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oblongmelon
10-17-2001, 05:51 AM
I received this as an email text and was not provided the name of the author.


Subject: Patriotism - This says it all!


Broken Arrow, Oklahoma School officials remove "God Bless America" signs
from schools in fear that someone might be offended.


Channel 12 News in Long Island, New York, orders flags removed from the
newsroom and red, white, and blue ribbons removed from the lapels of
reporters. Why? Management did not want to appear biased and felt that our
nations flag might give the appearance that "they lean one way or another".


Berkeley, California bans U.S. Flags from being displayed on city fire
trucks because they didn't want to offend anyone in the community.


In an "act of tolerance" the head of the public library at Florida Gulf
Coast University ordered all "Proud to be an American" signs removed so as
to not offend international students.


I, for one, am quite disturbed by these actions of so-called American
citizens; and I am tired of this nation worrying about whether or not we
are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks
on September 11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority
of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled in New
York and Washington D.C. when the"politically correct" crowd began
complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.


I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who
is seeking a better life by coming to America. In fact, our country's
population is almost entirely comprised of descendants of immigrants;
however, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our
country, and apparently some native Americans, need to understand.


First of all, it is not our responsibility to continually try not to
offend you in any way. This idea of America being a multi-cultural community
has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As
Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language,
and our own lifestyle. This culture, called the "American Way" has been
developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions
of men and women who have sought freedom. Our forefathers fought, bled,
and died at places such as Bunker Hill, Antietam, San Juan, Iwo Jima,
Normandy, Korea, Vietnam, We speak English, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become
part of our society - learn our language!


"In God We Trust" is our national motto. This is not some off-the-wall,
Christian, Right Wing, political slogan- it is our national motto. It
is engraved in stone in the House of Representatives in our Capitol and it
is printed on our currency. We adopted this motto because Christian men
and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation; and this is clearly
documented throughout our history. If it is appropriate for our motto
to be inscribed in the halls of our highest level of Government, then it is
certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools.


God is in our pledge, our National Anthem, nearly every patriotic song,
and in our founding documents. We honor His birth, death, and resurrection
as holidays, and we turn to Him in prayer in times of crisis. If God
offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new
home, because God is part of our culture and we are proud to have Him.


We are proud of our heritage and those who have so honorably defended
our freedoms. We celebrate Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day,
and Flag Day. We have parades, picnics, and barbecues where we proudly wave
our flag. As an American, I have the right to wave my flag, sing my
national anthem, quote my national motto, and cite my pledge whenever and
wherever I choose. If the Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don't like Uncle
Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this
planet. The American culture is our way of life, our heritage, and we are proud
of it. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we
really don't care how you did things where you came from. We are
Americans, like it or not, this is our country, our land, and our lifestyle.


Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion
about our government, culture, or society, and we will allow you every
opportunity to do so. But once you are done complaining, whining, and
griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way of
life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great American freedom,
the right to leave

johnnymk
10-17-2001, 06:53 AM
What a bunch of wimps!!! I wonder what these people would die for, much less stand for?
Believe me, the religion of political correctness, tolerance and self esteem is going to send America to it's grave.

BigJon
10-17-2001, 07:39 AM
God is what this country is based off of. If a person doesn't believe in God, then so be it, don't believe. But when they start saying that the people who do believe can't, that is what makes me mad. If someone didn't believe in the Constitution, would we forget about it and ban it too? What has this world come to?

Markel
10-17-2001, 08:21 AM
Here's (http://news.excite.com/news/r/011017/09/odd-pledge-dc) how Wisconsin public schools decided to handle some of these issues.

topane
10-17-2001, 08:32 AM
Heh. There are some countries around the world where they shoot you if you don't salute their flag. So stop bitching about it, say the freaking pledge, and just deal with it. Just stop whining about it or go move somewhere so we can't hear you bitch and moan.

BrewMaster
10-17-2001, 08:36 AM
Well whoever wrote that didn't give their name so they can kiss my ass. I agree with them, don;t get me wrong, but if you're gonna go off on people, at least put yourself behind. Don't write it anonymously, stand behind your ideas. What a puss.

Grimm
10-17-2001, 11:34 AM
I agree with it 100%.
I consider it to be saying what I want to say, I just can't write that well. It's not a rant. It's a wakeup call to all the Americans who sit quietly and tollerate the Facists who tell us how to behave. It's time to let them know exactly where they can shove their "pollitical correctness". Just because they use their free speach to say what I can and not say doesn't mean that I have to listen to them. Part of Free Speach is not having to listen.

welfareloser
10-17-2001, 11:53 AM
are people REALLY offended at a display of the american flag? i guess they can go ahead and be offended by it, but i'm really surprised that any instutition would give in to what had to be a very small number of ppl whining about it.

tho i agree with the piece, i am a bit put off by some of the wording. he seems to equate the extreme "you and all your USA crap offend me" view with the entire concept of the USA a a multi-cultural entity... which it is. and there's nothing wrong with that.

and just cuz somebody is unhappy with any government policy, they should leave? so all the former slaves shoulda gone back to africa? no. activism is a good thing. if you work hard enough, you can change things. that's a part of the american way.

and i do agree with him about the motto "in god we trust." it is a part of our history. but jsut because it's there and always has been, that means it always should be? its previous existence is a justification for its continued existence? hrm. if some ppl wanna try to get our national motto changed, more power to 'em. it doesn't make 'em unpatriotic. just un-religious. they won't win, because 95% of americans believe in some kind of a god, and i would bet that a similar proportion of americans are quite happy with that motto.

but the ones who don't like it do have some legitimate points. it is right that they express these points, and it is right that they lose their fight to have the motto removed. i think "get the heck out" is a bit much.

for some ppl, the "in god we trust" motto is just a part of a much larger agenda to get more god in our schools. the motto is fine with me, but i don't like that particular agenda. if others want to fight that motto right along with that agenda, that's their opinion and welcome to it.

and there are very few whackos out there who want to inhibit someone else's freedom of expression. i hate it when someone starts screaming about that, because in most cases, it just dint happen. someone will come up with one incident in which they really were unfairly silenced, and expand that by deciding that ANYTIME someone asks them to keep it in check is a part of some dastardly plot to quash their relationship with god. most ppl who object to some overt religious expression object to it on the grounds that the "your freedom ends when it starts impinging on someone ELSE'S freedom" directive has been violated. it is easy to disagree where exactly that "my freedom/your freedom" line falls, but surely you must see that most people just want to preserve their own freedom, not stomp on yours.

welfareloser
10-18-2001, 05:52 AM
*bump*

because enough ppl haven't weighed in on this one yet!

oblongmelon
10-18-2001, 06:01 AM
some of it I agree with, some I do not..although I do go along with the last line..
"I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great American freedom,
the right to leave"......I mean if people are going to bitch and piss and moan about the way the U.S. is run then why are they here? There are far more places on this earth that people can live if they want. The U.S. has been so lenient with the masses of "new foreigners" at times that they have forgotten on what principals this country was founded. Instead we bend the rules, make exceptions,go overboard to be "politically incorrect"...and then get crapped on. And once that happens, all the blaming and finger pointing starts. I say, make rules, stick to them and if you don't want to do that -move to canada.

Grimm
10-18-2001, 09:12 AM
Originally posted by BrewMaster
Well whoever wrote that didn't give their name so they can kiss my ass. I agree with them, don;t get me wrong, but if you're gonna go off on people, at least put yourself behind. Don't write it anonymously, stand behind your ideas. What a puss.

Just because the person who distributed it didn't know who wrote it doesn't mean that the author didn't sign it. Most likely some ass didn't want to give the author credit so he didn't include the writers name before forwarding it.
Also note that if it was cut and pasted from a forum, like many of these "rants" are most people don't sign them because their name is already on the post by default. Also note that you didn't include your name on anything you have written. This makes you a "puss" by your own definition. And in ignorant one to boot!

eSDee
10-18-2001, 12:34 PM
Well I agree that we are being a little too PC these days, but I'm sure Falwell's remarks about the ACLU didn't help a bit. He pretty much guaranteed a backlash with the crap which spewed from his mouth when addressing the terrorist attack.
I agree with some of the ideas in this rant, however I don't agree with the person pointing the finger at immigrants. I don't think that immigrants are the ones doing all the complaining. Also I don't agree with:


First of all, it is not our responsibility to continually try not to
offend you in any way. This idea of America being a multi-cultural community
has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As
Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language,
and our own lifestyle. This culture, called the "American Way" has been
developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions
of men and women who have sought freedom. Our forefathers fought, bled,
and died at places such as Bunker Hill, Antietam, San Juan, Iwo Jima,
Normandy, Korea, Vietnam, We speak English, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become
part of our society - learn our language!

First of all, what does learning the language have to do with being patriotic? I've said it before that I think it is a bit hypocritical when people demand that new immigrants have to learn English, for the simple fact that in the history of the US immigrants were never forced to learn the language. Most Mexican immigrants desire to learn the language, but hey, it's not always that easy. Their kids learn English in school, which is the important thing, and the parents learn it from them. Another thing is that I don't think immigrants are the ones complaining about having God in the schools or waving the American flag. More likely it is long time Americans who are thinking outside the box, thinking more on a global scale than a country.
I just wanted to point out the fact that the fact that this person is trying to point a finger at immigrants is absurd. That's all I'm trying to say. Have at it.

johnnymk
10-18-2001, 01:01 PM
What EXACTLY did Falwell say that offended you? What he said, when he said something or how he said something?
We have been seeing signs and placards stating "God Bless America". What exactly does that mean to you?
Is there ANY kind of behavior or responsibilty that you have to perform in order to be BLESSED by God, or do his blessings just come automatically regardless of your actions?
I know it's not politically correct to ask these questions; that people want to push both of their fingers into their ears as far as possible so as not to hear any messages other than those which feel good. But I haven't read any decent rebuttals to his arguments that we actually deserve God's blessings.

welfareloser
10-18-2001, 01:07 PM
Originally posted by johnnymk
What EXACTLY did Falwell say that offended you? What he said, when he said something or how he said something?
We have been seeing signs and placards stating "God Bless America". What exactly does that mean to you?
Is there ANY kind of behavior or responsibilty that you have to perform in order to be BLESSED by God, or do his blessings just come automatically regardless of your actions?
I know it's not politically correct to ask these questions; that people want to push both of their fingers into their ears as far as possible so as not to hear any messages other than those which feel good. But I haven't read any decent rebuttals to his arguments that we actually deserve God's blessings.

homosexual activity in general did not make the ppl who died in the wtc NOT deserve god's blessings. that's what everyone's pissed off at.

attgig
10-18-2001, 01:09 PM
http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31806&perpage=40&pagenumber=1


these are just more victories of ACLU.....
if we forget AMERICA because it offends people, should we forget our civil liberties because it offends other countries?

welfareloser
10-18-2001, 01:13 PM
Originally posted by attgig
http://www.gotapex.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31806&perpage=40&pagenumber=1


these are just more victories of ACLU.....
if we forget AMERICA because it offends people, should we forget our civil liberties because it offends other countries?

are you sure the aclu fought for this? are you sure any of this even happened? i'd like to see proof that these incidents occured, and why they occured - who demanded it, who fought for it, or if the agencies involved just did it on their own... then we can talk about whether or not any of it implies that we have forgotten america or america's civil liberties... until then, i think you've made a mighty big stretch there.