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From: donald@utcsrgv.UUCP (Don Chan)
Newsgroups: net.poems,net.politics,net.flame,net.followup
Subject: Re: A Tribute to Freedom Fighters
Message-ID: <2820@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 26-Nov-83 18:02:23 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.2820
Posted: Sat Nov 26 18:02:23 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Nov-83 18:33:27 EST
References: <143@houxk.UUCP>
Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto
Lines: 45

J. McGhee's recent submission is the most appalling example of
American jingoism and ethnocentrism I've seen in a while.
He probably *likes* the unsung verses of the Star Spangled Banner.
I could ignore the ravings about the Evil British, but this is
the last straw.

No doubt America (the brave, free, pure, etc.) can do no wrong,
as it helps the oppressed freedom fighters of Central America and Grenada.
Talk about "building empires"!  America doesn't build empires right?
America liberates the downtrodden.

While I am in general pro-American (Canada's in NATO remember?),
jingoists like McGhee with their rose-coloured glasses make me want
to reconsider.  Countries are not separable into angels and devils.
McGhee's ilk has such a primitive view of international politics
("we're right, they're wrong, an' either yer fer us or agin' us")
that sometimes I get alarmed that some of them control the nukes.

And his poem tops it all off with lines like
	...
	Till the lad is grown and again is shown
	The cause for which he died.

	And the ranks are swelled
	That will send to hell
	The tyrant's bloody horde!

God save us from idiocy like this.  The "tyrant's bloody horde"
are a bunch of poor saps with mothers, wives, and children too.
Oh yeah.  Anybody that's not American is evil and inhuman
Glorious to die while killin' the dirty bastards ain't it?

I seem to recall that the Evil British outlawed slavery long
before the U.S.  As for tyrants, remember the Shah of Iran?
Who was pals with him?  How about the attempted "liberation" of
Canada in 1812?  Vietnam?  The list could go on.  There is little point
in doing it, as that would be resorting to the jingoists' methods.
So stop crowing about your moral superiority.  You aren't.

Glad I live in Canada under Evil British Domination, (McGhee'll probably
think this is a serious statement!)
-- 
Don Chan, University of Toronto Department of Computer Science
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