Friday, May 07, 2010

annoyed

i know it's me. i am 'in a mood' as usual- and i accept that. i can't quite grasp why i should respect a piece of cloth as if it's holy. i am talking about the american flag for starters. i think my biggest issue that i am currently struggling with is the one where americans don't have clue one what it means to be an 'american.' for some reason unknown to me, there is a really large contingent of crazies and sanes in america who genuinely believe that one has to 'speak english' and be white to be considered an american. and, there's a really large contingent who firmly believe we need to respect the flag and worship it i guess- as a holy relic of americanism- because of those who fought and died to protect it. apparently, the flag embodies our alleged freedoms.

look, let's pull our heads out of our asses here shall we? there are generations of american citizens who have accents. i'd hazard a guess all of us do- upstate new yorkers spread our a's like nobody's business so that water really sounds like 'wahter' and we all recognize a southern state accent or a midwest accent. so, whatever on the accent. as far as 'speaking english'- seriously? i'd posit that 90% of white americans don't speak grammatically correct english at any given time and i don't suppose you can really call our dialect 'english' as the queen's english anyway- it's american english. perhaps we should all learn a bit more about our first language before we decide to force everyone within earshot to speak it. besides, many folks along our borders speak fluent spanish- as american citizens- that doesn't mean they don't speak english. my guess is that the fact that there are signs and whatnot in spanish, french and english along our borders to the north and south- it just makes life easier for all of the folks who live there.

no one is coming in hordes to take away the suvs or mcmansions american suburbanites- please don't be fearful.

as far as the flag and what it represents- it's a fucking piece of cloth that every country has to represent it to the rest of the world. the folks who died in various wars and conflicts did not necessarily fight and die for american freedom. most died for corporate interests and their freedom to profit, profit, profit. mmmm.... a case could be made for the revolutionary war, the civil war and the japanese invasion of pearl harbor during world war 2. other than that, sorry folks- those precious folks died for profit. so, spare me the rhetoric about god and country and all of that happy horseshit.

the flag is not a sacred relic to be cherished- it is a symbol of solidarity- which is sorely lacking in america today with the tea bagging tea partiers and their ilk seeking to divide and conquer america for the wasp contingent. good luck angry white folks- there aren't that many of you and a whole world full of brown, black, yellow and the whole rainbow of folks who are on their way up in spite of your efforts to keep them down in abject poverty for your profit. your way of life is ending by the very means you fight- evolution.

american doesn't mean wasp. it doesn't matter that that is who started the america we know today. the people of america decided to share america with the rest of the world a long time ago- at least idealistically. realistically, we know that was a bit tougher. americans used to be known for being fair- people of action for sure but the populous was always held in high regard for generosity of spirit and home. now, we fight to keep folks out- that's pretty selfish and mean spirited and we wonder why folks abroad dislike us. fyi- it isn't because they are jealous. anyhoo, i am beginning to believe that there are many in america who 'get it' and who are working within their own communities to make a difference in spite of the right wing hate groups. i have said it before- i genuinely hope that right wing conservatism goes the way of the dinosaurs. fingers crossed that evolution is a bit speedier than that though....

8 comments:

jmsjoin said...

Funny but you just made me smile! Every time I use to talk to Brother he would laugh as he loved my accent. I don't notice it.

Anyway these white wing I mean right wing Repubs feel they lost their grip on their America and want it back.

Dave Dubya said...

None of us speak English here. We "talk American". And talk we do. We talk about how better we are than everyone else while we tell them what they all should do. That's what America is.

Word verification: mormen

Carol Gee said...

b -- this is a really fine piece of writing. It validates the thesis of those of us who urged you to keep on blogging. Peace to you, my friend.

Spadoman said...

Well stated Betmo. It's all about discrimination and has little to do with anything else. I notice the ads on billboards are in Spanish as well as English. The banks and tax preparers will take money from Spanish speakers. For profit, it's okay to speak, (write an advertisement) in Spanish, but don't speak to you children or the tea baggers will get you.

Peace.

David G. said...

Hey, Betmo, this reminds me of the time when you were at your peak! Congratulations.

Having a break from 'trying to save the world' has done you good. I know from my own experience, you just can't keep it up year after year. It wears you down.

Anyway, keep smiling, girl and keep agitating. Perhaps Americans are more ready now to see the errors of their ways.

Naj said...

I liked this, and shared it with a cousin who has recently come to America; and who is lately finding America an "annoying" place. She works as a medical doctor in the big apple; She has money; she is 'white', she is an over achiever (and she also has an accent.)

What "annoys" her is precisely what you describe: absence of care and tolerance; she complains about this "everyone out on their own" attitude, which she finds alienating and inhumane. She doesn't feel disenfranchised because of her being a foreigner (as the whole hospital hires and services the foreigners!) but because of the social mentality that rules the people she works/lives with.

I very much like the self-critical attitude of the "white-English-speaker-Americans" like yourself; I think because of you America WILL remain a place ideally shared with the 'others'.

I think the 'others' do suffer discriminations; but at the same time they find America to be a more fair and honest society than other countries (which have NOT fought a revolutionary war, or a civil war) may be.

The legacy of America, if you as me, is that it went to war against itself to abolish Slavery--a trade it inherited from the Europeans. And I think, because of that spirit, America will reinvent itself, out of the current slavery trade that it has inherited from Corporations.

And I appreciate the fact that people like you are annoyed when America sways off of its ideological principles.

Cheers

Georg said...

Bonjour Betmo,

That was a very thoughtful post you have made and it should be widely read. I appreciated Naj's comment, too.

As I have never lived in your country, what comes here is guesswork, nothing else.


The USA have been created by those WASP people or more generally speaking by Europeans from the North. And it were those values that made the USA what it is and why the country attracts so many people.

Now those Spanish talkers come from countries that never in their long history achieved something worthwhile mentioning since they had been discovered and colonized by Spain in 1492.

If you don't manage to make all those foreigners true USA citizen making their own those values that made you great and free (more or less) you might easily end up in irrelevance, like so many countries, just look in the history books for examples. There are many.

What I am saying here has nothing to do with any flag, language or gun toting. Only mental attitude.

Cheers Betmo.
Georg

billie said...

mmm... i'm realizing more and more that those 'wasp' values are only for the whites. i have a feeling that the rest of the globe has been hindered since colonial times less because of their own heritages and more to do with the white power. the spanish speaking folks were ancient superpowers and there were indigenous populations here with confederacies and 'constitutions' of their own. my own heritage is bound into the largest here in the north east- the iroquois. indeed, quite a bit of the american constitution was derived from their confederacy. but, hey, they were non white 'savages' to be exploited and destroyed by the white folks who stole the idea of gunpowder from the... chinese....