A Different Kind of Patriotism

Oftentimes, people who are critical of this nation and this society’s actions, including me, are told: “You don’t love this country, so get out.”  Fellow citizen, you are wrong. It is precisely because I love this country so much that I am so deeply disappointed in it.  So amply blessed, so richly advantaged, this country should be ENORMOUSLY better than what it has demonstrated.

Indiana, Mr. Jones

I was in Indianapolis over the weekend.  The city is often poorly lit, from street lights, to exit signs, to businesses.  Why?

I also saw a high number of young, seemingly able bodied (both Caucasian and African-American) panhandlers (beggars).  Was it con artistry?  Lack of economic opportunity (jobs, start-ups)?  True homelessness (and if so, what caused that—veteran maladjustment? Job disruption? Mental challenges)?

In retrospect, I should have taken time to ask.  Maybe that’s a key challenge of our times—we don’t take the time to ask. 

Ethic-less Youth or Rational Response?

It would appear our youth are in large part embroiled in illusion and delusion. 

Or is it because the system itself, both the school system and the larger society, is not doing anything relevant or real anymore, not doing anything to have faith in?  Kind of like the old joke in the Soviet Union, “the government pretends to pay us, so we pretend to work.”

The reader can decide.

US high school students are, at best, “apathetic” about ethical standards (there’s good spin).  64% of students said they cheated on a test in the past year, and 30% said they stole from a store.  Yet they also reported they were “satisfied with their personal ethics and character,” and “when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.” From a Josephson Institute survey, 2010.

Feel The Strings In Your Back

Want an example of how corporate America runs things?  On Sirius satellite radio, supposedly one of the “few restrictions,” “say anything,” media outlets, the commercial programming is often the same.  Sure, there are fewer commercials on the Right’s channel (is that because they don’t need as much money, or get more listeners that generate more revenue?  Or do they get more subsidies or donations?  Unknown), but both it and the Left’s channel are often surprisingly the same in their commercials.  For instance, a certain anti-tax commercial promoting a tax accountant firm.  It aired frequently on BOTH right (“Patriot”) and left (“Left”) satellite radio channels.   So does one about selling  gold. While I do not believe the two sides are equally to blame for the spiral the country is in, both ARE to blame, and sometimes there isn’t enough difference.  Because in back of them, with hands on the controlling strings of money, are the plutocratic elite.