Disqus - Latest Comments for Travisprob

Re: Why I’m Not Patriotic

Travisprob — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:15:00 -0000

Thanks for the psycho-analysis there doc...how much do I owe you? Trained to believe, huh? Have you met me? Do you know my educational credentials?
You are correct that wars do infringe upon civil liberties. Liberty and security share a precarious relationship, and an increased need for security always affects civil liberties. You are also correct that governments tend to overstep their boundaries in this process.
What you and Matt are failing to realize is the horrible situation that ensues when governments do nothing in the face of security threats. Your civil liberties, the ones that you and Matt so freely exercise, disappear. Do you think that a resource-rich nation like the United States could maintain its freedoms if patriotism did not lead men and women to defend it militarily? In other words, let's assume that the military was non-existent, but that we were full of 'Matt's' who stood up with their lab-tops and wrote scathing indictments against Islamists, Fascist, Communists or any other state-backed ideology that would love to exploit our resources.
Patriotism does not require throwing the first punch, but it requires the ability to punch-back. Something that Matt does not do.

Re: Why I’m Not Patriotic

Travisprob — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:03:05 -0000

It is the soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier
Who salutes the flag
Who serves under the flag
Whose coffin is draped in the flag
Who allows the protester to burn the flag

-Charles M. Province

Re: Why I’m Not Patriotic

Travisprob — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:30:34 -0000

Matt is actually simply excerising a right that was made POSSIBLE by patriots that sacrificed themselves in wars before Matt was even born. He is using that right, although with faulty arguments, but he is not making it possible.

Re: Why I’m Not Patriotic

Travisprob — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:22:22 -0000

I'm assuming that your comment is insinuating that the Soviets defeated the Germans and not the Americans. I do not deny the decisive defeat of the Soviets over the Germans on the Eastern Front. Hitler, like Napoleon, saw his ultimate demise on the Russian front. If I am correct in assuming your point, however, then you are surprisingly overlooking the American's influence on the overall German effort. Would the defeat at Stalingrad been decisive to the overall German defeat if the Americans had been absent on the Western Front? I am fairly confident in answering in the negative. Furthermore, this response does not fully refute my conclusion that the author of this article erroneously concludes that patriotism is evil because in certain instances it has been used for insidious purposes.

Re: Why I’m Not Patriotic

Travisprob — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:33:35 -0000

Your argument is stacked with logical fallacies. I'll touch one one of these. You denounce patriotism based on limited examples, but you never counter the critique that patriotism has led to a lot of good in the world. The defeat of Nazi patriotism, the eventual emancipation of blacks in the United States and, yes, the "inculcation" of freedom in Iraq (read the recent reports from that country) have all been acheived through American patriotism. You incorrectly claim that patriotism is evil on the basis that it has been used incorrectly before. What a benighted argument. GOD BLESS THE USA, the world's last best hope!!!