tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835762323021323645.post7373256431608350400..comments2023-06-24T03:38:52.167-07:00Comments on By the Bookseller: The Rally to Restore BalanceCassandra Verthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288396111560625064noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835762323021323645.post-83909722185167819212010-11-01T14:15:15.421-07:002010-11-01T14:15:15.421-07:00Hey! Bounced over from Bluegals blog over at C&...Hey! Bounced over from Bluegals blog over at C&L. I just wanted to say good job. I too think Jon understands his role in all this better than we do sometimes.Blotzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06993967190131485391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835762323021323645.post-83441057562361398212010-10-31T17:05:04.668-07:002010-10-31T17:05:04.668-07:00Thank you. A friend of mine recently told me about...Thank you. A friend of mine recently told me about how the body position of the salute was changed from arm pointing at flag to hand over heart once the Nazis came along and ruined the arm-extended pose for everyone. I hadn't known that either.<br /><br />My grandmother told me that in the 1930s, when my mother was born, she had friends from many different countries. They all wanted to give their children American names, to dress American, and learn the ways of their new country. In learning, of course, they added to the culture. They were not ashamed of where they came from, nor did they forget, but that was their past and America was their future. I too wish that sense of adventure, discovery, and community was more widespread in this country.Cassandra Verthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15288396111560625064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7835762323021323645.post-14301549713833031262010-10-31T16:06:46.366-07:002010-10-31T16:06:46.366-07:00Really well-said. I especially agree with Stewart ...Really well-said. I especially agree with Stewart and with you on the traffic analogy, which has astonished me everywhere I've lived. I call it the zipper effect. And Stewart didn't miss two other salient points: Americans are mostly not this or that politically, they are mostly just a little late getting somewhere they have to be, that they don't want to be, but they WILL get there; and the light on the other side of the tunnel is probably only New Jersey.<br />On July 4, 1954, just before my 8th birthday, President Eisenhower added the words "under God" to the Pledge. It's possible that my memory of that change, along with the knowledge of how the Pledge grew from its inception in the 19th century, allows me to discuss it without thinking of it as a holy relic. Discussion of changing the Pledge began the vitriolic voices in Congress.<br />Later in 1954, Joe McCarthy and HUAC was on TV live and I saw much of those hearings and didn't quite understand. Then it was over and things went back to normal - sort of - with everyone trying harder but nobody seeking perfection.<br />But now it seems to me that perfection is the only goal. There is no compromise, no conversation, no exchange of ideas. As Robert Heinlein once said of a certain philosopher "he proves his conclusions by his assertions." McCarthy attempted that, and self-destructed in the process.<br />My fear is that we have become so uninformed as a nation, so unwilling to step out of our own safe boxes, that we may never trip over a different idea, give ourselves the permission to look at or test something new to us. Didn't someone once say that patriotism was being in love with the food you grew up with? If so, we are the most patriotic nation in the world.<br />A final thought: it's too bad that Christine O'Donnell is more likely a liar than someone who dabbled in witchcraft. Had she been a dabbler, she might have actually learned something. She might have become a person.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com