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.