Fundy Fourth

These days, especially since 9/11 and now in light of the war in Iraq and the campaigns going on, the topic of patriotism keeps coming up. Patriotism is pretty simple. It means "love for or devotion to one's country" according to Merriam-Webster. It says nothing about the love of one's government.

This here is more like what seems to be expected as "patriotism" from the right wing conservative neocons: jingoism: extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy. [chauvinism (as it relates to this): 1) excessive or blind patriotism. 2) undue partiality or attachment to a group or place to which one belongs or has belonged]

I have this aunt by marriage who is one of those extreme religious right-wing fundamentalists. Just one, you ask? No, there are more but some of the others have died by now or I've lost touch, but this one knows how to use email, so she sends me:
viral right-wing spams with wrong information in them (thankfully those have subsided), her poetry links which are posted on this butt-ugly site with awful music on every page and absolutely garish gaudy graphics and animations all over them (and I don't mean that in a good way). I'm not going to put a link to it here, because I don't want her to find this blog through Google or site stats. It's not that I care what she thinks of me, but she's married to an uncle that I love and who is in very poor health and doesn't need to know all about what a heathen his favorite niece has become.

I bring her up because she just sent out her America poem for the 4th. First of all, here's the soundtrack for it. It's Elvis from his later years. The spoken word part of it gets unintentionally funny, and of course, it really doesn't get any sappier. The page graphics are flag collages and these animated Statues of Liberty. Ironic, considering the racist "jokes" she has sent me before. Not exactly in the spirit of multi-culturalism that the Lady Liberty represents. See this post. The other thing she sent that is worth mention is the picture of Jesus that appeared in the shower while her son was using it. Priceless. We have a sighting! Anyway, back to the 4th of July poem.

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A few paragraphs of the poem [with my comments sprinkled in]:

America, don't hang your noble
Head down in disgrace
Simply because someone has spread
Some dirt upon your face.

[blueberry: The someone who dirtied our face is our own selves. I am amazed at people who seem to think that the USA is an innocent victim of someone out there, someone who hates our freedom. It's Cheney's toy talking Bush puppet saying that, and they all bobble their heads in agreement]

God wants to wash away your sins...
To restore your purity.
America, you're still beautiful...
Still beautiful to me.

[blueberry: If she means "racially pure" the last time this nation was pure was when the native peoples lived here and had not yet been invaded. Since the Europeans and others showed up, it's been a violent and bloody land grab. Also this suggests to me that it might be one of those Pastor Hagee kind of things, like God is using natural disasters to "wash" away the bad people]

I believe the Lord still looks
Upon your giving heart.
For the things you do for others
Still play a leading part

[blueberry: We are going head over heels to bring democracy to every country that has oil or other assets that we can't have any other way. Play ball with us and we won't send in the jackals, followed by troops. The poem ends with a scripture about God's chosen nation, which is obviously meant to be the USA. Somehow the American fundies maintain the notion that Israel and the USA share the mantle of being God's chosen]

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The 4th of July was one of my favorite holidays growing up, along with Halloween and Armed Forces Day. These days I don't go in much for holidays at all. Since 9/11 the waving of flags and patriotic music seems to used as a weapon of the conservatives to try and shame us liberals -- and so many of them have Christian themes, they are used to create more hatred against those with alternate beliefs. I do love my country, but not all the things done by my government. I love freedom, love the earth, and am not a terrorist. I still have hope for this country, just a smidgen.