It’s pretty tough to lose one’s temper with chronically ill people, particularly those who are in the most challenging of bouts with cancer. I witnessed both of my parents wither away from the disease, and it is very tough to find oneself ever expressing ill will to anyone in that position.
THAT SAID…there is really no way for patriotic Americans to maintain much by way of charitable thoughts for Roger Ebert at the present time. The renowned film critic and quintessential Hollywood liberal, who is suffering from thyroid cancer to such a degree that he is now disfigured and without the gift of speech, felt fine enough to slam, via his Twitter account, the five California high school students who wore American flag-themed clothing in Cinco de Mayo. His Twitter post read, in part, that “kids who wear American flag t-shirts on 5 May should have to share a lunchroom table with those who wear a hammer and sickle on 4 July.”
The point that Ebert is apparently making is that we do not, in his opinion, live in the United States of America, but rather in the United States of the World, and that expressions of nationalism should be managed in such a fashion that all citizens of the world are given priority, as appropriate, to celebrate here in America in whatever ways they choose.
Ebert has it backwards. We now live in a time when U.S. citizens are under siege in more ways than we can count, but one of those most prominent of ways has to do with our ability to express any measure of traditional nationalism that is not filtered by agents and propagandists of the one world order. It is not the five students who acted as antagonists; the antagonists…the enemies…are any and all who seek to suppress the natural and traditional patriotic expressions of Americans on behalf of this great nation.
Ebert is a caricature; another agent for the inclusiveness crowd who, by virtue of his wealth, need not be concerned as much with the loss of traditional American identity in the regular neighborhoods, schools, and shopping centers in which the rest of us persist…because he doesn’t live in, go to, or shop at any of those.
In the end, I do hope that Roger Ebert sees better days ahead, but I hope he’ll forgive me if I am just a little more concerned with that which awaits those five young men in California; Roger has the protection of his money and the community of his vocal, fellow Hollywood elites to help him get by…while those high school students appear to have little beyond the patriotic shirts on their backs to help see them through a most uncertain future.
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Bob Yetman, Editor-at-Large at Christian Money.com (www.christianmoney.com), is an author of a variety of materials on personal finance and investing, as well as on topics of fitness and self defense, to include the just-released book Investor's Passport to Hedge Fund Profits (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) and the new unarmed combat training DVD Thunderstrikes - How to Develop One Shot, One Kill Striking Power (Paladin Press).
I always thought wearing the flag (outside of a small patch which is allowable)was pretty disrespectful, but then again, its pretty rare for anyone to follow the flag code.
We have a lot of folks with patriotism in their heart, but seriously lacking in their head. Then again, civics hasn't been taught for years, so its not surprising.
I agree with you as far as the the loss of American identity, but our definitions of said identity is vastly different, likely by region.
100 years ago here in MN, we had 6 or 7 languages on the ballots, and even up through the 50's, weekly multilingual churches/services still existed... but finding a non-English church is exceedingly rare these days.
I think the loss of immigrant identity is a huge downfall... but we can hope as the world itself gets smaller that at least pockets of such will remain in the US, rather than dissolving away. Diversity is what made us great, and I fear the lack of it is playing a role in taking us down as well.
Posted by: Ron Amundson | May 13, 2010 at 06:15 PM
I certainly agree. I wish more young kids would stand up for the country and the freedom we share. Praise God for the many who have enlisted into the service to keep freedom in our nation.
Posted by: E Harper | May 13, 2010 at 07:31 PM
Maybe all the treatments he has endured, has affected his mind. No sane American would make such a stupid statement.
Posted by: Jack | May 14, 2010 at 04:14 PM