Patriotism or Zealousy?
"next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water
- e.e. cummings
I read this poem in the weeks leading up to 9/11 and thought I needed to get it posted. Like most things this year, time got away from me before I was able to get it up for commentary. It seems that may have actually been a good thing.
For this week the Texas Board of Education has issued an advisory to the editors/publishers of social studies textbooks, letting them know that textbooks submitted with an anti-Christian. pro-Muslim bias will not be acceptable and therefore won't be permitted to be used in Texas public school classrooms. Which means they likely will not be published, since Texas is the second largest market for such books in the country.
Crazy.
i admit to not having read a social studies textbook for more than 20 years. But it makes me cringe to hear and see all the anti-Muslin hysteria taking place right now. A Muslim center in lower Manhattan? So what? I mean, really? THAT is twisting your nuts? There are WAY more important things to worry about than that. This is NOT consecrated ground we are talking about here. Certainly what happened on 9/11 was tragic. Certainly is was an affront to the American lifestyle, which has been one of freedom and opportunity for a couple centuries. But the Muslim center being proposed is NOT at ground zero. To me, this represents a chance for the US to demonstrate what makes it so different from (and so envied by) much of the world - we allow respectful disagreement and opposition. We embrace the strengths of our minority populations and are willing to utilize them for the betterment of the whole. We protect those minorities from suppression by populists and it is our diversity which has not allowed fascists to gain power.
But it seems to me America is very close to losing those ideals. Constant finger pointing and blame assigning has created gridlock in Washington between the two dominant parties. Now it appears a couple of focal points are developing which will allow Americans to focus their frustrations in a dangerous and unified fashion - inept bureaucrats (Washington's Big Government) and Islam.
If the time I did spend reading social studies books served me well, I learned that Hitler was ushered into power on the shoulders of a movement seeking the answer of who was to blame for difficult times. His ascension to the presidency of Germany wasn't the result of a coup or revolution. He was elected by an outside group that was going to fix the system (can you say Tea Party?).
I am not calling the Tea Party candidates Nazis. I am saying Americans need to hold each other accountable for our actions and assume responsibility for participating in our democratic republic with wisdom and vigor. Or we risk being like those who "rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter."
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water
- e.e. cummings
I read this poem in the weeks leading up to 9/11 and thought I needed to get it posted. Like most things this year, time got away from me before I was able to get it up for commentary. It seems that may have actually been a good thing.
For this week the Texas Board of Education has issued an advisory to the editors/publishers of social studies textbooks, letting them know that textbooks submitted with an anti-Christian. pro-Muslim bias will not be acceptable and therefore won't be permitted to be used in Texas public school classrooms. Which means they likely will not be published, since Texas is the second largest market for such books in the country.
Crazy.
i admit to not having read a social studies textbook for more than 20 years. But it makes me cringe to hear and see all the anti-Muslin hysteria taking place right now. A Muslim center in lower Manhattan? So what? I mean, really? THAT is twisting your nuts? There are WAY more important things to worry about than that. This is NOT consecrated ground we are talking about here. Certainly what happened on 9/11 was tragic. Certainly is was an affront to the American lifestyle, which has been one of freedom and opportunity for a couple centuries. But the Muslim center being proposed is NOT at ground zero. To me, this represents a chance for the US to demonstrate what makes it so different from (and so envied by) much of the world - we allow respectful disagreement and opposition. We embrace the strengths of our minority populations and are willing to utilize them for the betterment of the whole. We protect those minorities from suppression by populists and it is our diversity which has not allowed fascists to gain power.
But it seems to me America is very close to losing those ideals. Constant finger pointing and blame assigning has created gridlock in Washington between the two dominant parties. Now it appears a couple of focal points are developing which will allow Americans to focus their frustrations in a dangerous and unified fashion - inept bureaucrats (Washington's Big Government) and Islam.
If the time I did spend reading social studies books served me well, I learned that Hitler was ushered into power on the shoulders of a movement seeking the answer of who was to blame for difficult times. His ascension to the presidency of Germany wasn't the result of a coup or revolution. He was elected by an outside group that was going to fix the system (can you say Tea Party?).
I am not calling the Tea Party candidates Nazis. I am saying Americans need to hold each other accountable for our actions and assume responsibility for participating in our democratic republic with wisdom and vigor. Or we risk being like those who "rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter."
posted by Kurt at 9:01 PM
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