Whatever is constructive about labeling an entire country as mean, slothful, racist, lazy, wasteful, …it seems not at all constructive to me, but destructive. And untrue to boot.

And, if you can’t see the similarities between leftist talking points and how they are adopted and interchangeable with those of sworn enemies, then the problem, I suspect is not with me.

I don’t have to love my countrymen to love my country. Where I come from, love and respect are earned, not handed out willy-nilly in the spirit of nationalist camaraderie.

Really? Hmmm. Where I come from, friends and family are accorded a special place in each other’s hearts, thoughts and prayers. We stand up for one another and we don’t go out of our way to slam one another. We don’t always agree and there are consequences for bad behavior, but our starting point is always one of love and honor.

We also start with the presumption each is a good person… and love and respect are a given, until proven otherwise.

I feel badly that you have been encased in an environment where you all are presumed not worthy of love and respect until somehow you pass a litmus test. (I have seen how that played out with Joe Lieberman and the Kos Kidz though).

You see the country as filled with rotten apples and they need your “constructive” slander to become worthy of your litmus tests.

I see it filled with good and decent people, who take a ton of undeserved garbage simply because they don’t chant in unison from a leftist echo chamber songbook.

Good on you.

Thanks. That’s the second or third time I’ve explicitly admitted I was wrong on this site (which isn’t to say that it’s only the second or third time I’ve actually been wrong, only that it’s the second or third time that I’ve known I was wrong so clearly, in hindsight, as to admit such and make amends).

It always sucks to admit you’re wrong (particularly when you’re heavily vested in a position), but sometimes you’ve gotta do it to keep yourself grounded in the realm of argumentative honesty. It was easier in this case precisely because I wasn’t heavily vested in my position. I only included the whole “racism” angle so as to touch on all the points cfbleachers attributed to the Obamas. I knew there was something wrong with my position as soon as I saw it posted, but it took a little back-and-forth for me to figure out what was specifically wrong with it, and to admit said wrongdoing.

- cfbleachers

I think.

“From all I can see…you slam your country, slam your countrymen…then SAY you love it here. Funny way of showing it, that.”

- cfbleachers

I don’t have to love my countrymen to love my country. Where I come from, love and respect are earned, not handed out willy-nilly in the spirit of nationalist camaraderie.

“As for sticking my head in the sand, I prefer to think that I rather enjoy who my countrymen are and find nothing comforting in the constant lambasting they take from the left.”

- cfbleachers

You don’t have to find it “comforting”; you think I was “comfortable” writing those things about America. I wasn’t. It was extremely unsettling, but it was honest (except perhaps in the case I’ve been arguing with Steverino). Sometimes you have do go outside your comfort zone in the name of catharsis.

“If your brand was all that was left of my countrymen, I’d be ashamed to call myself one. I think we take enough slander from our enemies propaganda machines, it sickens me that we take it even moreso from our own.”

- cfbleachers

Whatever. I won’t pretend to know what your “brand” is (insofar as I know nothing about you), so I’ve got no biting response to that.

I will say that getting a CFbleachers Ostrich Award isn’t exactly my top priority at this point in time. If you can’t distinguish between constructive criticism and terrorist propaganda, and are nonetheless willing to (mis)apply those labels… well, that’s your problem.

Here’s some Decision, on my part: America is “lazy, slothful, mean, racist, warmongering, greedy, wasteful” because many (if not most) Americans are “lazy, slothful, mean, racist, warmongering, greedy, wasteful”, or some lesser combination thereof (and in varying degrees).

What “puerile responses”

Oooh, good point! Because no one with a college degree could possibly be intellectually lazy! Right!

You stick your head in the sand in the name of patriotism, I don’t.

What do you do, in the name of patriotism? Anything?

From all I can see…you slam your country, slam your countrymen…then SAY you love it here. Funny way of showing it, that.

As for sticking my head in the sand, I prefer to think that I rather enjoy who my countrymen are and find nothing comforting in the constant lambasting they take from the left. If that’s patriotism, then I’m guilty.

If your brand was all that was left of my countrymen, I’d be ashamed to call myself one. I think we take enough slander from our enemies propaganda machines, it sickens me that we take it even moreso from our own.

- Steverino

No, you’re right. I painted with too broad a brush. I think there’s a case to be made for differentiating between the true meaning of a word and the generally percieved meaning/use of that word, but in this context that differentiation was little more than tap-dancing on my part. I was wrong to say that America was racist, and I should’ve just admitted it right off the bat. I wouldn’t want anyone to apply the term to me, regardless of quotation marks or capitalization, simply because I noticed individual skin color. In the same vein, I shouldn’t apply the term to America, regardless of quotation marks or capitalization.

Racist is a strong enough term that someone’s conduct should be abusive/discriminatory enough to warrant its application. I shouldn’t have bandied it about.

- cfbleachers

You stick your head in the sand in the name of patriotism, I don’t.

“I just don’t understand why you live here, if so many other places are so much better”

-cfbleachers

I suppose I should give you props for restraining yourself as long as you did… but I suppose this question was inevitable, as a consequence of your self-righeousness.
You wanna know why I live here? Here’s my answer: I love it here. It’s my home.

“I put forth some statistics and facts to show why. You stick to your name calling and puerile responses.”

- cfbleachers

What? What “name calling” are you referring to? What “puerile responses”? I put forth “some statistics and facts”, same as you.

Yeesh.

I said that most of America was “racist” in the same way I was “racist” (”racist” being the popular Democratic term for “not colorblind”). I also said that I didn’t consider myself Racist at all. The logical extension of that is that I don’t consider most of America Racist at all.

Stop calling it “racist” vs. “Racist”. Words mean things, and “racist” does NOT mean noticing the physical differences between people.

You’ve painted yourself into a corner with this argument, and you’re unwilling to concede that you painted with too broad a brush.

Look, if you saw a woman and said, “Hey, she’s got blonde hair,” there would be nothing at all wrong with that. But if you said, “Blonde women are stupid,” that would be a bigoted remark. In the same line, noticing that a man is black is NOT racist. Refusing to speak to him simply because he is black IS racist.