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Date Posted: 02:30:29 03/24/03 Mon
Author: Weird_Enigma
Author Host/IP: 209.252.119.22
Subject: ignorant patriotism stymies anti-war talk

By Dick Polman
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

Gulf War II is in full swing on the home front. In the latest manifestation of the 200-year-old struggle over what it means to be patriotic, the war dissidents are taking a beating.

The Dixie Chicks' music has been banned on certain radio stations. Former President Jimmy Carter has been told by Republican Sen. John McCain to "shut up." Carter last week described a war against Iraq as "completely unnecessary," but also said he'd support U.S. troops.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle has similarly been told by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to "fermez la bouche"; he also has been tagged "the senator from France."

Thirteen prominent actors and musicians have been listed by the New York Post as "Saddam Lovers" whose work should be boycotted. Eric Foner, a prominent historian, has been labeled "an ornament of Columbia University's Marxist firmament." The other night, a rodeo fan in Texas was spat on when he stayed in his seat during the playing of Lee Greenwood's "Proud to Be an American."

There are lots of examples lately, but this is no surprise. In wartime, the patriotic right to dissent has always been trumped by the belief in "one nation, indivisible," the patriotic notion that all citizens should unite in common purpose.

That's part of the intrinsic tension in the American experiment - between minority rights and majority rule; between pride in diversity and pressure for conformity; between respect for the loner who speaks his mind, and the desire for a shared national identity - and the tension is always most acute during a war.

Historian Cecelia O'Leary said: "We've always struggled with what it means to be patriotic. Some think, 'My country, right or wrong,' and worry that a country with so many different voices is fragile enough to break apart in wartime.

"But others see patriotism as saying what they believe, and having a willingness to ask hard questions in the darkest hours, about whether this democracy is living up to its own ideals. So we're at a pivotal moment now."

Conservative activist David Horowitz frames the pro-war camp's take on patriotism: "In war, some sort of basic unity against the enemy is necessary. To seek to disrupt that unity is to aid the enemy."

But at least the Bush administration isn't locking up dissidents; it was a Democrat, Woodrow Wilson, who touted a coercive patriotism during World War I. At his behest, Congress criminalized spoken and written remarks that might cast "contempt, scorn or disrepute" on his administration.

Thirteen days after Dixie Chicks member Natalie Maines told an audience that she was "ashamed" of President Bush, the band's music is deemed unworthy of airplay at country music stations. She vouched for her patriotism on March 14 ("I love my country"), but that hasn't seemed to help.

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