The article is about dealing with the 9/11 attacks and contains this quote from a politician: “we throw our city open to all the world and we never by exclusion-acts debar anyone from learning or seeing anything which an enemy might profit by observing . . . for we place our dependence not so much upon prearranged devices to deceive as upon the courage which springs from our own souls when we are called to action.” The politician’s name is Pericles, one of the greatest men of ancient Athens.
The author is an assistant professor in classical languages & literatures at the U. of Chicago.
That was an excellent article. Thank you for pointing it our, Rowrrbazzle.
I especially liked this part:
Right on. One thing that concerns me most about this whole aftermath is that people aren’t thinking - in our desire to be patriotic, some of us have lost the ability to question - question the actions of our president, our government, our representatives, and our fellow Americans.
Being patriotic is important, but without the partisanship that has caused the country to evolve for over two hundred years, we have no democracy. We have a republic that isn’t representative, a leader whose every wish will be fulfilled to the point of totalitarianism, and absolute and total stasis.
Flags are easy. You can buy one and hang one on your car and your porch and consider yourself patriotic. But there’s more than patriotism than a symbol. Without thinking, questioning, discussing and challenging what is happening right now, we’ll have absolutely nothing to be proud of.