I feared I might be wading in with my normal size 9 boots, but it was heartening to hear such perspectives as Vika's and MG's and CKs and Rhuby and others, and I think you are dead right to reflect with pride on your dad's transmitted values FB! Thansk for the link to that article Vernon - funnily enough I had been comparing notes with other board members about McCarthyism so this struck a real chord with me:
Robert Jensen, associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin […] and many others are concerned about Lynne Cheney's group, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which she co-founded in 1995 with Senator Joseph Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut.
That group issued a report after September 11 called "Defending Civilization: How Our Universities Are Failing America, and What Can Be Done About It." It said, "When a nation's intellectuals are unwilling to defend its civilization, they give comfort to its adversaries." And it cited more than 100 examples of what it considers unpatriotic acts by specific academics.
"What's analogous to McCarthyism is the self-appointed guardians who are engaging in private blacklisting," says Eric Foner, professor of history at Columbia University. "That's why the Lynne Cheney thing is so disturbing: Her group is trying to intimidate individuals who hold different points of view. There aren't loyalty oaths being demanded of teachers yet, but we seem to be at the beginning of a process that could get a lot worse and is already cause for considerable alarm."
This, for me, is what lies at the heart of this debate: do we abnegate our responsibility to use our intellect in the face of terrifying crimes? I submit that if we do, we truly lose connection with all that is best in the slow and fequently oscillating development of human civilisation - whether the contributions to that civilisation have come from the West, or from the East.
That is why, for me at least, no cosy pattern of pre-digested dogma (whether based on flag or other faith-symbols) will ever cut it: we can never evade our individual and personal commitment to try and think carefully and act judiciously and show love before anger.
As, TEd, for your intemperate personal response to my simple attack on the message you were holding up for glorification ~ well, I think your response speaks for itself. But the facts if you wish to gather them are plainly published - America, for its many sterling qualities, is a net consumer of the world's assets in every territory of the globe. For every $ spent in 'aid' many dollars are grabbed in crippling debt payments in the less developed areas of the globe. I know you to be a very intelligent and good hearted man; I suspect in other times and places you may recognise that your current posts in this thread do not do you justice. I shall not post in this thread again, lest this degenerate into another ugly contest of irreconcilable politics - the intention of my original post was not to belittle your current beliefs, but rather to give you fair warning that other equally intelligent and passionately committed democrats may profoundly and completely differ to your views.
