Fireworks
Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you're being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don't forget what you're celebrating, and that's the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn't want to pay their taxes.
posted by Gatorman at
12:34 AM
3 Comments:
I suppose we should forget the struggles for religious freedom,and unfair taxation without representation.
We should ignore the cultural and social advances of American history from avaiation to electricity to the assembly line.
We should forgetthe sacrifice of American soldiers to liberate Europe, the deaths of thousands of men and women who have fought for freedom, and defined the ideals of democracy.
Yea gatorman, it's all about the fact that some of the men who signed the declaration of independance lived more than 200 years ago, and we can only see their faults. America is a lot more than those men. If you choose not to celebrate because of that, then you've forgotten what its all about.
Look around g-man. You don't miss it until you don't have it.
-- An American in Paris
missing home, celebrating the 4th abroad.
By
Anonymous, at 7:23 AM
AAP,
First if you really believe I think this, than we haven't talked enough.
Second, it's a quote from a movie (anybody?)... the word "bicentennial" meaning 200th, should have told you the movie is placed in 1976 (filmed in 1993).... It is just one of those memorable lines to me and since it was on TV last night, I figured I throw it up. If Will Smith's Independence Day was on, I would have put the speech from the President at the end before the big fight scene.
Third, while some celebrate the idea of freedom and independence that is symbolized in the 4th, most will BBQ and light/watch fireworks and that's about it. This is true for most holidays though, Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, Martin Luther King Day. People take it as a day off, or an extended weekend, nothing more.
Finally, my general question to everyone if the debate is really wanted. Is our "whitewashing" of our past historical figures right? For example, George Washington is a great man, led an army in possible odds, held together an extremely fragile country, but he also burned native american villages (including allies) and owned slaves do our elementary, middle, and high school textbooks say anything about that? Should we only learn to praise him? Doesn't that make our poltical figures very one dimensional or placed on such a high pedastal that none of our students can reach?
Another example, Helen Keller. She is the young girl in The Miracle Worker book, she overcomes being both deaf and blind to be able to be a full functioning and important member of society. Anybody guess what political affliation she belongs to? Anyone?
Socialist Party member. She campaigned for Eugene Debs. But all we learn of Helen Keller is that she learned to write and speak and was blind. She was active socialist because of her blindness. She realized that numerous more people were blind working in the sweatships of the 1920s than in the upper class. She wanted better working conditions for them. We don't like her work here because it makes her seem like a bad person... ooooohhh a Socialist.
Just to throw a "Democrat" out there as well, Woodrow Wilson, President of Princeton and US, was considered to be very smart. While in the White House, he praised one of the first movies ever out there, called Birth of A Nation. Birth of a Nation is a movie about how the KKK saved the post war South. They restored order because mulattos, blacks, and Republicans were incapable of honest government. Wilson denied admission into Princeton by blacks, he fired blacks, and reintroduced segregation as we know it into the federal government. "Segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen(blacks)" is quoted to Wilson.
Again, do we focus on Wilson's leadership in WW1, the 14 Points, and the failure of the League of Nations without focusing on his racist behavior. Does that really do the histroy of these complex indviduals justice?
By
Gatorman, at 11:42 AM
it is dazed and confused and Cullin needs to calm the fuck down.
By
Anonymous, at 12:32 PM
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