08-03-2022, 05:15 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-03-2022, 05:35 AM by Eric the Green.)
(08-03-2022, 04:20 AM)JasonBlack Wrote: "Is joy and celebration going away in the USA today?"
This is what I've been saying all along. It's passé to hate on America, tell everyone who wants to defend America that they're a "white supremacist" and even talk about how we deserve all the trouble we're in and maybe it's a good thing that our time in the sun is up.
Most people are not filled with joy and celebration when they are faced with the combination of their economy and way of life falling apart and the media and elites holding them in contempt. The weak become crestfallen and guilt ridden, the strong become increasingly adversarial and dig in their heels, but neither is experiencing joy and celebration. At this point, we are a dying country that doesn't even want to save itself. This is what the world looks like when nationalism is viewed as racist and oppressive and people give up because they feel like they have nothing to fight for.
I of course have the opposite diagnosis about the source. All the things that *I* mentioned are the result of conservative policies. And that certainly includes "economy and way of life falling apart" for most people.
If people are creatfallen and guilt ridden because some people point out the problems in our country, that is ON THEM. The thing to realize is to listen to the sixties/seventies musicians, and help them change the world. Listen to the song. The celebration of life is what we're talking about. People smiling, people touching, people dancing, slow rolling on bikes, balloons and arts and music. The 4th of July is just an occasion for what the song says can be every day. Nationalism is a poor symbolic substitute for real life.
And it's not a fight. But if you want to make it a fight, do it with gusto, and be sure you are fighting for the best causes. Not for your race or your nation, but for what gives and preserves our lives. (and for those things about our nation, and about some other nations, that happen to do this)
Rick Steves recently showed me how many festivals Europe has, and they go back centuries. Some new traditions of celebration started up in the sixties. Mostly held by people against war. I hope they come back again.