Agreed. May I just point out, my message to you was not that. But yeah. You dont just flip the switch like that in 24 hours. Its all about PR, not his belief.
I think she was in nursing school the entire time. OK, sorry about that. I suppose I didn't directly respond to your comments. Yet, I did want to relate the story about my father showing tremendous courage (as a "white guy") and fortitude going directly into the Portland Black community - moreover, during incredibly racially divided times (Watts riots, MLK, etc. - to help bring unity and healing. (I remember, as a 12-year-old in '69 & '70, my dad, mom, and me driving up Williams and Vancouver Ave.'s on our way to church...bars on store windows, people on the streets looking at this pasty white family driving through their neighborhoods...and, honestly, being a bit - actually, quite a bit - scared.) Dozens of Black folks came to his funeral/memorial to honor and bear testimony of his love and efforts of over 40 years. In fact, it was the Black pastor of that church who delivered the touching eulogy. All this said to bear witness that sometimes....just sometimes...our protests and hopeful cures can be carried out.....one person at a time. His was.
Yet for all your father’s efforts (for which he is to be commended) it’s so very obvious that absolutely nothing has changed in the 50+ years since then. We can’t look back on stuff that didn’t work a half a century ago. We have to look forward to making sure that a half a century from now we can look back and say “WTF????”.
I look at patriotism similarly to religion. It’s a political measure. It’s a fake, made up excuse to hate or like someone. It’s become associated with the right, while at the same time they sure act like some of the most unpatriotic and UNreligious people I know. How can you be patriotic and a “real American” and hate different cultures? How can you be a worshiper of Christ and Trump? It’s all a facade to hide behind.
Then, when folks seem to try to do the right thing..... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb...picture-protestor-hugging-police-officer.html
Hiding behind the veil of patriotism to mask intrinsic racism. Par for the course. @ABM your thoughts on this?
It's the GOP's MO. Like how Trump went to multiple churches for photo ops this week to look like a good Christian. Or how he repeatedly claimed to reopen America on Easter. Let's be real here, there is only one place he's gonna end up after dying-- and it doesn't have pearly gates at the entrance, no matter how much he says otherwise. Or how Pence in Indiana enabled bigotry against the LGBT community with his "Religious Freedom Restoration Act." I was here when businesses started leaving the state after that bullshit. Every one of my neighbors had a PENCE MUST GO sign in their yards, but this MFer ended up one missed heartbeat from the Whitehouse. It's all a play to placate their fanatical base who are so blinded by the propaganda on Fox News that they can't see the truth. But the spineless enablers in the Senate is what worries me most. If these selfish fucks could stop worrying about their own re-election while lying thru their teeth, that could effectively muzzle the idiot president. But that remains to be seen whether there is even ONE honest GOP member left in this country.
Re: patriotism Conservatives and liberals have different ideas of patriotism. For conservatives, "patriotism" means supporting the US through symbolism and, crucially, not criticizing it. Criticizing it means disloyalty. For liberals, "patriotism" means forcing the nation to live up to it's high-minded (and legitimately fine) ideals. When the nation doesn't, pointing out those problems that need to be fixed. These are generalities. Individuals can, of course, differ. But it's certainly been the running theme I've seen from members of each group. Coming from this (liberal) individual, the flag is not sacrosanct. It's just an emblem of a nation that, like every other nation, has a complicated history and stands for good things and bad things. One shouldn't blindly support a nation and one surely shouldn't blindly support a piece of cloth that stands for that nation. As humans, we're capable of much more nuanced discussion than "love it or leave it."
As an aside I'd like to think the theme, In God We Trust was a good thing, high-minded/moraled, and patriotic idea. But, I digress.....
It's stupid and it's backwards. It should be, God Trusted Us. He entrusted us this beautiful land and we're just fucking it up.
