"the greatest country in the world" Re: Chomsky News Network

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Thu May 30 14:11:08 PDT 2002



>On Thu, 30 May 2002, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>> I found the transcript:
>>
>
>[snippage]
>
>> CHOMSKY: I don't. I choose to live in what I think is the greatest
>> country in the world, which is committing horrendous terrorist acts
> > and should stop.
>
>Like Yosh points out here, Chomsky said exactly what Kel wished that
>he had said! How much of this patriotic deep throating does Noam
>have to do before he's considered a good American?
>
>Miles

Being a leftist or even a mild liberal democrat, by the standards of Bill Bennett, is _by definition_ un-American. There is, however, no reason to think that the majority of Americans are hankering for the second coming of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Americans may like occasional fireworks of Red, White, and Blue, _but only up to a point_. Constant demands for repetitions of loyalty oaths and pledges of allegiance can get old, even for those who didn't mind them initially. It is not possible for anyone to prove her patriotism to the satisfaction of the Right, who demand the valid ideological passport every time she questions if the USA is indeed "the greatest country in the world." Eventually, folks begin to ask, "But why do I need to carry the ideological passport all the time? Just who does this pompous asshole -- Bill Bennett -- think he is?"

Besides, constant boastings that "America is the greatest country in the world" tend to begin to look like a obsessive-compulsive behavior. Far from demonstrating "faith in the country," it rather suggests its opposite: lack of confidence and self confidence, which must be covered up the fetish of patriotism. -- Yoshie

* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>



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