of "America, Love It Or Leave It" as espoused by simplistic self-professed patriotic blowhards, many who can be heard daily, M-F, on radio airwaves nationwide inducing millions of their listeners into somnambulistic trance-like states. If very lucky (or unlucky?) you can sometimes spot such proclamations proudly displayed on the ass-ends of their vehicles. It's curt, somewhat threatening, and totally vacuous.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, another of those studies that reveal such things as the healthiest, the happiest, the greenest -- whatever -- place to live on Earth has come out.
This one comes from the "nef -- economics as if people and the planet mattered" website (which is kind of a misnomer as they hint at, because people really don't matter). Entitled The Happy Planet Index 2.0, it declares Costa Rica and its citizens as having "the highest life satisfaction in the world, have the second-highest average life expectancy of the Americas (second only to Canada) and have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of ‘one-planet living’: consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natural resources."
Meanwhile, another of those studies that reveal such things as the healthiest, the happiest, the greenest -- whatever -- place to live on Earth has come out.
This one comes from the "nef -- economics as if people and the planet mattered" website (which is kind of a misnomer as they hint at, because people really don't matter). Entitled The Happy Planet Index 2.0, it declares Costa Rica and its citizens as having "the highest life satisfaction in the world, have the second-highest average life expectancy of the Americas (second only to Canada) and have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of ‘one-planet living’: consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natural resources."
Sadly, the United States which was 37th in the World Health Organization's ranking of national health systems (France was #1 on that one), didn't do nearly as well in the Happy Planet Index. The U.S. came in a dismal 114th!
That makes it all the more important to remember that barbershop sign, "Our country right or wrong!" which, using that blind patriotism, makes it easier to accept such disappointing U.S. rankings I suppose. "Don't question it, just accept it," right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A recent article entitled The El Paso miracle, "How can a comparatively poor, high-immigration town that sits across the border from super-violent Ciudad Juarez be one of the safest big cities in America?" Originally printed at Reason.com, I found this one of particular interest, residing as I do, in El Paso. And it makes some points worth pondering.
- El Paso is ranked as the third safest big city in the U.S. Sharing the border with its sister city Juarez, Mexico, one of the most violent cities on Earth (ongoing drug war), makes this even more remarkable.
- And, if you can take one more study, "Men's Health magazine recently ranked El Paso the second 'happiest' city in America, right after Laredo, Texas --another border town, where the Hispanic population is approaching 95 percent."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So harkening back to the barbershop platitude, "Our country right or wrong!" and that other, "America, love it or leave it," it seems obvious such blind patriotism has arisen from mostly native born Americans who have become complacent and lazy in their thinking.
As Senator Carl Shurz assured us back in 1899, “I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: ‘Our country, right or wrong!’ They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: ‘Our country—when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.’”
But he was wrong. Hiding behind cheap and empty jingles, it appears we no longer recognize or appreciate true patriotism.
"America, Love it or Leave It!" No, instead, Dada has a suggestion: "America, Everyone Get the Hell Out!" Yes, I'm thinking all of us, save for its original inhabitants, Native Americans, should be deported. No exceptions. And our present overseers from Washington, D.C. should be in the vanguard of all of us leaving.
Perhaps then, those who really love it will try to make it back (unless they end up deported to someplace like France, Costa Rica, or Denmark -- the world's "happiest nation") and decide to stay. But be warned! It won't be an easy return for many.
There are a lot of unscrupulous people just waiting to take advantage of you in your desperation to cross back into the U.S. of A. And remember, if entering via our southern border, it can be particularly deadly since our "old government," before being deported, decided the placing of water jugs in the 100+ degree deserts to aid you in your survival are now illegal, considered littering instead of humanitarian aid. (Whether Native Americans will continue that policy or not is unknown. They may decide to make it as difficult as possible for us to return.)
But I trust those who do choose to return and who do manage to survive the hazards and make it back just might gain a new appreciation for the United States. Maybe they won't content themselves with being in 37th place in health, 23rd in happiness, or a 114th in satisfaction. Maybe with their renewal of forgotten appreciations will come a new love for the nation they have rediscovered -- at the expense of empty cliches of 'right or wrong' or 'love it or leave it.'
As Senator Carl Shurz assured us back in 1899, “I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: ‘Our country, right or wrong!’ They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: ‘Our country—when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.’”
But he was wrong. Hiding behind cheap and empty jingles, it appears we no longer recognize or appreciate true patriotism.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"America, Love it or Leave It!" No, instead, Dada has a suggestion: "America, Everyone Get the Hell Out!" Yes, I'm thinking all of us, save for its original inhabitants, Native Americans, should be deported. No exceptions. And our present overseers from Washington, D.C. should be in the vanguard of all of us leaving.
Perhaps then, those who really love it will try to make it back (unless they end up deported to someplace like France, Costa Rica, or Denmark -- the world's "happiest nation") and decide to stay. But be warned! It won't be an easy return for many.
There are a lot of unscrupulous people just waiting to take advantage of you in your desperation to cross back into the U.S. of A. And remember, if entering via our southern border, it can be particularly deadly since our "old government," before being deported, decided the placing of water jugs in the 100+ degree deserts to aid you in your survival are now illegal, considered littering instead of humanitarian aid. (Whether Native Americans will continue that policy or not is unknown. They may decide to make it as difficult as possible for us to return.)
But I trust those who do choose to return and who do manage to survive the hazards and make it back just might gain a new appreciation for the United States. Maybe they won't content themselves with being in 37th place in health, 23rd in happiness, or a 114th in satisfaction. Maybe with their renewal of forgotten appreciations will come a new love for the nation they have rediscovered -- at the expense of empty cliches of 'right or wrong' or 'love it or leave it.'
7 comments:
Since I'm of verifiable Native ancestry, I wholly agree that all "citizens" of immigrant ancestry should get the hell out of our country. Anyone of ancestry that is american from the north to the south poles of this continent can stay. A simple DNA test will tell who is a real American and who isn't. So simple. Yes, it's my country and the rest of you whether or not you Love it or not can go to hell. Except you Dada. And Mrs Dada.
Is that 1/16th Native American ancestry going to keep me here? Actually if you go by ancestry, I should be kicked out because I also have slave-holding ancestors, as well as those who went over the Oregon trail because the East Coast just wasn't Christian enough. I guess I'll move to a happy place...
My country right or wrong means I am just too arrogant to analyze the effects of my country's behavior in history, or now, and I don't care who I f*ck over. And I am superior because God blessed me and not the poor little people who didn't have the forture of being born here.
Wow, isn't it funny how when the N/A's build a big casino on the edge of town, everyone's searching their genealogy to see if they have enough blood to claim a stake in the profits?
OK, OK, -- just kidding here folks. Truth be known, however, Mrs. Dada may get to stay here too -- there's an N/A branch in her family tree. (I'm just not sure what % she is.) Sadly, I'll be getting the boot with about 283 million others. I'm hoping I land in either France or Costa Rica. Holland sounds nice too, but living below sea level is a little unnerving to me. Spain might be nice.
But I was thinking: If I did land in Europe say, and could afford to buy an Air France ticket home, I have this nightmarish daydream as we approach JFK to land, we discover the runways all blocked by trucks and other obstacles the "new government" has conveniently placed in our way, forcing us to land in another country - like Miami. Eeeeek, OMG! Maybe I shouldn't risk a return. Maybe I'd be better off spending the rest of my day and nights in the Louvre with DaVinci's Mona Lisa, or Delacroix's Orphan Girl?
(p.s. Thanks Utah for the offer of immunity. Oh, and xandtrek, feel free to use any of Dada's blogs in your poli-sci classes this fall, OK? ~grin)
Thanks for the permission to use your blogs, Dada. I'm always looking for examples of the Radical Disaffected (RA's).
xandtrek: I've been called lots and lots of names, but Radical Disaffected is the nicest one anyone's verbalized in recent years. Thanks!
ya think we'd (assuming i can't come up with some reasonable facsimile of 'ancestral proof' acceptable to an [immigrant!] government) be allowed into those other countries??? after they see how easy it is to say "Our land for Our People" don't you think they'd start their own "Original People Only" club, kicking out their own second and third wave + immigrants? - and being the unwanted latecomers we'd have to keep on trucking, gathering a larger and larger contingent until we realize that Antarctica is the only place on earth that the human unfolding never managed to inhabit. we could engulf that (soon to be not) ice-covered land mass and in our numbers alone generate enough heat to completely melt that ice flooding most of the earth.
in about 40 days we could, again, spread out over the globe and take our pick of clean scoured lands thereby becoming the first people there... gee just like a carousel
course i'd like to think it would be easier, logistically if nothing else, if WE could learn the difference between tribal thought levels and conscious thought levels that recognize the full relatedness of all humans and their interconnectedness to where they find themselves that is a necessary component of a continued existence while on this rock...
hmmm... wonders if Delacroix's Orphan Girl is as self-portraitish as La Giaconda seems to be...
oh I'd like to stay, please!please, but not because of my verifiable 1/16th, but just to see how the experiment turns out when those out of power assume power. might be like "meet the old boss, same as the new boss" (much like some, not me, are thinking has currently happened).
remember the N.A.'s came here from somewhere else, too. we all did unless we are africans living in africa. and even they might not qualify if we look back a bit further in time to the life-arriving-from-space theory.
oh, but that barber shop sign! OMG, I will NEVER understand anyone who says "right or wrong" about ANYTHING or ANYONE (countries, schools, families, friends, philosophies, religion, etc)! If it's wrong, why would you not want to change it, to right it? Seems like a no-brainer ... uh-oh, I think I just answered my own question.
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