Good point. Me and my fellow liberals seem much happier than the angry voters who brought us Trump. (or even those who liked Rubio, Cruz, or JEB).
This is pretty much it.
I know I’m a day or two late to this party, but my neighborhood goes all out for July 4th, and it’s pretty well split 50/50, red/blue. Streets shut down and there’s an entire day of parades, fireworks, drinking, and tiny American flags. I was out with my family in my red white and blue with my American flag sunglasses along with everyone else. It really brings the community together.
It’s not a dour holiday like Memorial Day, or a serious one like Veteran’s Day, or… whatever we’re supposed to feel on Labor Day and Washington’s Birthday. There’s no Anglo baggage like Thanksgiving, or religious baggage like Christmas. It’s just a big dumb holiday that everyone can celebrate by virtue of the imaginary borders they happen to be in. It’s a chance for us to put the American ideal in practice – it doesn’t matter where you’re from, what your background is, how long you’ve been here, if you like living in America then come on out, put on some goofy-ass clothes, get drunk, and maybe blow some stuff up. This is as good as patriotism gets.
When patriotism is used to force people in line and stifle thought/speech, like conservatives are fond of claiming political correctness is used, that’s bad, because as John Mace points out, it’s being used to divide rather than bring together. When it’s used to denigrate foreigners, or justify anti-social behavior on a global scale, that’s bad.
First, he was *not *our preferred candidate - you may recall some discussion of that point - but it’s fair to point out how many of us *did *prefer him.
I do think he tried to appeal to patriotism, on the gut level called jingoism. Stirring up doubt and worry into fears, fear into anger, and anger into votes is how low-grade pols have done it since ancient Athens. All it takes is to identify an enemy group or two to blame for everything, and once again it was on ethnic and religious lines. But the appeal really is to love of country, even if it requires ignoring or dismissing the *stated *principles of a democratic republic.
You may see it as pointless hair-splitting, but it IS important to note that Secretary Clinton said “are not AMERICA” and not “are not AMERICANS”. I can indicate someone demonstrating the qualities generally associated with the deplorables and have no problem telling a foreigner “That person is an American.” If I were to tell the foreigner “That person is AMERICA,” I would not be surprised to have that foreigner recoil in horror.
Hell, if I believed for a moment that “That person is AMERICA” applied, I’d recoil in horror.
Well, it was proposed by a Canadian…
j/k. It’s a good test, but we need to understand that it’s a test for “What is America?” and not a test for “Who is an American?”
But could he have found a Junteenth Appliance Sale? 'Cos that’s the standard…
It is kind of hilarious how you conservatives are pissing and moaning about how liberals are ruining America, what with their inability to simply accept the blessings of this great country, and if only you could get rid of them that would Make America Great Again.
Waaaah, liberals have ruined our once-great country! We never win anymore! America sucks! Waaaaah!
You misspelled “radical reactionaries.”
Of course, if you hadn’t, there wouldn’t be much to find odd.
One issue might well be that recognising the point at which slavery was outlawed also means you end up pointing to all the years it wasn’t.
Perhaps more to the point, ending slavery isn’t a great good. It’s the cessation of a great evil. Celebrating the end of slavery in the US seems something like a serial killer going “Hey, I stopped killing people back in '02, how about a party?” It makes more sense in such a case to celebrate the police who have stopped those murders, or the therapist who convinced the killer to act otherwise - likewise, with slavery, to celebrate the actions of people who contributed to its end.
It is the epitome of an anglo celebration. Some people might tell themselves, “I’m celebrating the ideals of America, even though the implementation has been problematic in many ways,” and that’s their choice. But it’s pretty hard to defend the assertion that celebrating the 4th of July and American patriotism doesn’t carry an implicit message that Americans who have traditionally been (or are currently) oppressed/at odds with the US government should keep quiet and participate in the revelries and speeches of the oh-so-festive day.
I don’t think people who celebrate Juneteenth look at it in such a way.
“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
That’s why Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.
Right. I mean, maybe your average white American is unaware of the baggage, but plenty of people have a problem with the 4th of July. They are just out-numbered by the fans.
NPR Tweeted Declaration of Independence and Trump Supports Flipped Out.
I wonder how many of those negative tweets were written by people who call themselves patriots.
‘somebody said something stupid on Twitter’ sounds just like every other Tuesday. At the risk of sounding like President Trump, I think it’s sad that this is considered a news-worthy story by the Huffington Post.
ETA: but when CNN is threatening to dox people, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Personally, I find it hilarious, indicative, and ironic all at the same time.
Who is CNN threatening to dox?
(I actually had to look that word up…100K vocab and I never heard of it before. Makes sense, based on ‘document,’ I guess.)
The guy that created that Trump-wrestling-CNN meme that the President posted on Twitter a couple of days ago. TBH, I haven’t been following the story very closely. Here is the relevant portion of CNN’s ‘statement’ / story / whatever-it-is:
I think it’s sad that there are Americans who do not recognize the words of the Declaration of Independence and call those words “trash” and “horsechit”[sic], and they are unabashed enough to expose their ignorance online in hateful fashion.
I also find it sad that instead of agreeing with me that these people are idiots, you’re attacking the media. I wonder who you could be getting that tactic from?