Stupid people
I don't like stupid people, I think we already established that. Sometimes though, I find myself puzzled at the logic of others and I can't just dismiss it with "okay, this guy is stupid".
I recently read this and started thinking exactly that. There is more to my response than "I think he's wrong" - I just don't get it. How can someone articulate such [enter negative adjective here] thoughts? Did he feel that in order to get published online he has to be blunt to the extent of ridiculous? Why do people use inflammatory words when there is no justification for them? won't that just belittle other cases where such words are more appropriate?
What am I ranting about? I really don't like people who use terms like "fascist" or "nazi" too lightly. It's degrading. It's ... what's the word... redundant. The almighty US of A may be at a place that is not, let's say, desireable, if you're a liberal left-wing free-thinker (not that there's anything wrong with that), but it is far from being a fascist nation. Building on the foundations of national pride in times of dire is basic... trivial... Sense of nationality is the building block of today's modern nation - ask any Political Sciences freshman after his first lesson in modern politics. That doesn't make the country totalitarian.
The author of this so-called essay jumps from one thing to the other with no connecting line. The example he chose to begin with is one of the dumbest I can think of. Complaining that a military choir perform the American national anthem is like complaining Um-Kul-Tum sings in Arabic. I suspect that to this guy the American anthem is something like "Oh say, can you see... blah blah blah... o'vr the land of the free and the home of the brave". The American anthem is all about the military and nationality - "... And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there". After this ludicrous example, he complains about the fighter planes that flew over the stadium. As if that was something new. Come on! But after that he just loses it and goes all over the place. What's the point? Should America be the world's cop or shouldn't it? Does this essay come to warn us that the US is fascist or that it is on its way to become one? to simplify the matter -- is the US evil or righteous?
I know there's no black & white answer here. I myself don't like some of the things in the States and its current political state, but there is no justification whatsoever for words like "fascism". not just fascism but "pure fascism"...
I will end this post with the quote of the day... some may find the connection...
Grandpa: Bart, have you ever read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"?
Bart: I glanced at it. Boy cries wolf, has a few laughs... I forgot how it ends.
I recently read this and started thinking exactly that. There is more to my response than "I think he's wrong" - I just don't get it. How can someone articulate such [enter negative adjective here] thoughts? Did he feel that in order to get published online he has to be blunt to the extent of ridiculous? Why do people use inflammatory words when there is no justification for them? won't that just belittle other cases where such words are more appropriate?
What am I ranting about? I really don't like people who use terms like "fascist" or "nazi" too lightly. It's degrading. It's ... what's the word... redundant. The almighty US of A may be at a place that is not, let's say, desireable, if you're a liberal left-wing free-thinker (not that there's anything wrong with that), but it is far from being a fascist nation. Building on the foundations of national pride in times of dire is basic... trivial... Sense of nationality is the building block of today's modern nation - ask any Political Sciences freshman after his first lesson in modern politics. That doesn't make the country totalitarian.
The author of this so-called essay jumps from one thing to the other with no connecting line. The example he chose to begin with is one of the dumbest I can think of. Complaining that a military choir perform the American national anthem is like complaining Um-Kul-Tum sings in Arabic. I suspect that to this guy the American anthem is something like "Oh say, can you see... blah blah blah... o'vr the land of the free and the home of the brave". The American anthem is all about the military and nationality - "... And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there". After this ludicrous example, he complains about the fighter planes that flew over the stadium. As if that was something new. Come on! But after that he just loses it and goes all over the place. What's the point? Should America be the world's cop or shouldn't it? Does this essay come to warn us that the US is fascist or that it is on its way to become one? to simplify the matter -- is the US evil or righteous?
I know there's no black & white answer here. I myself don't like some of the things in the States and its current political state, but there is no justification whatsoever for words like "fascism". not just fascism but "pure fascism"...
I will end this post with the quote of the day... some may find the connection...
Grandpa: Bart, have you ever read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"?
Bart: I glanced at it. Boy cries wolf, has a few laughs... I forgot how it ends.