There was a time (or so I'm told) that patrotism would unite people despite these fundamental differences. This was hardly a coincidence; the leaders of our country recognized that their nation needed a unifying force, so worked very hard to sell people on the "dream" of America. It worked very well, for something like a century and a half.
Patrotism isn't going to work today, however. Too many of us (myself most espicially included) simply arn't going to buy it. We're too disillusioned and disenfranchised. It's not that I don't love my country, but I don't trust it enough to follow it blindly. So we need something else, some other unifying force. I'd like to believe that there's some less tarnished dream that people might be sold on. Something that will unite us on a fundamental level and make us put aside our "petty" differences. I can't think of one just now, however.
For better or for worse, our current leaders have their own notion of how to unify the nation. Recognizing that we're primarily motivated by fear, they're doing they're best to get us all afraid of the same thing.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-11-07 09:52 am (UTC)Patrotism isn't going to work today, however. Too many of us (myself most espicially included) simply arn't going to buy it. We're too disillusioned and disenfranchised. It's not that I don't love my country, but I don't trust it enough to follow it blindly. So we need something else, some other unifying force. I'd like to believe that there's some less tarnished dream that people might be sold on. Something that will unite us on a fundamental level and make us put aside our "petty" differences. I can't think of one just now, however.
For better or for worse, our current leaders have their own notion of how to unify the nation. Recognizing that we're primarily motivated by fear, they're doing they're best to get us all afraid of the same thing.
Down with those darn terrorists.