Posted by Wade (long again) on September 30, 2002 at 14:39:01:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Now, that's sad... posted by what's so sad on September 30, 2002 at 09:59:40:
Dear Bold Nameless One:
I am FIRMLY in the political middle of the road here. I feel that you and Howling Patriot are both in the extremes in this case. Now, while your "fecal" remarks may have been flung toward him, they ended up on my shoe; nasty, nasty.
You said "...our problem is who we're stuck arguing and debating against: a bunch of dittoheads who think they're actually having an idea when they regurgitate Pentagon propaganda..."
While you might think that about HIM, where do you see that in MY opinions? My opinions might not be stated, but they are quite clearly implied. Please don't aim your silly "dittohead" gun in MY direction. My post was, in fact, a response to your very own extreme view. Truth be told: it is YOU who are regurgitating other peoples' ideas (propaganda - how original). Your writing skills far out-strip your thinking skills in this case.
[To the board: One guy spouts his "party line" and this guy spouts his right back and is sufficiently deluded to think that he came up with these ideas all on his own. At least Howling Patriot never claimed he was trying to espouse his own original ideas, nor did he claim to be this guy's intellectual superior. Sheesh!]
You go on to say “and why am i disappointed in the intellectual caliber [sic] of the people who disagree with me? because [sic - again] they're the vast majority of this great nation. what [sic - hee hee...] a letdown.” (Careless writing...I see a man, a man that skipped many of his English classes...)
Wow. What well crafted writing. I am glad that you feel yourself to be my intellectual superior! How wonderfully generous of you since you have never even met me! Not only are you smarter than the "vast majority" of us, but you must be clairvoyant as well! (I bet you tell all the girls that you have a six octave range, too...)
And you are disappointed with the intellectual calibre of the people that disagree with you. Huh...
Let us make an attempt to find some clarity in your opinion, here. Would you say that you feel disappointed because we are just intellectually too enfeebled as a people to comprehend your superior plan for a Brave New World, or are you calling into question our collective intellectual calibre because we fail to agree with your viewpoint?
If you had ACTUALLY read my entire post (and tried to understand it) you would have seen that I clearly state two facts:
1. If you are TRULY concerned about the state of our country and not just whining, then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! BACK UP YOUR WORDS WITH SOME SORT OF POLITICAL ACTION! Or are you so ineffectual in your oratory skills that the only audience you can get are a bunch of euphonium and tuba enthusiasts? Why don’t you run for office? Lay down that tuba, man, and dare to dream! Woo-hoo!!
2. You are, in FACT, free to leave the U.S. at any time. If you feel that the “vast majority” of us will never be able to comprehend your far-reaching views on society, or you find that your whining and crying fail to garner much support from all of us cognitive feebs, then shut your yap and DO something. Run for office or run away; but please stop whining.
While I have been all over the world and would very much like to have an opportunity to live for an extended period in another country, I like it here, too. I feel that I am very fortunate to be from here, but I am not arrogant about it. There are many other places on our planet that are GREAT places to live. But the residents have fewer freedoms than we are used to having. In many places, your act of putting your rather extreme viewpoints up on a public forum such as this could make you into a political prisoner of certain governments. This is not an exaggeration on my part; it is well documented fact.
Patriotic music is merely a way of saying "thanks" for our having the rights you seem to take for granted.
The majority of our population is made up of people fleeing other places (or the descendants of those people). There is an ongoing reason for that. And your jaded view regarding patriotism does not matter a whit to the tide of foreigners coming to this country each year seeking a better life. All of those people that become citizens every day merely view you as a spoiled and uninformed child that will probably fail in your attempts to compete with THEIR child in the open job market.
These people recognize a good deal when they see it: twelve years of free education for their kids, excellent health care, the ability to practice any religion without fear of jail time, the ability to go into any field of employment they choose if competitive enough to get hired, and the ability to start THEIR VERY OWN BUSINESS if they choose. Heck, they even have the ability to say pretty much anything they want without fear of going to jail. In short, thay over here, they have the freedom to live out their lives as they wish and be let alone.
These things, amongst many others, are what patriotic tunes attempt to remind us that we have. "God Bless the USA" is a good example of this that gets played a lot. But what you seem to think is that all music of this type serves the same function as "Be All That You Can Be" (as dictated by some elaborate governmental conspiracy, no less). And "Be All That You Can Be" is merely ADVERTISING! Come on...
Yeah, we have a LOT of problems over here, but it is still better than most places I've been. Go get to know real immigrants and see what made them finally leave their homeland.
Our assistant principle 'cellist is from China. His wife was pulled from the National Conservatory and tossed into a Communist Party Reeducation Camp (ie - a forced labor camp for complainers just like you). After a number of years, he somehow got her out, escaped to Hong Kong together and made it over here. He NEVER gripes about playing American patriotic music, other than that much of the stuff in our folders is poorly arranged. And he always looks proud when we play the National Anthem. While imperfect, we don't chuck folks into forced labor camps when they openly complain about the government. God (or whatever you believe in) bless this place.
Have a nice day, Bold Nameless One.
Wade