~ what’s the big deal about the d-day anniversary? we doubt that this nation of consumers, who have no purpose in life but to choose the one of the five colors of mini ipods that best represents their identities or, when they fail to shed their obesity, file lawsuits against people who offer diet plans, who are watching this week’s romantic and pompous d-day flash animations on the news, pieced between jennifer lopez’s third marriage to a wealthy celebrity and the list of who might get ‘whacked’ on the season finale of ‘the sopranos’, really know the difference between pointe-du-hoc and pegasus bridge.
our country is now involved in a war that is based upon a foundation of dubious moral certitude; it is a war that we chose to begin, full of self-righteousness and disregard of our neighbors’ skepticism and wariness. In order for Amercians to be kept in line and to keep their faith, we need to believe that the united states is a beacon of justice, equality, and freedom. Unfortunately, when americans seek to reassure themselves of this notion, we apparently can not find any contemporary evidence of its veracity; we are forced to look sixty years into the past to find an example of this country’s ability to triumph over an enormous danger and to do so with a magnanimity that proves us to be a ‘good’ people. Regardless of political persuasions, americans occasionally must pay solemn yet treacly lip service to its veterans, in the belief that some connection with them will build credibility for the nation today.
while the fortitude and valor of the men who rushed from the sea or leapt from the skies into france of 1944 is indisputable, it is crucial that americans realize that the accomplishments of those men are three and four generations in the past. The flags that are waving today over suburban homes, mcdonald’s parking lots, and cable talking heads represent more than just that single accomplishment . The flag symbolizes every moment of the nation’s history, both the glory and the stains: every racist cop that has shot an unarmed kid in new york, every family without health care in ohio, every man or woman sleeping in a box under a bridge in atlanta, every my lai and wounded knee and abu ghirab. A few moments of victory does not outshine the multitude of failures. if americans want that flag to be worthy of respect in the future, and if they want to honestly claim an inheritance of the heroism of its past, they should try summoning the titanic forces of toil and ingenuity of the young men, including my grandfather, who charged through fascist steel and flame 60 years ago, and apply them to the injustices and inequities of today. There is no reason that our descendants should not be able to look at today with the same awe and respect for peaceful accomplishments that we lavish on our ancestors for their accomplishments in war.
Otherwise, Regardless of what we can buy or what we drive, our lives are so empty and our claim to democracy so tenuous that we must derive a vicarious honor by repeatedly making grasps at the only movement in our nation’s history that is universally accepted as unquestionably noble. To you well fed fucks, this is our last post.
'john' responds:
‘self-righeousness’
7 June 2004 _ 00h27m52 EDT [link]
‘self-righetousness’
7 June 2004 _ 14h23m26 EDT [link]
public response: