So I’ve been trying to understand why so many people got (and still get) so incredibly mad whenever someone objects to what the administration says, more specifically the president (they like to call him their “commander in chief”). For the longest time I couldn’t figure it out. Why would disagreeing with authority be labeled as un-American or un-patriotic? Why would someone be “on their side” for questioning the president?
I don’t know a whole lot about the details under which this country (USA) was founded. I know the basics, so if I say anything incorrect or just plain wrong please forgive my ignorance. But, as I understand it, the way it works is that one of the most appealing things about this country is that you have the right (some would say the obligation) to express your opinion no matter what it is. Many countries are jealous and would love to have this (functionally, not just in theory).
So every time I heard the uber-patriots yell in disgust at people who questioned some of the president’s moves - well, I was confused. They had their little American flags and were somehow under the impression that to be American is to blindly (that’s the best way I can describe it, sorry it’s true) support whatever the current authority says and wave a flag around. Of course the obligatory “but of course I support the troops.”
I think I’ve found a parallel that may help you too understand how their minds are working, because some of you may feel the way I do. Hopefully.
It’s a sports analogy, so many of you should be able to relate. If you follow a specific sports team fervently, then I’m sure you’ve gone through what I’m about to explain. I am a huge Cubs fan. I follow them fanatically (jokers would say religiously, the irony of it all) and my humor has been known to fluctuate proportionally to how the Cubs do. And it’s happened many times -especially during particularly stressful times of the season, like the playoffs- when a player or manager says something to the press that is going to cause a distraction to the team. Keep them from winning the games that are so urgently needed to be won. It happens every year in baseball. During the playoffs someone will bring up their contract status, hint that they aren’t happy, complain about another player, etc. And I know many other fans that have reacted in the exact same way as I have.
Picture it, it’s game three of the World Series and your team is down two games to none. You need to focus and win the next game or else it’s pretty much all done. You open up the paper only to read that your star shortstop feels like he hasn’t been treated properly the whole season and that he would prefer to hit 4th instead of his usual 3rd in the lineup.
Me: “WHY ARE YOU SAYING THIS NOW???? COULDN’T YOU HAVE PLEASE WAITED UNTIL THIS IS ALL OVER? FOCUS ON WINNING RIGHT NOW, SHUT UP!!!”
And that’s when it hit me, “that’s awfully similar to what the blind patriots are saying to people like me when we discuss our differing opinions on what the US government is doing in the world today.
And I thought, “hmm.”
And I think it’s a valid comparison except for the almighty ‘but’ that has to be inserted in there somewhere. A major league baseball team isn’t a democracy composed of all of it’s fans. It wasn’t founded on that. Plus, it’s only a game of little consequence (except for some key economic things that have little to do with these complaints). A country and war is a whole different deal.
I understand the whole idea of backing your team to the end. We have to win, it’s my team, I’m backing them until the end. I get it. But you have to have a line. A line that - once crossed- you stop and say, “Ok that’s enough.” If you don’t have that line then you are a tool that gets used for other people’s ends. If you have that line than I should hope that you see it’s been crossed. If not, what are you waiting for?
Yes, Go team and all that. But I have no problem criticizing my team when it’s doing wrong, no matter what the circumstances are. Why? Because this is for real, this isn’t a game. People are dying here. Wake up and smell the blood. This is the real deal. Put your flags down and use your brains for a second. That’s what this country was founded on.