Uneducated patriotism is dangerous, Conclusion

1 John 3:18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

In our previous 2 posts here and here, we spent time focusing on veterans charity scams, most notably the Disabled Veterans Foundation. Were not sure that many drew any correlation between that which we wrote and the title of these posts "Uneducated Patriotism is Dangerous."  Because our contention would be that many of the flag waving self professed proclamations of patriotism that escalated to a roar after 9-11 were/are Bullshit!  O.K. your free to click out now if your reality is tenuous and you can not handle the truth.

From dictionary.com:
Hero noun, plural he·roes; for 5 also he·ros. 
1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.


2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.


3. the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc. 


4. Classical Mythology . a. a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity. b. (in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability. c. (in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.


We left out 5 as it was a reference to a Hero sandwich.


Patriot noun 1. a person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion. 


2. a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, especially of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government. 


Patriotism noun devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.


Note the action words, brave deeds, performed, saved, supports, defends, love of ones country.


Now in our previous posts we spoke of people giving blindly to individuals in uniform on a street corner. But remember the Bible quotation above, "actions in truth".  Sadly what these individuals were engaging in were actions to support a lie.  The fact that they were ignorant and ripe for the picking compounds the crime of not loving country and those who serve the ideals of liberty, freedom and truth enough to know what the hell is going on in their own communities.


In their minds it was as if, "I saw a man in uniform therefor it was good."  


Which is making the same mistake as saying, "I saw a man in a hoodie therefor it was bad?"


Or "He believes in the second amendment so he must be a right wingnut" countered with, "She believes in the 4th amendment and decisions between her and her doctor, e.g. abortion, make her an unchristian, left wing liberal socialist".


We can and we may, carry this to extremes to demonstrate that most people make their decisions on emotion re-enforced by stereotypes and flavor of the month media pundit and very few on facts based on science, history, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.


We can hear some now going, well this is absurd. But is it? Since 9-11, under the leadership of both political parties with the help of corporate funding we have experienced one of the most egregious assaults on Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (declaration of Independence) and attacks on the "General Welfare" of the populace (Constitution) in U.S. History.


We point the finger of blame everywhere while we engage in the tokenism of putting a dollar in a charlatans bucket that robs a dollar from who it should rightfully go. And why? Because it is so much easier to put a dollar in a bucket than to watch the endless exposes on charities featured on CNN over the last months. Oh but wait, CNN??? Ain't that one of them there commie liberal stations??? Well, we don't know. Is it? Can you show us the facts and figures that make it so???


As an analogy we will reference a group we have a great deal of respect for, the Patriot Guard Riders. When we first started riding with the Patriot Guard Riders it was to insure that those, irregardless of how you may feel about war, paid with their life their hopes for your freedom, were buried with respect and dignity deserved. They died for a cause greater than themselves and that by the definition above is an act of heroism.


But after awhile, they were riding for policemen, forest rangers and God knows who else. They were all heros.


Well not teachers who for low pay go put up with kids taught by their parents that respect and tradition have no meaning anymore. They are not heros worth a motorcycle parade. They began riding for people whether they died in the line of duty or not. They rode for people who were killed in a car crash. Heroic? Not by definition. My father served in the Korean war, I can tell you, he was no hero. 


Some didn't even bother riding to the flag lines and funerals. They just rode around town with patriot guard banners on their windshields thinking it would help them avoid getting a speeding ticket.


We even asked the question, after awhile, if all we do is stand around graves like potted plants and make the runs, but only if the weather is good, and not take action against that which is the ultimate cause of the deaths, i.e. where were those weapons of mass destruction? Where was Bin Laden? Were we not ourselves becoming tolerant if not complicit in the ongoing deaths? Were we really Patriots?


But to even ask such a question was to invite scorn and ridicule in a country that encouraged free debate among men. Love it or leave it. Hmmmmm......, how about, Fix it or leave it!


Have we become so immune/tolerant to the rampant corruption of our leaders, the selling out of our citizens, that the best patriotic act we can bring ourselves to engage in is to put a dollar in a thief's bucket? If our naiveté can not even get past the street corner, how can we intelligently choose our leaders? If we can be scammed in our own backyards, what makes us think it is so hard to scam us daily within the confines of the Washington beltway?


Now there are some who want to pass laws against men in green panhandling on the side of the road. We say, you can not legislate stupid. If one wants to be a true patriot one must educate themselves. One must not depend on the government for everything. Oh wait. Now were getting confused. How does it work. It's o.k. to depend on the government to keep us safe from ourselves???


Judging a person by his clothing is no different than judging a person by all the other criteria we use to judge people negatively. Because as the men in the green camouflage uniforms on the streets of Crawfordville and all across Florida are happy to demonstrate for us, we are most wrong, when we think we are most right! And therein lies the seeds of Dangerous Patriotism. Therein lies the seeds of Fascism.


So though we may wave flags, try and sing the national anthem before a ball game, pay homage to our freedoms at the beach while toasting them with beer every holiday, it is all for nothing. Now storming the capital and banks on the next independence day, that would be for something. Unless of course it's good beach weather. But hey, were safe from them damn terrorists ain't we!Add to Technorati Favorites

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