Anti-American?
One of the most mindless allegations against the anti-war left is that we are anti-American. The allegation confuses opposition to a regime and its policies with antipathy to a people and their culture. Yet it is repeated ad naseum by the Tory press and Tory bloggers. As an amusement Politaholic has decided to list some things/people about the USA he likes, and some of the things he doesn’t like (There is a lot more that could go into each category and they are not in any order).
Things/People I like
1. The First Amendment (both free speech and the separation of church and state).
2. Republicanism. (The head of state is called “Mr. President” not “Your Highness” or “Your Excellency” or “Your Magnificence” or whatever).
3. Ethnic pluralism: to be an American one does not have to belong to a particular ethnic group.
4. Movies (Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Chinatown…and many others).
5. Music: jazz, blues, rock-and-roll, rock….and Bob Dylan.
6. Animations and cartoons: Doonsbury, Charlie Brown…The Simpsons…Top Cat…Fantasia.
7. Fiction: Vonnegut, Heller, De Lillo, Roth…and many others.
8. The two greatest Americans: Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr.
Dislikes
1. George W Bush; and Cheney, Nixon, Kissinger…and many others.
2. The near-genocide of Native Americans.
3. Slavery. And Jim Crow.
4. Invading other countries and killing the natives: from Cuba to Vietnam to Iraq…and many others.
5. Creationism. Religious fruitcakes. The impossibility of being in politics without at least feigning religosity.
6. Racism. The obsession with ethnic origin (“hyphenated-Americans”).
7. Capital punishment.
8. The movies: from The Green Berets to Rambo to that unbelievable movie with Clint Eastwood which glorifies the United States’s (population: 303 million) invasion of Grenada (population: 100,000). And many others.
9. The music: Rap (which is crap)…and some other stuff…
10. Sentimentality and emotional incontinence (“I love you guys…”).
11. All those bloody CSI programmes; and for that matter most American TV.
12. Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone…and Robin Williams. And many others.
14. The health care system.
15. Fox News…and much else.
(I know, one list is longer than another). Am I an anti-American?
Things/People I like
1. The First Amendment (both free speech and the separation of church and state).
2. Republicanism. (The head of state is called “Mr. President” not “Your Highness” or “Your Excellency” or “Your Magnificence” or whatever).
3. Ethnic pluralism: to be an American one does not have to belong to a particular ethnic group.
4. Movies (Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Chinatown…and many others).
5. Music: jazz, blues, rock-and-roll, rock….and Bob Dylan.
6. Animations and cartoons: Doonsbury, Charlie Brown…The Simpsons…Top Cat…Fantasia.
7. Fiction: Vonnegut, Heller, De Lillo, Roth…and many others.
8. The two greatest Americans: Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr.
Dislikes
1. George W Bush; and Cheney, Nixon, Kissinger…and many others.
2. The near-genocide of Native Americans.
3. Slavery. And Jim Crow.
4. Invading other countries and killing the natives: from Cuba to Vietnam to Iraq…and many others.
5. Creationism. Religious fruitcakes. The impossibility of being in politics without at least feigning religosity.
6. Racism. The obsession with ethnic origin (“hyphenated-Americans”).
7. Capital punishment.
8. The movies: from The Green Berets to Rambo to that unbelievable movie with Clint Eastwood which glorifies the United States’s (population: 303 million) invasion of Grenada (population: 100,000). And many others.
9. The music: Rap (which is crap)…and some other stuff…
10. Sentimentality and emotional incontinence (“I love you guys…”).
11. All those bloody CSI programmes; and for that matter most American TV.
12. Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone…and Robin Williams. And many others.
14. The health care system.
15. Fox News…and much else.
(I know, one list is longer than another). Am I an anti-American?
posted by Politaholic at 12:20 pm
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