an american celebration!
By Todd Stadler · Tuesday, September 10, 2002 7:11pm
Tomorrow, as anyone with access to some sort of communication device knows, is September 11th. Much in the same way that July 4th is not merely a date, September 11th seems destined to be an evocative phrase, a concept.
A concept that will, apparently, henceforth be known as Patriot Day. It is perhaps an awkward designation for an awkward day. After all, the reason we remember September 11th has little to do with patriots, as such.
And, all told, I'd really rather not commemorate what happened on September 11th. Lots of other horrible things have happened to masses of people, and by and large we don't celebrate them. Besides, there are all sorts of holidays already on the calendar to celebrate what's good about America. Do we really need this?
But then, this is a nation that also marks its independence on a date that occurred several years before that independence was actually won. Maybe we just like commemorating things.
I can certainly understand a desire to emphasize the good things that have happened in the past year. For some people, that includes an increase in patriotism. However, I find the naming of the day ironically reminiscent of one of the bad things that has happened as a reaction to September 11th.
Furthermore, I can't say that patriotism (and the concept that often acts as its double in America, jingoism) does a whole lot of good. I can't believe that patriotism would have prevented the events September 11th, nor do I believe that it will prevent further problems in America's foreign relations. Quite the contrary. I would argue that only when we get over our petty differences and stop cheering for particular plots of land we just happened to be born on will we make much progress at all. But I am a foolhardy idealist.
Perhaps what set me off was the e-mail, sent by a friend who I'm sure meant well, that I got in the mail today. It asked me to join "everyone in the USA" in driving my car with the headlights on during the day.
Never mind that many cars have daytime running lights that are always on. What I want to know is why someone always tries to organize coordinated activities like this, and why so many people think that they accomplish anything.
It just seems so aggravatingly American ? rather than address any problems that may exist, much less any underlying causes, we'll just say "rah rah" for a couple of minutes and go back to doing whatever it was we were doing while we were ignoring our government's actions.
But what does it prove? That Americans forward e-mails like they're told to? That Americans want to prop up the nation's floundering car battery industry by causing people to accidentally leave their lights on in the parking lot? That Americans love doing anything symbolic that doesn't involve long-term change-effecting effort?
If anything, I find the notion insulting precisely because America is a great country capable of doing so much good. Not just symbolic "looks great in the papers" good, but real, world-bettering good.
And if it's that result-oriented good that you desire, then I have an idea.
Rather than driving with your lights on tomorrow, don't drive at all. And not just on September 11th, either. Make a concerted effort to significantly diminish the amount of driving you do. And then pass this idea on to everyone you know. Yes, everyone. Even those without e-mail.
This action, undertaken by even a small chunk of Americans, would result in cleaner environment, fewer traffic accidents and their attendant injuries and fatalities, and as a pleasant side effect would reduce our dependence on other oil-producing countries, not a few of whom sport totalitarian regimes (which often engender terrorism), harbor terrorists (including the majority of those involved in the September 11th events), and support terrorism against other states.
As it's already September 11th on the East Coast as I write this, we haven't got much time, so get the word out. You heard it hear most recently: stop driving your car on September 11th. That's the kind of pre-emptive strike I can rally behind.
P.S. I've heard that everyone in America will also be driving with their headlights off in the evening on September 11th. Pass it on.
P.P.S. I've also heard that anyone who flashes their headlights at a patriotic car with its lights off is either a gang member undergoing an initiation or a terrorist. They should be shot.
8 comments so far
1 Sep 12 '02 11:57am:
Pagan Priest replied:
"As far as driving is concerned, I've always been a believer in and practioner of abstinence. However, allow me to defend the head lights people. They envision 50-million drivers with head lights on during the day as a means, not an end. As the theory goes, from this comes renewed unity which begets concerted effort toward some positive cause.
And you sell the patriots short. It's not about "my plot of land is more sacred than yours". It's about the ideals toward which we aspire. I believe in a 4000 year old ideal known as Western Civilization. Out of a dark world where leadership was determined by the thug with the biggest stick (imagine a tribe/country essentially run by a mob boss), a miracle occured. The torch has been passed many times over the centuries to the society that spearheaded its ideals. For about 100 years the torch has been held by our leaders. There have always been aspiring ambitious tyrants who used false ideals to gain power by toppling a government where its citizens are more than just slaves and servants. Nothing has changed. The United States (and the West in general) has failed in many ways to approach its ideals. But at least we have them."
2 Sep 13 '02 3:20am:
tODD replied:
"It's not that I don't understand the "means, not an end" concept, it's that I don't believe it. I mean, I have a hard time believing anybody thinks that some chunk of people driving with their headlights on will result in, as you say, "concerted effort toward some positive cause".
If anyone observes behavior to the contrary ("Hey, did you notice that some people had their headlights on yesterday? Let's go help kids learn to read."), let me know. Heck, I didn't even notice that any more headlights were on than usual, but I walk to work, so I wasn't really paying attention.
I would argue that the positive effects of September 11th, by far a more powerful, earth-shaking event, albeit an evil one, only resulted in people playing nice for so long. Where are the cries for blood donation now? Where is the massive outpouring to charity (if I'm wrong about this, let me know, but I don't see it)? I would argue that it has been replaced by headlight campaigns.
And it's understandable - you can only get riled up for so long when you live in a really nice country where bombing is by far the exception to the rule.
And I still very much claim that it's about which plot of land we live on. If it weren't so, then the patriots wouldn't particularly care if they lived in Canada or Mexico, both of which ascribe to, in theory, most of the same Western ideals that we as Americans ascribe to.
Or, if you're willing to cross the ocean, you have even more Western Civilization countries to pick from, some of which played no small role in developing ideas of freedom and democracy.
But patriots aren't patriots of Western Civilization. It's about where you're born, or at least where you've moved to.
Again, not that this is unusual. We love our parents more than most people because we were born to them, not because they are necessarily better than anybody else. But they have provided for us, and so we are thankful, just as I am thankful that being an American has allowed me much freedom and opportunity.
Still, one's parents and one's country can often be rather wrong, and patriotism often prevents people from seeing this.
Other than that, I'm not sure I understand your point in the final paragraph.
Is the ambitious tyrant using false ideals to gain power and topple governments meant to evoke our current leader, or past American presidents, or some non-Western evil types? Arguably, it applies to all of them.
And do other, non-Western countries not have ideals?"
3 Sep 13 '02 2:27pm:
Josh replied:
"I think the headlights thing comes from something different- I don't think anyone thinks it will really do anything. People just don't really feel they have anything they can do. They're uneasy, because now they realize that these awful things don't just happen on the other side of the world, and there's nothing they can *do* about it. They are sad, and feel sad for each other, but have no real way of expressing it. So they shine their headlights.
I would say patriotism isn't so much about land these days- it was once, in the era of nationalism. Now it's all about perceived culture.
I think what your average american patriot is feeling is pride in the vague notion of freedom and democracy that they picked up as children, but more than that, they're feeling pride in american culture- baseball, SUVs, mcdonalds, wealth. And for many, christianity.
American pride and patriotism should be based on the ideals that the nation was founded on and is supposed to exemplify. People wouldn't tolerate some of the crap that goes on here if they really understood and valued the ideals. They'd remember that we're supposed to have public trials, and believe in the notion of habeas corpus, and be assumed innocent until proven guilty. We're supposed to a nation distinct from culture, or religious faith.
I don't know... I still feel some pride
that with some flaws, we're still really the only nation whose only reason to exist is a set of democratic ideals. Great Britain is a nation of Britons, Germany is a nation of Germans, Pakistan is a nation of Muslims, Israel is a nation of Jews, etc, while the USA is a nation of all of the above, united under some democratic ideals.
I'd just like to see those ideals implemented better.
Bleh. Forgive me if this is less than lucid- it's friday afternoon. "
4 Sep 16 '02 5:07pm:
Pagan Priest replied:
"Playing the critic is a necessary part of social development, but at some point we must move forward to the practice of putting forth constructive alternatives to go along with our gripes. Tom Tomorrow makes compelling points, but his strip has been single-mindedly criticizing the presidency for years on end. I can't help wondering if that's all he knows how to do.
College kids and wannabe intellectuals have been mindlessly dissing pride and nationalism since the 60s. Historically, it's understandable. But we (myself included) have romanticized the protest mentality to the point where one is automatically considered dumb for advocating his/her own culture. You're obviously an idiot if you don't hate your culture and government policies. What we have in the West is a little thing called Rule Of Law. Over many centuries a theory has been fairly well put into practice which says no-one is about "the law". We argue about it and the law morphs with time, but the fundamental notion is quite miraculous in the context of history. Without it, individual people full of artistic and intellectual potential live lives of subsistence, death, and fear. The small group of people who brought us 911 advocate a return to an ancient way of life. No thanks, I say."
5 Sep 16 '02 5:26pm:
Pagan Priest replied:
"I forgot to rebut Todd's point concerning Canada, Mexico, and the various Western European countries who disagree with much of American foreign policy. There has always been a lightning rod in the West and today we are it. Our position is unique and so should our policy be. Please don't assume I'm a George W supporter. I did not vote for him and I personally despise him. What's more, I disagree with nearly 100% of his domestic policy. If the U.S. ceases to exist in its current role of "leader of the free world", one of two things will happen. Either someone else will take its place in the fight (and it is a fight, thousands of years old) or the experiment will come to a close."
6 Sep 16 '02 11:45pm:
tODD replied:
"Josh: when you put the headlight thing like that (and I'm not saying that anybody who participated would agree with your take on it), it doesn't seem so bad to me.
Indeed, the same reasoning led me to attend the anti-Bush protest ? a desire to do something when it seems there is nothing that can really be done.
Of course, I still feel, if only perhaps because I am more angry than sad, that protests are more useful than coordinated symbolic activities without much of a message, but I could see that this is more personal than universal.
Pagan Priest (if that is your real name): I really don't know what you're shooting for here.
When you say, "at some point we must move forward to the practice of putting forth constructive alternatives to go along with our gripes", I hope you're not referring to this article, because it ends in a rather obvious suggestion of what I thought would be a better activity than simply turning on one's headlights.
And while I agree that identifying problems is not the whole solution, it is the necessary first step. If we don't identify the problems, but instead pretend that things are fine, then nothing gets solved.
As to Tom Tomorrow, it's not like his viewpoint is so prevalent in today's media that it gets tiresome. "Oh, there goes Tom again, criticizing the president's curious obsession with attacking Iraq sometime this month; we've already heard it from Peter Jennings, Wolf Blitzer, and USA Today ... give me a break!"
We may have freedom of the press in America, but I'm amazed how often the major media guard dogs just roll over and play dead. Until such time as the media outlets most Americans turn to for news begin to do actual reporting, I will welcome his and other dissenting views.
And at least you can say this about him - he's not just some partisan puppet clearly interested in promoting one power structure over another. Before Bush, he just as often criticized Clinton and all his stupid activities. This, to me, speaks more to his desire for a better country than one in which his favorite team controls the government.
As to patriotism, as much as I'd love to be included in your sweeping generalization (gee, am I a college student, or merely a wannabe intellectual?), I can't quite fit into the pigeonhole you've constructed.
If you can show me where it is I've said that I hate America and anybody who likes it, then you should point that out, and I will apologize. Until then, I will continue to maintain that while I appreciate all that America has to offer and a good portion of what it has done for the world, it has lots of issues that need to be corrected. Pointing these out is not a sign of some simplistic notion of self-hatred or something, but in fact a sign that I care enough to make America better.
And I still have yet to hear an argument as to why nationalism and patriotism are good. What do they accomplish? When has labelling "us" and "them" ever led to greater peace and respect for our fellow human beings? It's all fairly harmless if it's in something like the Olympics, I suppose, but that's hardly what I'm worried about these days.
As to the "Rule of Law"?, is this concept confined to the West somehow? Given, as you define it, its roots may lie there, but of what relevance is that now? I mean, Christianity is from Israel and paper is from China (I guess), but ideas spread, and all sorts of people have applied them in all sorts of situations.
Sometimes, ideas get so institutionalized in places where they once flourished that the people take them for granted and the ideas die. One only needs look to Europe, once the hub of Christianity, now a nice place to see empty, old churches, to see that this is true. We must be vigilant and defend our ideas, or we will lose them.
As to "our position is unique and so should our policy be", that doesn't leave a lot of room for cooperation, much less doing the right thing no matter who else agrees with us. Being different for its own sake is hardly defensible.
Besides, I'm not arguing that the U.S. should cease to be the leader of the "free" world. Quite the opposite ? given our position of power and influence, we should wield our strength cautiously and in a way to better the whole world, not just our part of it, and certainly not just the part of it where an elite few live.
But this discussion is kind of all over the place, no?"
7 Sep 17 '02 9:35am:
Pagan Priest replied:
"Yes, this discussion is all over the place, expanding exponentially in a germ like fashion. My fault. I bit off too much. Tom Tomorrow got under my skin during the Clinton years. Week after week he tore William Jefferson to pieces. While I certainly felt at the time that Clinton's policies moved too close to the center, I admired his willingness to compromise for the sake of progress. I always wondered how Tomorrow would feel if/when we had a REAL jackass sitting in the ovular office. Now that we do, I see that his column has ratcheted up the venom level to unprecedented heights. Surely he looks back on the Clinton years with some amount of wistful regret. Did Bill not accomplish one single tiny little good deed during his eight years, worthy of mention in Tomorrow's strip?"
8 Aug 27 '05 12:39pm:
toethumbs replied:
"[The following comment is partially in response to anti-Islamic spam comments that have since been deleted --Todd]
Wow, Todd, if I were you, I'd be asking myself "what in god's name drives these deeply disturbed individuals to spew their mad vitriol all over my thoughtfully prepared blog?"
But I'm not. And I don't even have a blog, so what do I know, maybe everybody gets this crap.
I just haven't seen it.
Anywhoo, I agree, the unity-through-daylight-headlight-use is an empty gesture. And like the "Support Our Troops" ribbon magnets you see on every other SUV and minivan here in Dallas, it is not merely a benign gesture, I believe it becomes a substitute for action. Too many folks confuse the symbol with the thing and instead of the gesture being a springboard for healthy investigation and discourse, it becomes a silencer - "with us or against us, period, case closed".
I really liked your Just Don't Drive idea - now we're on to something.(Of course, the No-lights-at-night plan does have its appeal.)
"