Right Advice

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Mon Oct 15 09:47:42 PDT 2001


Chuck0 wrote:
> > I don't like Medea and I'm pretty pissed off at her buddies at Global
> > Exchange who singlehandedly sabotaged our protests, but her reaction is
> > entirely appropriate. The best place for an American flag is either in
> > the trash or in the barbecue. Patriotism is all about "we're better
> > than you guys." Why do you think that sporting events have turned into
> > patriotic jizz fests?

Dennis:
> This is self-defeating. I too have little use for flags of any kind, but
> flag-burning rhetoric is, on simple strategic grounds, highly
> counterproductive at the present moment. I agree with Cockburn, that the
> left should reclaim the flag, for it is the only way to show average
> Americans that there are other ways to "love" your country -- defending the
> Bill of Rights, for instance, as well as highlighting the fallacy of Bush's
> "war on terrorism." Ceding this ground to the right and the neocons is just
> stupid and leads to further marginalization.
> ...

So Chuck, who is an anarchist, is supposed to get down with Mr. Average American by waving the flag of a nation-state which, of course, he doesn't believe in? What if Mr. Average American happens to have a good bullshit detector?



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