{"id":42,"date":"2001-10-12T06:53:00","date_gmt":"2001-10-12T14:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=42"},"modified":"2001-10-12T06:53:00","modified_gmt":"2001-10-12T14:53:00","slug":"42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=42","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Fellow capper<\/a> and all-around good guy Erik Wilson e-mailed me this excellent article<\/a> from The Nation<\/em> on patriotism and the media:<\/font>
\n
<\/p>\n

Many on the right are hoping to exploit a pregnant political moment to advance a host of antidemocratic policies. Principled dissent is never more necessary than when it is least welcome. American history is replete with examples of red scares, racist hysteria, political censorship and the indefensible curtailment of civil liberties that derive, in part, from excessive and abusive forms of superpatriotism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/font>In this touching open letter<\/a> to the civilians of Afghanistan, Paul Ford mulls over his own thoughts on what it now means to be an American:<\/font>
\n
<\/p>\n

…we pretended that we live outside history. We pretended to live in a space where economies rose forever and death could not visit us unless we were old or unlucky (or uninsured, which is another issue), and now the illusion has come to an nasty end. We were told – and I believed, somewhere in my heart, without even knowing I believed it – that America was done with all the messy cycles of the past, all the depressions and long, miserable battles, and that we would now be able to lead the rest of the world by our deeds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/font>And in other news:<\/p>\n