Quick Hits

(Note:  Early on in the blog I titled a number of posts "Quick Hits."  Usually because there was too much going on to limit the post to one topic.  Here, it's been a while since my last post, so I'll cover a number of recent events in a single post.)

Recently, a reporter for Campus Reform, took a stroll around Georgetown in order to ask young people how they felt about being an American.  Here's one:  I am "embarrassed to be an American every day," citing our "racist history, (and) colonization."  Here's another:  "A lot of times it's just embarrassing (because) we continue to support Israel, which is dislocating quite a few Palestinian people."  Yet another said our economic system of capitalism "just cares about money."  Not a surprise, really.  I am sure young people frequently hear from their professors how bad the United States is.  Not to mention what they hear from Democratic leaders and the mainstream media.

Here was an Op-Ed in the New York Times:  "Today, flying the American flag from the back of a pickup truck or over a lawn is increasingly seen as a clue, albeit an imperfect one, to a person's political affiliation in a deeply divided nation."  Oh.  Or, maybe, it is a sign of being proud of our country, of being proud to be an American.  

Here is Democratic Representative Cori Bush, a newer member of "The Squad":  "When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this:  the freedom they're referring to is for white people.  This land is stolen land and Black people still aren't free."  Oh.  Shame on all of you who still own black slaves.  Don't you know about the Emancipation Proclamation?  The 14th Amendment?  Juneteenth?  Please, dear readers, report any slave owners you see to the appropriate authorities.  

Here is NPR:  The Declaration of Independence is "a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies."  Oh.  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  But women were not included in that declaration.  Nor were blacks.  But, you say, they certainly are today!  Wrong.  Everything is just as bad as it was in 1950, even as bad as in 1850.  Just ask Cori Bush.  

Here's a former MSNBC anchor:  "Fuck Independence Day."  Nice talk.  "Not only were we not free, the whole reason the Colonies wanted independence was because Britain was moving toward abolishing slavery."  There it is.  The 1619 Project.  America was founded on slavery.  For no other reason.  America did have slavery at the time of its founding.  But if America was founded on slavery, then why didn't all the colonies/states allow slavery?  

Here is an Op-Ed from the Washington Post, describing the Statue of Liberty as "a symbol of hypocrisy and unfilled promises."  Oh.  The title of the Op-Ed was "Maybe it's time to admit that the Statue of Liberty has never quite measured up."  Here's more:  the statue is " a symbol of the misuse of liberty - as a hollow promise, unequally distributed and limited in its application to certain groups."  When I hear this claptrap I hear the voice of a child saying "no fair."  If everything is not perfect for a child it's no fair.  It's akin to kneeling while the Anthem is being played.  "I won't stand for the flag until the country is perfect in every way.  How can I celebrate an imperfect, albeit great, country."  That's what I hear.  And that is the voice of a child.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."  The golden door indeed.  Does not ring "hollow" to me.

Here is a Hispanic contributor to MSNBC:  "What we're seeing right now is a cultural identity crisis that we are undergoing as a community that is completely splitting and dividing Latinos."  Oh.  I did not realize that Latinos, or members of any group, all had to think alike.  "In this crisis, you have on the one hand, Latinos that believe in order to achieve the American Dream, you have to get as close as possible to whiteness, and that is something that Trump gave them permission to do."  Oh.  Trump gave them permission to want to achieve the American Dream?  Good for Trump!

"On the other hand, you have Latinos that believe that in order to achieve the American Dream, you have to get as far as possible from whiteness."  Oh.  What is "whiteness" anyway?  I am not sure if this commentator understands that she is saying, essentially, that all Latinos want to achieve the American Dream.  Well good for them.  I for one would like to see everyone in our society succeed.  I do not know anyone who does not.  If they all want to achieve the American Dream, why does it follow that they all must think alike?  There is no "cultural identity crisis."  But there was, to her chagrin, an increased number of Latinos voting for Trump and Republicans in the last election.