Reader Posts
« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »
Patriotism by any other name
It would be ridiculous to argue that military service inoculates someone from criticism, but service to the country should give people pause before they play the patriotism card when they can't handle someone's critique of American democracy in practice.
Advertisement
Comments (4)
An excellent article that well surmises much of what I have been trying to convey to friends. Thanks for the tip.
April 3, 2008 9:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for posting the link to that article. I hope it gets more play than the fox video clips.
April 3, 2008 9:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
An American veteran of the American Civil War, Ambrose Bierce, spoke for this American veteran of America's War on Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) when he defined "patriotism" as "combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any many ambitious to illuminate his name." Bierce also defined "patriot" as "the dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors." I submit that many contemporary veterans of Deputy Dubya's name-illuminating ambitions have come to understand utterly the truth of what Bierce and I learned the hard way as patriotic tools whose own government duped and torched us as flammable trash fit only to light the comic conqueror's parade to puerile perfidy.
April 3, 2008 10:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
And you know what really irks me about this? These people condemning the man, the Hannitys and O'Reillys and Limbaughs, are the ones who accuse those who criticize the war as "not supporting the troops."
April 3, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Post a Comment