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Oct. 25, 2005 At the beginning, France saved our skins – without the French, there would be no USA. There might have been something similar here in its place - after all, other British properties eventually got their freedom, but history would have no doubt taken many different courses. We were a new democracy, and it was good. Well, sort it. We did a lot of “stuff” that we thought was in our own national best interest, some of it, in hindsight, was rather heinous. Well, lets be real, some of it we knew was heinous while we were doing it. We marched right over lots of Indian cultures, for example. That was “bad”. Now, fast forward to WW2. America didn't enter the war when it saw Hitler rise and attack. It didn't enter the war as yet another dictator had dreams of raping the whole of Europe beyond the German speaking and nearby countries. It didn't enter the war as people suffered. Most of America at the time could trace its ancestry back to that little plot of land, but knowing our kin were being sacked just wasn't “bad” enough for us to get involved. Some say that America in WW2 was inevitable. Some say that if Hitler had remained friendly with Russia, that we'd have had no choice but to negotiate with such a powerful entity and the world might be very different today – whatever the various tales and opinions amount too, we finally entered the war when we were directly threatened. We kicked ass – the sleeping giant awoke. We then did a “good” thing; we didn't conquer the lands of our enemies and make them our own, but we gave them back to their own people. France pre-WW2 sure sounds like it had a weak and ineffectual government. Was it more evil or “bad” than we were when we pounded the American Indians? Does a plot of land with a name, say, like “France” remain the same throughout history? When France last saved our skins, they were ruled by a monarch. Does this say anything about the French people, really, forever, and all time? I've read that the French resistance was quite an effective insurgency against the Nazis. I've read that when the Allies came to France, the Nazis only had a superficial hold over the capital of France. It seems, that some of the population of France had the right stuff, inept government or not. After WW2, global geopolitical power shifted and we found ourselves a true superpower. NATO was a handy way to protect our own self interest against the other new superpower, and its “allies”. The USSR gained for itself a series of new puppet states, which had only pseudo autonomy. We, on the other hand, as I mentioned, did what I considered the “right” and “good” thing by returning our captured/liberated lands back to their own people. Fast forward to the Iraqi Invasion. France is not a puppet state – and, that's a “good” thing. France does what it feels is in its own self best interest. France didn't feel that this war met its criteria for a variety of reasons, some maybe not “good”, similar to some of our own history. A poll taken after the start of this war showed that the French, overwhelmingly, liked Americans, despite the myths of American mistreatment in France. It's not surprising that Americans would visit France – France is the number one tourist destination in the world, and not just for Americans. Near the same time, British polls showed that the Brits despised us. Yet, American conservatives, with weepy glazed eyes, full of reflections of the Stars and Stripes, saw fit to rename French fries to Freedom Fries. French fries didn't actually come from France. That little gem sums up the emotional, nationalistic, and ignorant reaction of some conservatives. I get a sense from the media and some of our own writers here at useless-knowledge that matches perfectly with an observation Al Franken made about the Right, “Conservatives see America like a four year old child sees her mom – she can do no wrong.” A list of conservative points about the matter might go a little something like this:
And, for the most extreme:
We have a few here at useless-knowledge that identify with that last point specifically. Let me pull a name out at random from the conservative writers here, oh, say, like, maybe, Ken Hughes. He had a few articles recently attacking other European nations. I'm sure that during our Manifest Destiny days, God was backing us all the way and I'm sure at the time, had he been there, Ken would have approved. American nationalism isn't patriotism. Blindly loving your country is like loving alcohol – it's a nasty bit of dependence that ends up being a losing proposition. The folks in other nations known as “hard liners” always cause us problems. Our own hard liners are no different. Foolish emotional weepy eyed blind love is dangerous, even in interpersonal relationships. Those who truly love America criticize her rigorously and fight to keep her “good”. Be more cynical and question authority. “Authority” owes you an explanation, not the other way around. Let me be fair and say that some intellectual conservatives champion debate and rigor. Every Friday, the Newshour on PBS has two political analysts. The one form the “Right” is such a person. He makes sense, I can take his points – his opposition to Miers is based on the notion that the president isn't a king and that we shouldn't take his word for it; that true conservatism is based around open discussion. What a shame it is, therefore, that the loudmouths for the Right side of the fence in the talking-head “media” are always such drooling baboons. Miers is probably a bad example, because even some of the baboons are opposed, but the same analogy can be applied to any issue of the day. ------------ About the author Frederick Smith: I enjoy writing about the positive virtues of humanism - humanists are the good guys. This is my second foray into the UK writing discordia. This time around, I want to be a tad more raw - maybe a bit edgier (does that sound "art-see"?) Maybe I'll address even more issues that most Americans consider taboo... About my personal background and life: I was born, I got some education, worked, ate, and had some kids. It seems I like to write – something that was unknown to me until relatively recently...How's that for detail? ;) Like so many these days, I too have a blog! But, I haven't updated it since the day after I signed up for it, so I won't bother to give out the link. Hate mail is welcome unless you are from the Army Of God. Please! It's not that I mind seeing pictures of aborted fetuses in my inbox, but once you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all... Email: dahlek65@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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