Rich Man, Poor Man, Communist Pinko Swine

What a great time to be an American. We have unity. We have solidarity. We have purpose.

It’s also nice to know that even in these hard times of unity and solidarity that the beautiful and much American quaffed head of jingoism can still appear. We Americans have the ability, within any national crisis, no matter how large or small, to whip out the old books of rapport as penned by McCarthy himself and draw down from their pages just how to interact with people when we feel “in the right” and “justified”. On top of that, we can point to “being an American” and our “patriotic pride” as the sources for these actions.

It’s an ugly side we Americans can show even as we are putting forth our best patent leather foot for a cause that (while it feels like a knee-jerk reaction) I consider justified and worthy of funding, time, and effort. Of course, we all saw the immediate and terrible backlash as “patriotic” Americans flung their Molotov cocktails at mosques. I’m certain that they only used the finest American imported vodka for their efforts.

But I have seen it on a different level over the past weeks following the tragedy, and as a writer and a self-styled humorist, it makes my sick . . . and not in the way that the kids today mean sick as cool, either.

The first was when my friend, whom we will call Bob (since that’s his name) sent out a plea for people to remember why they were flying their American flags, and to hopefully be flying them for the right reasons and not as a “call for blood and revenge.”

It was an excellent piece, very articulate and intelligently written.

Aside from myself and an Americanized German, he received nothing but anger and criticism, probably someone even questioned his loyalty to America. It’s amazing how “freedom of speech” can so quickly “freedom to be called a pinko”.

And that’s not the good kind of “pinko” either.

More recently, well just this week in fact, Bill Maher of Politically Incorrect, has lost large advertising, has been censured by ABC as people whipped out their Black Lists, dusted them off and placed his name right above that of Dalton Trumbo. You can’t even access his website, a popular hit for ABC.

Even more recently, a girl from Georgia under the handle LadyDrake, asked me to a little debate on morality and ethics. The question of the morality of killing was brought up, with me playing Devil’s Advocate (go figure) within the confines of the debate. When the instance of the United Airlines Flight 93 was brought up, the flight where the passengers tried to retake the plane, I made the comment that, given the facts, these people weren’t necessarily justified.

Oh, I can almost hear the collective GASP and the stretching of rope over the nearest tree branch.

I will grant out, right now, that I agree with the general sentiment of the Nation that the 38 passengers and seven crew members should be honored and remembered for their efforts. But for a moment, lets take away what we think might have happened and consider the facts (egads, NOT FACTS) as we know them. While we’re doing that, we can resettle this noose about my neck; it’s chaffing.

The facts of Flight 93 are reasonably simple. The plane was hijacked, and we know that it was, like American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, and American Airlines Flight 77, intended by the hijackers to be used in an extreme act of terrorism. We thank the good Lord above that it wasn’t. But the passengers aboard the plane didn’t know that. All they knew, as was conveyed by a poor soul from a locked bathroom was that “We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!”

Now, prior to September 11, 2001, almost every plane hijacking ended with little or no bloodshed at all. In fact, prior to September 11th, pilots and crew members were trained, much like store clerks, to think of the safety of their passengers (go figure) and simply do what the hijackers wanted.

Apparently, prior to September 11th, hijackers weren’t suicidal maniacs, just maniacs.

Given this knowledge, we can see that the passengers and crew, in attempting to retake the plane were doing just that: ATTEMPTING TO RETAKE THE PLANE. They weren’t trying to prevent another terrorist attack, as there has been no indication, at this time, that they knew the hijackers were going to crash the plane. They weren’t sacrificing themselves to save lives, they were just ATTEMPTING TO RETAKE THE PLANE.

When I stated this to LadyDrake she immediately and self-righteously replied that she was tired of people being negative about America, and that she was proud to be an American, that anyone who spoke badly about America was certainly wrong-thinking and that she was never going to speak to me again!

Kindly note, at no time did I speak ill of the deceased nor of their action, but merely put them into context.

Will someone please help me down from this horse and untie my hands now? No? Alrighty then. Nice weather we’re having.

But this is exactly the kind of nationalistic fervor that frightens me, and should frighten you too. It’s the kind that gets lists made, and comics censored and writers silenced. It’s the kind that gets normally complacent people off the couch on their front porch to join neighbors with pitch forks and torches, chanting, “Kill the Monster! Kill the Monster!”

But mostly I’d just like a little lotion for my neck.