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Edited on Fri Sep-26-03 10:19 AM by WillBowden
Way back when (07/15/2002 to be near exact) you posted a message that I asked for permission to use if the need ever arose. Well, it raised it's ugly xenophobic head and I was finally able to use your letter. (For those who've never seen it I repost it and give full credit to Matcom.)
IMMIGRANTS, NOT AMERICANS, MUST ADAPT.
NOT MATCOM: I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans.
MATCOM: No we haven't. We have experienced a surge of 'displays of patriotism,' which should never be confused with actual patriotism. Patriotism is NOT the waving of the flag and chants of USA! USA! Patriotism is voting (but the voter turnout the first Tuesday in November, 2001, nearly two months after the attacks, was its usual pathetic percentage). Patriotism is performing your duty as a citizen of this country: jury duty, obeying the laws, respecting the Constitution of the United States. Patriotism is service to country more than it is singing "God Bless America" .
It is a great disappointment to me that there has been little actual surge of patriotism. Instead, there has been a surge of the easy displays of patriotism. Any idiot can display a flag (and it's appalling how many people still don't know the proper way to display the flag). Any drunken idiot can chant, "USA! USA!" And too many of them do. This is not a football game or a hockey game. This is war (albeit an unjust war in my opinion). What are you doing for the war effort, Mr./Mrs. Editorial Letter Writer, besides sewing hatred and bigotry?
NOT MATCOM: However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the "politically correct" crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others. I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. Our population is almost entirely comprised of descendants of immigrants.
MATCOM: It's a good thing you are "not against immigration;" you are descended from immigrants, I'll bet. Did you know that naturalized citizens of the U. S., that is people who were not originally citizens but chose to change their citizenship, have to pass a test? They have to show that they know something about this country and its Constitution. What do you know of either? What have you done for your country?
NOT MATCOM: However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand. This idea of America being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity.
MATCOM: This is the sickest thing I have read in a long time. America isn't known as the 'Great Melting Pot' for nothing. If you want a 'Hitler' post WWII Germany, thankfully, you are going to die dejected and pissed. In fact, if your opinions had been the 'law of the land' when your great grandparents 'brought' your twinkle over on whatever boat they populated, you would be just that. A 'twinkle' in somebody's eye.
NOT MATCOM: As Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.
We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!
MATCOM: Where in the Constitution does it say that English is our national language? You know, there's an old joke that goes something like this:
Q: "What do you call someone who can speak three languages?
A: Trilingual.
Q: What do you call someone who can speak two languages?
A: Bilingual.
Q: What do you call someone who can speak only one language?
A: American."
The American Culture, such as it is, has benefited from generations of all sorts of "undesirables" (people like your ancestors...and mine) who came here not speaking the language you claim is our national language. Two of the more important personages in our American Revolution were a Frenchman (Lafayette) and a Prussian (Polaski) who could not speak English and didn't even become citizens. Yet without their help, it is questionable whether we would have defeated the British.
And while the first generation of immigrants usually has trouble learning a new language (but they manage), their children (the second generation) do quite well. It is only the narrow prejudice of the bigoted few--who generally do not even speak English well--who maintain that immigrants should learn English. What is it that prohibits YOU from learning a second language?
NOT MATCOM: "In God We Trust" is our national motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools.
MATCOM: Yes, it is some 'Christian, right wing, political slogan". In 1955, Congress passed a law requiring that "In God We Trust" appear on all U.S. coins and currency. The first paper currency with the motto appeared in 1957. This was right after the McCarthy era, during the early Cold War, when no congressperson would dare be seen voting against "God." "In God We Trust" did appear occasionally on a few coins, starting with a 2-cent piece in the 1860s, in an attempt (it is surmised) to put "God" on the side of the north during the Civil War. In 1956, an Act of Congress adopted "In God We Trust" as a national motto. The original motto, "E Pluribus Unum" ("out of many, one,") celebrating plurality, still appears on the Presidential Seal and on some paper currency.
NOT MATCOM: If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.
MATCOM: Another misconception. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and others were hardly Christian. Jefferson was pilloried in the press for his anti-Christian beliefs. He wrote his own version of the Bible, because he didn't believe the traditional Gospels were accurate or "the word of God." Washington was a Freemason who believed in God but was not particularly Christian. And Franklin, well Benjamin Franklin was one of the most notorious Free Thinkers of the 18th Century.
This country was founded by men of deep spirituality, but they would not pass muster in most Christian faiths. This country was founded on principles first enunciated by Thomas Hobbs and John Locke. It was further refined by the ideas and ideals of James Madison, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson. NOT by people like George W. Bush, Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell or Pat Buchannon.
Finally, "In God We Trust" does not (except to Christians) refer to Jesus Christ. In God We Trust is inclusive of Jews, Muslims, Sihks, Hindus, and Buddhists, as well as Christians. In fact, "In God We Trust" is a slogan invented by man in the late 1950's. I am sure that your Christian God would not be terribly pleased with His/Her name used on the back of a piece of paper representative of one of the Seven Deadly Sins.......GREED.
NOT MATCOM: If Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don't like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet.
MATCOM: What does failing to be a good Christian have to do with the "Stars and Stripes?" What does cultural diversity have to do with love of country? You sunshine patriots make me sick. You wrap everything in the flag and call it patriotism. If you don't want your culture to change, then you want it to stagnate, and everything that stagnates dies. This country is strong and great exactly because we take the best and the brightest from around the world. They come here because we offer opportunities undreamed of in their own lands where privilege often trumps talent and the free exchange of ideas can be punished by imprisonment and death. Our country, our land, and our lifestyle (as you call it) has always been an amalgamation of the best from around the world. And the people who come here have to overcome homesickness, poverty, the language barrier, and gross prejudice to succeed. But succeed they do.
The miracle is that they keep coming at all in the face of such infantile thinking as you exhibited here.
NOT MATCOM: We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from.
This is OUR COUNTRY, our land, and our lifestyle.
Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion and we will allow you every opportunity to do so. But, once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way of life, I highly encourage you to take advantage of one other great American freedoms,
THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.
MATCOM: Yes, our First Amendment does give every citizen the right to express a jackass opinion. (It also gives me the right to call it a jackass opinion.) The only people I hear complaining are those who think American is white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant. The only people I hear complaining and whining are those who seem interested in displaying their ignorance and prejudice. The only people I see asking others to leave this country are those who never have.
And just who am I to dare challenge the narrow, racist thinking of this letter? I am an American. I vote in every election, no matter how trivial. I pay taxes. And I have served my country in the United States Army. I know that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to stand by and do or say nothing. I protest this fake President and his misAdministration. He was not legally elected. This is a 'war' about oil. We are as culpable as those who struck first. Maybe more so. If this upsets anyone who receives this you have my email. I will be more than happy to debate the facts.
Please pass this along if you agree.
( author unknown )
Not only that, I'll sign my name, which I notice is something the writer of the original letter did not do.
Matcom
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