Period. Full Stop. Without Qualifier.

I've noticed a certain pattern of expression among liberals since the onslaught of the Republican "liberals are unAmerican traitors" campaign has reached its apotheosis in the Bush Administration.  It's this:

• I'm an American, too.
• It's my flag, too.
• I'm a patriot, too.

First of all, if one feels one must make this kind of assertion, just do it, without the implication of second-class status that "too" brings along.  I am a real American.  It is my flag.  I am a real patriot.

Second, we should  generally avoid this kind of assertion of belonging.  It assumes that there may be a real question about whether or not we are Americans, whether it is our flag, whether we are patriots.  There is not.  It is the result of a decades-old smear campaign by the Republican party and their media apparatchiks, and it is that smear campaign which is unAmerican, unpatriotic, and unworthy of the flag we all love.

Last, the way to assert all of these things is (by way of example) to define "being an American" in such a way that it includes you, and excludes the smear artists of the Republican party:

Someone who really loves the American flag knows that it should never be shamed by a war started under false pretenses.

A true patriot pays their fair share in taxes, because that's the least of the ways that you can support our country, and make sure our children don't get a huge bill.

An American who really loves our country and our children wants to leave it in better shape than it was when he was born, and so will protect the environment.

And so forth.

Hey, Republicans!  Want to be real Americans?  Want to prove you love our country?  Get reformed, because you're not in the club now.

Comments

[DavidByron]

I'm not buying it and I don't think anyone else is either. You're second class patriots; second class jingoists. You're not as war like, not as prejudiced against foreigners, not as willing to take orders from authority figures. You won't ignore so many of the crimes of your country. You will always be suspicious to the xenophobes.

You will always lose the flag waving competition.

[paperwight]

A sneering DavidByron is high praise indeed.

[DavidByron]

I wasn't sneering.
Lay off the bottle.

[paperwight]

Ah, so that was intended as constructive criticism. Hard to tell, but it's good to know for future. I assume that "Lay off the bottle" was sneering? Or constructive criticism? No, don't tell me. It doesn't really matter.

Of course, Mr. Byron's comment misses a lot of the point, which is to present, without apology, an alternative narrative to the jingoist version. The goal is not to "win the flag-waving competition" but to create a different, parallel, competition. But hey, since Mr. Byron is sure that the jingoists are going to be the winners, I'll just pack up and wait for the knock on the door, and I'll go quietly to detention.

As I've said elsewhere, I can't advocate strongly enough that Mr. Byron get his own blog at which he can post his thoughts. He's got so very much to say, and it's all so very interesting. Of course, there's always the possiblity that no one would visit, but since Mr. Byron's thoughts are so important and interesting that he feels compelled to share them at length almost daily on others' blogs (even, I understand, in some places where he's been asked not to), I'm sure he'll have a nice big audience in no time. Certainly his content will be so good that he'll have an audience bigger than mine, which is easy enough to do.

Blogs are free, right there at Blogger. No barrier to entry, ownership of the content, no pesky comment policies other than his own (which I'm sure will allow all comments of any kind, as a true free speech zone, hosted by the good grace of Mr. Byron). I can't imagine what would stop him.

[Tim]

Sneering does not a blog make. Your smackdowns could get you linked by Wolcott if you could net a bigger target.

Good call on the framing. I think too that the "I'm an American, too", however much it buys into the 2nd class citizen thing, has permeated through water cooler conversation enough so that it's become obsolete. So even Lieberman moderate-esque types should be confident that they can skip the "too" now.

Did you see the post up at Daily Kos about a typical liberal-conservative argument? The guy posts up an argument about whether or not there are 50 states. Very clever dittohead deconstruction of how strawmen are slipped in, thus allowing them to claim victim status mere seconds after insulting their foes.

Over at Mahablog the guy pointed out today how a fight over the truth of a dated picture of an old missile changes the story from 18 killed to "that damn liberal media is painting a bad picture again! Traitors!". It was the usual suspects, like Malkin, but a concise picture of how it's done.

Off topic, but all day Jack*'s blog hasn't worked. I'm glad you're back, I don't wanna lose his ideas, too!

[he who is known as sefton]

In the beginning, I decided to join the campaign to impeach your "smirking chimp", my "dum'ass botch". As evidence for that, you'll soon be invited to click on a hyperlink.

Before doing so, however, I would like you to read through the rest of this text. In case, you'd like to know, the U.R.L for your blog, specifically, "Paperwight's Fair Shot", is found at the third hyperlink on the list below ... ah, please remember, no clicking until AFTER reading the entire text.

Perusing your blog, I believe I arrived at what is a reasonable inference. That is, both you and your readers would welcome news that indicates the campaign to impeach the president is increasing in both vigor and breadth. Ah, you'll find that evidence by clicking on the second enclosed hyperlink.

As for my plan for capturing Osama, you'll find it by clicking on the first listed hyperlink:

http://hewhoisknownassefton.blogspot.com/2006/01/osama-and-our-president-dumass-botch_20.html

http://hewhoisknownassefton.blogspot.com/2006/01/danger-senator-specter-danger.html

http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/states-writes.htm#CA

toodles
......\
.he who is known as sefton

oh, yes, surely, you've heard about the government "requesting" certain records about internet activity. oh, br'dah! Cynical and skeptical me, I'm smelling a rat in all that.