I have been disgusted...Not only by comments made by people knocking our country...But also by our national media, who have been shoving an anti-patriotic movement down our throats for the past four to five years. I am finding it hard to find any students who show open patriotism...It is almost passe' to do so. Our kids are showing the effects of our national media...It is almost tatamount to brainwashing, in my opinion. What is going to happen when we oldsters are dependent upon these generations coming up to defend us the way the generations previous to us did? Will we be defended? Or left out on a limb to blow in the wind, thanks to the media having convinced our kids that there is nothing here to defend anymore??
For every sour note that is slung about concerning our country, there needs to be at least one positive statement made about the greatness of this country. No, it's not popular to stand up and wave a flag on any other day than July 4 or Flag Day or Veteran's Day. But, I'm standing up...With the other Patriots on this site...To wave my flag. Too many of my family have given the ultimate sacrifice in the name of this country...Too many of my relatives have volunteered for duties in foreign lands that would have creeped "normal" people out so much that they would have left.
Yes, we've got problems. But we'll get through it. Together. With our heads held high...Because we're Americans.
Cat, that is what I have been getting at since I have started posting on this site. The overall attitude and thought process in this country has shifted. It really puzzles me how it came to be. To watch it with emotions aside, well, the only word I can come up with is weird. It is alomst as if ...I don't know, I can't really explain it, but I think that there is more going on than we are seeing.
Billy, I agree with you...There is definently something more going on than what we are seeing...And it scares me. It scares me that our media is allowed to run so fast and loose with their far leftist opinions that they can brainwash our country with their agendas that seem to border upon being completely Socialist in their tendencies...It scares me that so many were so easily led by someone with a lack of verifiable credentials (O)...It scares me that so many are so willing to forget the sacrifices that went into the forging of this great country...It scares me that so many are so willing to openly knock the very country that provides succor and sustinence to the entire world...It scares me that so many countries, in whose soil our boys (and yes, they were only boys, not aged men) were buried after having given the ultimate sacrifice to ensure those countries' freedom, are so quick to throw the US under the bus (take a look at how many have voted against the US during UN votes). But, it is also my fear that makes me all the more determined to make sure that I instill in my students an awareness of the US that I know and love...I do it through every multi-media source available...I do it by pointing up the cultural advantages to women that this country affords our feminine population, etc. I am not the only old-fashioned patriot left here, as is evidenced by the good men and women who post on this site. It gives me hope.
Thats ok, i'll still fly my flag, say the pledge, put my hand over my heart when i do, remove my hat whenever the flag goes by or when a parade of servicemen go by. I'll tell those passe young punks to kiss my lilly white arse when they disrespect my country, my flag, and my patriotism, and stand my ground no matter what when they try to remove my right to tell them to kiss my arse.
God Bless America, and if you don't like it youngsters, you know what yall can do!
Cat, there are obviously many patriots on this site. To you and Billy, the media does what it does to attract everyone's attention to their understanding of what is going on in the world. Their understanding or views may or may not be the same as yours, but that is one of the freedoms guaranteed us. All media organizations depend on advertising to support the programs they broadcast or storys they print in a paper. The best way to defeat those who are seemingly unpatriotic is to not listen to them and notify by letter to their advertisers that you consider their opinions to be anti-American and will not buy their products and tell all your friends and neighbors not to buy their products. You are exercising your right to free speech just as they have. Lately, an example (kinda) is that Reebok told one of the Orlando Magic that he needed to remove a Michael Jordan/Nike tatoo from his lower leg because of his contract to sponser their shoes. He told them where they could go. I think that there is not a big consiracy to undermine our country, just a lot of media attention to attract viewers and advertisers. Listen to what you want and read what you want to read and know that this country isn't going down----there are too many patriots.
Larryj
larry, before we say that the media is just printing their view of whats going on, we should look at who owns the media. Journalist are supposed to be objective, nowadays, they have lost that. And whats more, they don't want it back.
Billy, what you say is mostly true. Journalism has changed somewhat over the years. Those who lead the various medias are not necessarily the ones expressing a stand on an issue. They have editors and staff writers to write the opinions and then they either reject or accept the writers efforts and that is what broadcast or printed. This is not a new thing, but maybe a more prominent way of doing business these days. The bigwigs have to pacify the advertisers and more importantly the stockholders. There was a day when a publisher would say what he felt without fear of reprisal or actually caring about the end results. I think you are right in that many have lost their objective.
Larryj
I stay away for a few days from the Forum...And what do I come back to? A bunch of Patriots! :-) You've cheered this sour old drudge up! ;)
You were gone? :o ;D ;D ;D
Larryj
Sir, I have been "gone" for years...It's only now that I'm letting the symptoms show! lol ::)
Oh LORD, please help us. LOL. And don't call me sir, my father was sir.
Larryj
So, question for all you Patriots out there (remember; just asking the question to find out your opinions; not because I necessarily think this way)...
Do you think that Patriotism is less apparent in the young because we're not teaching it in schools? Do you also think that the older generation isn't as willing to share their views with the young? Take Steve's comment for example,
Quote from: srkruzich on June 12, 2009, 10:19:34 AM
I'll tell those passe young punks to kiss my lilly white arse when they disrespect my country, my flag, and my patriotism, and stand my ground no matter what when they try to remove my right to tell them to kiss my arse.
God Bless America, and if you don't like it youngsters, you know what yall can do!
Should he be trying to teach youngsters about patriotism instead of just blowing them off as passe young punks? Normally people, especially kids, laugh at something because they don't understand. If you just yell at them or say mean things to them, then you just become a "wacko old military guy". Whereas if you stop and take the time to TEACH them why you have the respect you do, then maybe they actually LEARN to have respect themselves. Just because a kid doesn't take his hat off during the National Anthem doesn't mean he doesn't have respect... it means that no one has taken the time to teach him why that is important!
I think a lot of the older generation blame things on the younger generation, when it's actually the older generation who doesn't have the patience to TEACH anymore. Yes, things have changed and the youth of the country are learning about computers and programming and technical stuff in schools... so in my opinion, it falls on the older generation to make up that generation gap and help to teach the youth about things like Patriotism.
I can only speak for our school but we start each day by saying the Pledge...All the kids are expected to stand, even the JW's, although they aren't required to say the Pledge, due to their religious practices. I always stand off to the side and remind the kiddos to put their hands over their hearts and our Principal reminds the kids all the time about looking at the flag when they recite the Pledge. For my part, I try to incorporate as much patriotism as I can in every part of the subjects that I teach. Not a hard thing to do, when you stop to consider everything that has gone into the making of this country...There isn't a subject taught that doesn't have someone in its past that was working for the betterment of this nation.
The POA is relatively new to our country.
I'll bet Abe Lincoln's teacher did not make him stand and say the oath.
The IRS is also new to our country, relatively speaking, but I still pay taxes. 'Nuf said.
Which do you suppose is more patriotic? Paying taxes or repeating oaths?
Both are equally important...One lends itself to the maintaining of a nation and the other lends itself to the spiritual building of national pride. I would rather not have the tax issue, personally, but I am willing to fork it over when I see the good it does for the little kids I teach that desperately need the help. No one is ever required to say the Pledge...You are guaranteed the right, due to our Constitution, to be or do whatever it is that best suits you. I, thank God, am allowed the right to say the Pledge...And stall tall while doing it...Without anyone's by-your-leave to do it, too.
I really hate when people start dictating what is patriotism. He didn't wear a pin, he didn't salute the flag, he didn't face the flag. For the most I find those "indiscretions" are dictated by our life experiences. I always have felt a sense of appreciation for the traditional. I love history, cultures of all kinds. Last year I posted many links to proper respect for the flag etc., which I found many of you and myself "violated." My point is I try not to complain too much if people violate my sense of patriotism. I do try to find ways to include them in mine and learn their ways of celebrating their love of this country. Sure there are many people that don't show their patriotism, but I have learned new ways to celebrate my own as well as, had converts to my ways of celebrating. Just because we are the best place on earth to ever exist and I would not want to live anywhere else, that does not relieve us from trying to perfect o ourselves to an even higher level. So if we complain an bitch that doesn't mean we don't know how good we havve it, it just means we know we can always do better.
DAvid
QuoteI really hate when people start dictating what is patriotism. He didn't wear a pin, he didn't salute the flag, he didn't face the flag. For the most I find those "indiscretions" are dictated by our life experiences.
This is a very good statement. Just because a guy/girl doesn't go around beatin his/her chest TALKIN about what a great patriot he/she is doesn't mean they aren't the person you are gonna want on your side when the doo hits the fan. It's been my experience that the quiet one is the one you can count on while the one with the mouth just fades away and leaves you to handle what they generally started.