re: #279 HappyWarrior

TBH the rah rah USA attitude has bothered me since 9/11. One thing to love one’s country which I do. Another to question the patriotism of anyone who doesn’t conform to your vision of patriotism. You say Kaeperick and these athletes disrespects the troops and their sacrifices. I say you’re just as if not more guilty of that. We fought totalitarian regimes where patriotism was mandated. By now, most people have seen that picture of the man in German refusing to take part in Heil Hitler. If we’re going to ostracize people who don’t conform to our idea of patriotism, how the hell are we any better than the people who persecuted that man and later killed him and his Jewish wife?

I spent 16 years in Uncle’s green so that Americans can feel free to express their patriotism in many varied ways. A while back the ever “popular” shtick about flag burning came up and I said then what I’ll say now - it is not the method I’d chose to protest but that’s irrelevant. The flag itself is nothing but a bit of colored cloth; if it, as an object, becomes more important than what it symbolizes in our Constitution then this is not America anymore anyway. The Anthem, the Flag, the Pledge are all utterly meaningless at that point and the last American to emigrate should turn off the lights at Her statue on the way past.