Today’s head-scratching moment is brought to you by the Board of Fire Commissioners of Arlington, NY. Under the lamest of excuses, they ordered that several American flags that had been recently attached to the town fire trucks to be removed. They dubbed them a “liability,” a label which does not pass my sniff test.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. A similar de-flagging was ordered last June in Rhode Island. De-flaggings have also occurred in Virginia, California, Illinois, and Florida. While I’m not going to assign specific motives in these and other such cases, they all speak to a growing contempt that government officials have for the citizens they represent and the nation whose laws and heritage they serve.
Make no mistake, this attitude has trickled down from the very top. Lest we forget, our President denigrated the Middle Americans who “cling to guns or religion” way back in 2008, and he made parallel remarks more recently in describing Trump’s supporters. The American Flag, once considered the shining symbol of this great nation, is now looked down upon. The American Flag, the subject of our national anthem and iconically immortalized at the Iwo Jima monument, is now considered a symbol for rubes, yahoos and those nasty evil Republicans. There are also, unbelievably, people who consider it a secret sign of racism or bigotry, and there are at least a few precious snowflakes that find it triggering. National pride has become a taboo in many parts of the country, and it has been replaced by an anti-America aggressiveness that looks to elevate things not-America (by force if necessary) over the nation’s fundamental values.
This is done by selectively emphasizing the bad parts and flaws in America’s history, and diminishing or ignoring how truly remarkable the nation’s core values of individual liberty were and are. The nation that was made great by a melting pot integration of all newcomers is now portrayed as oppressive to newcomers, even when they want to melt into the American fabric. Instead, multiculturalism is the “noble” pursuit, and even suggesting the melting pot is deemed racist by some.
Those folks don’t realize that they themselves caused all this with their condescension and aggressiveness. They push policies and philosophies they deem worthy, but don’t consider for a moment the reactions that those policies and philosophies might engender. They’re saying “we’re right, and if you have a problem, you are the problem,” instead of having a conversation and looking to persuade. That’s not a society of equals, it’s a society of oppressors and oppressed. Ironically, these oppressors claim that they are either the oppressed or the champions of the oppressed.
Politics is like a pendulum. If you swing it too hard in one direction, it’s likely to swing too hard in the opposite direction. These de-flagging kerfuffles are emblematic of the broader anti-American-pride press that the Left has been engaged in. There’s an inevitable reaction that’s made more confrontational than it needs to be. It’s what spawned the nativist movement that lifted Trump to the fore. The seeds that the anti-flag, the anti-national-pride, and the anti-America snobs have sown are the root of the nativism that those snobs are decrying. They are reaping what they have sown.
As for the American Flag, and allegations that it’s triggering, racist, or anti-immigrant? The Flag inspired immigrants, you jackasses! Countless millions of them. Take pride in your country for all the good it has done, instead of this “too cool for the room” antipathy. And remember – the reason you get to voice your antipathy is because of what that flag stands for. Not good enough for you? Want to burn it? Feel free. You have the right to do so, and I’ll defend that right. But, I will call you an asshole. That’s my right. And you will piss off a whole lot of Americans. That’s their right, and they’ll be justified.
Loading ...
Something has to be done about this. It can’t stay. This whole sentiment needs to be righted