Topic: America as Empire?
What main reason can you pick out of the text that supports his arguement?
America is rotten. If we become on Empire, the government will be able to control everything. From what is on television, to the kind of clothes we wear, or the type of car we drive. America becoming an Empire seems contradicting to me. Wasn't America founded as "The Land of the Free"? What freedom do we have when the government picks out our cereal in the morning?
In my daily life, I have the freedom to choose what to do with my day. Sure, there are some structured activities such as school, work, or family obligations that we do, but no one is holding a gun to my head making me do these things. Becoming an empire is not going to solve all of our problems. There will always be loop holes and people that do not like the government, just like there are today. The government may believe that they have an air tight society and that nothing will get it; trust me, it will. People are deceitful and full of hatred. Some people hate the government now, just imagine how it would be if the people we to be controlled in an Empire. Scary.
If we are to be controlled by an Empire, who is to decide who runs it? Mailer’s concern for the well being of our country is profound. He is so scared that we are going to listen to everything the media has to say and not make any decisions for ourselves. I don’t think that anyone can really say that they know what is going on in Iraq. All we know is what the media is feeding us. I do believe that some of America is rotten but you have to have a balance in everything. I have used this idea in other blogs, but if everyone was the same, then we would all be robots. I want to make my own decisions and to feel emotion.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Waving the Flag
Topic: Why Are We At War?
As I was beginning to read Norman Mailer’s book, Why Are We At War?, I was not quite sure that I was going to be able to relate to anything that he was going to say. Sure, I am an American, but I was not so sure that I was going to understand all of the political undertones in this book.
One of the biggest things from the book that I can relate to, is his idea of patriotism. He says that just because of the falling of the Twin Towers, people have begun waving flags in every direction. They are putting flags in front of their homes when there not even a second thought of the American flag before. Business owners are selling flags like crazy in any store in America when before, all they sold were the goods and services they advertised.
I do not think that you have to wait for a war to show your patriotism. If we were so excited to show our love for America, we should have been waving flags and adorning our cars with bumper stickers long before September 11th. People are very compulsive with their flag waving. I am afraid that pretty soon, the American flag with lose some of its meaning with the way it is portrayed right now.
Norman Mailer used a great term for what is going on in today’s society after 9/11. He coined the term “promiscuous patriotism”. I believe that means that people are waving flags just because someone told them to, or because everyone else is doing it too. You should want to wave a flag because you are an American, not because someone told you that it was a good idea. It’s almost like people are saying that they should hurry up and wave a flag because that is going to save the world from terrorism. Waving a flag means rejoicing over your country, not scaring someone away.
As I was beginning to read Norman Mailer’s book, Why Are We At War?, I was not quite sure that I was going to be able to relate to anything that he was going to say. Sure, I am an American, but I was not so sure that I was going to understand all of the political undertones in this book.
One of the biggest things from the book that I can relate to, is his idea of patriotism. He says that just because of the falling of the Twin Towers, people have begun waving flags in every direction. They are putting flags in front of their homes when there not even a second thought of the American flag before. Business owners are selling flags like crazy in any store in America when before, all they sold were the goods and services they advertised.
I do not think that you have to wait for a war to show your patriotism. If we were so excited to show our love for America, we should have been waving flags and adorning our cars with bumper stickers long before September 11th. People are very compulsive with their flag waving. I am afraid that pretty soon, the American flag with lose some of its meaning with the way it is portrayed right now.
Norman Mailer used a great term for what is going on in today’s society after 9/11. He coined the term “promiscuous patriotism”. I believe that means that people are waving flags just because someone told them to, or because everyone else is doing it too. You should want to wave a flag because you are an American, not because someone told you that it was a good idea. It’s almost like people are saying that they should hurry up and wave a flag because that is going to save the world from terrorism. Waving a flag means rejoicing over your country, not scaring someone away.
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