In Remembrance of Flag Day Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit In Rememberance of Flag Day by Wayne Sumstine Most Americans would agree that the events of September 11th have changed the meaning of Flag Day. And nobody could fail to notice that patriotism is at an all-time high. Interestingly, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that saluting the flag or pledging allegiance to it is a religious expression contrary to their own, and thus they do not participate. While I am not a Jehovah's Witness, I have discovered that many of the great minds of history and literature concur with their views. For instance: "You'll never have a quiet world till you knock patriotism out of the human race." George Bernard Shaw, O'Flaherty "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Samuel Johnson, Boswell's Life "Patriotism -- it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able vicariously, to bully and cheat, and what's more, bully and cheat with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous." Aldous Huxley, Eyeless in Gaza 'The men who are eminent as patriots in the Republic seem to be as devoid of altruism as so many cockroaches." H. L. Mencken, The Analogous World "Patriotism is religion: it is the egg from which wars are hatched." Guy de Maupassant, Sosthenes "Patriotism is the religion of hell." James Branch Cabell, Jurgen To balance our national swell of patriotic fervor, I will add only my own understanding of the concept in its current setting. Our patriotism is imbecility when stripped of its gaudy vestments, it is stupidity parading as valor, it is truth stood on its head, it is the crack cocaine of the masses, it can only be understood by those who first voluntarily forfeit their powers of reason, it is the self-deafening whoop of cowardly Americans seeking collective refuge from their personal demons, and it is, quite thankfully, the final mission of many goose-stepping morons. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytact-06.15.02-18:27:55-15817