patriotic
silentbob apparently just a word 030912
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imposter Rapidly accumulating for itself a negative connotation, at least in my mind.

Soon to be brother to zealot and righteous in my list of words-with-terribly-negative-connotations-that-I-hate.

patriotic righteous zealot
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misstree webster.com:

1 : inspired by patriotism
2 : befitting or characteristic of a patriot

patriotism: love for or devotion to one's country

patriot: one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests

i don't know about the authority bit... but i'm also reminded of thomas jefferson's thought that we would be remodeling the way the country works every twenty to fifty years... and the "interests" of the country varies from opinoin to opinion... but for love and devotion, well, both sides of a protest are patriotic; both doing what they believe to be in the best interests of their community, society, economy, culture, environment, government, country.
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misstree don't let the word be devalued by the demagogues that use it as a war cry. i love this country too much to stop being a patriot just because of them. 030912
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nomatter I am not patriotic, but it doesnt really matter 030916
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The Spork The Current crop of war-patriots either use or have been co-opted by a tactic described by the Nazi war criminal and close associate of Hitler, Hermann Goerring in an interview with a psychologist during his trial at Nuremberg
(Quote used in Sean Gonsalves' column in this week's Cape Cod Times and available online through workingforchange.com - Excerpt of an interview between Goerring and Dr. Gustave Gilbert, as recounted in the book "Weapons of Mass Deception" by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber)

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"Of course, the people don't want war," Goerring said. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece.

"Naturally, the common people don't want war -- neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America; nor, for that matter, in Germany. That is understood. After all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a Fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship," Goerring said.

Gilbert responded: "There's one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives. And in the United States only Congress can declare wars." Spoken like a true believer.

You can almost hear the snicker in Goerring's retort. "Oh, that is all well and good. But voice or no voice the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

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And if you really listen, that sounds like a big nasty chunk of the rhetoric coming from people like John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and the people like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly who have all been spouting off the suggestion that if you don't agree with the means by which the government is currently conducting itself than you are "objectively pro-terrorist" (quote from one of Coulter's op-ed pieces this past summer)

On that note, I really have to wonder, did the people who made that god-awful Showtime movie "DC 9/11" borrow Leni_Riefenstahl as a creative consultant for that rather blatant and inaccurate slab of Karl Rove-driven propaganda.
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Lemon_Soda I love the land.

I love the people.

But if you try telling me that all those flags in all those windows means anything other than "Hi, I'm submitting to the status quo out of subconcious fear of rejection" then I'll be forced to stare at you in a stern fashion and tell you that your dream is pretty but not reality yet.

When was the last time you said the pledge of Allegiance outside of school?
030917
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