While I am no fan of of Putin's brand of authoritarianism, I spend the bulk of my time railing against US imperialistic foreign policy and incarceration focused domestic policy.
It ends up getting me painted as "Unpatriotic." To which I ask, "What is patriotism to you?"
Another charged word with little true context. I point out that I love my children but I don't ignore their wrongs. We address them precisely because I love them. So... in my eyes, wanting to focus on cleaning my house (my country) seems to be the most patriotic approach.
Patriotism is not a big flag waving off my truck. Mine has a little more teeth. Vapid slogans are unhelpful.
What you are saying makes sense not only in relations between citizens and their nations but also in relations between people
For example, I tire of friends who are yes men. If I am acting like an a hole, I want a friend to have the guts to say "wise up, you can't walk outside of your house with your fly unzipped."
And just as we should advise our friends when they are making a mistake, we should tell our governments when they are making a mistake.
Sometimes, I think that LBJ escalated the Vietnam War because his advisors were terrified of him and did not have the balls to give him the score, honestly. LBJ was brilliant and tireless but he was also sort of like a big aggressive ape.
He was extremely tall, extremely heavy, very loud and he was so in love with himself that he made his employees experience his smells and his farts (Read Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Lyndon Johnson and the Americnn Dream," and you won't stop laughing). If he was talking to someone, and then he had to take a shit, he would insist that his companion join him in the bathroom so their conversation need not be aborted. When he wanted to go swimming, he insisted that his entire cabinet go swimming with him in the white house pool and swim in the NUDE. When he wanted to make someone vote for or against a piece of legislation , he gave them the legendary "Johnson treatment." He would talk to them, his mouth no more than 6 inches from the legislator's cheeks, shout at them, threaten them, sweet talk them and swiftly transform them into pulverized mice. Stunned and silenced, most of them only said what LBJ wanted to hear.
While I am no fan of of Putin's brand of authoritarianism, I spend the bulk of my time railing against US imperialistic foreign policy and incarceration focused domestic policy.
It ends up getting me painted as "Unpatriotic." To which I ask, "What is patriotism to you?"
Another charged word with little true context. I point out that I love my children but I don't ignore their wrongs. We address them precisely because I love them. So... in my eyes, wanting to focus on cleaning my house (my country) seems to be the most patriotic approach.
Patriotism is not a big flag waving off my truck. Mine has a little more teeth. Vapid slogans are unhelpful.
What you are saying makes sense not only in relations between citizens and their nations but also in relations between people
For example, I tire of friends who are yes men. If I am acting like an a hole, I want a friend to have the guts to say "wise up, you can't walk outside of your house with your fly unzipped."
And just as we should advise our friends when they are making a mistake, we should tell our governments when they are making a mistake.
Sometimes, I think that LBJ escalated the Vietnam War because his advisors were terrified of him and did not have the balls to give him the score, honestly. LBJ was brilliant and tireless but he was also sort of like a big aggressive ape.
He was extremely tall, extremely heavy, very loud and he was so in love with himself that he made his employees experience his smells and his farts (Read Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Lyndon Johnson and the Americnn Dream," and you won't stop laughing). If he was talking to someone, and then he had to take a shit, he would insist that his companion join him in the bathroom so their conversation need not be aborted. When he wanted to go swimming, he insisted that his entire cabinet go swimming with him in the white house pool and swim in the NUDE. When he wanted to make someone vote for or against a piece of legislation , he gave them the legendary "Johnson treatment." He would talk to them, his mouth no more than 6 inches from the legislator's cheeks, shout at them, threaten them, sweet talk them and swiftly transform them into pulverized mice. Stunned and silenced, most of them only said what LBJ wanted to hear.