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September 5, 2006

Patriotism Versus Counter-Tribalism

Kudos to John O'Sullivan for elegantly explaining how the patriotism and moral clarity with which Americans had the character to respond to 9/11 has been eaten away by a strain of moonbattery he calls "counter-tribalism."

Here's how he described the mood in New York after 9/11:

No single word — revenge, sorrow, anger — does it justice.

Certainly it includes sadness; some passersby weep as they read the death notices. It is also defiant; no one talks of making concessions to avert the further wrath of the murderers; many wear patriotic red, white, and blue ribbons on dress or lapel. At the same time it is more calm and judicious than a mere desire for revenge. What New Yorkers seem to want is a measured and accurate punishment and the prevention of any such barbarism in future — in short, a victory over terrorism that will give meaning to the sacrifice of the dead.

It would be hard to imagine a more dignified and appropriate response — or one more at odds with the defeatist mentality of the apparently ascendant Democratic Party. Moonbattery has been eating away at us like rust, reducing us to pathetic shadows of our true, best selves.

O'Sullivan explains:

We heard more and more from the "counter-tribalists" — those Americans who consider themselves more sophisticated and intellectually detached than simple-minded patriots but who take the side against America as reflexively as a hard hat worker or suburban soccer mom salutes the flag. They are an anthropological curiosity — moved by the same instinctive tribal loyalties as a primitive people with the exception that they are loyal to other tribes. And not just any other tribe but the one that happens to be opposed to the United States.

Counter-tribalism explains many oddities such as those feminists who can't bring themselves to welcome the ousting of the women-hating Taliban in Afghanistan because it was accomplished by George W. Bush. It is the ideology of a large lumpen intelligentsia in schools, the courts, universities, the "netroots" Democratic Party, the establishment media, Hollywood, etc., etc. Its slogan runs: "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." And Barbara Kingsolver expressed it perfectly when she wrote: "In other words, the American flag stands for intimidation, censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism, homophobia and shoving the Constitution through a paper-shredder."

In a free country like the United States, Kingsolver is entitled to say such things. Shouldn't the rest of us be free to say that this is vicious and unpatriotic drivel and that counter-tribalism is not dissent but hatred of America? And don't we owe the dead that honesty at least?

Another thing we owe the dead is to shrug off the moonbattery poured down upon us by the liberal elite, and to win the war that took their lives.

Posted by Van Helsing at September 5, 2006 2:15 PM

Comments

Posted by: Angel at September 5, 2006 9:57 PM

Posted by: Dave at September 5, 2006 9:58 PM