Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2004)
ine COMMENEÍRK 2, 2004 T he C lackamas P rint • 5 rime to rekindle the fire of patriotism Cory Price E ditor - in -C hief 9/11/01. l;ivc numbers, one ; that has changed America for- r, but what happened to our iotism? The year following the 9/11 •grist Wattacks sparked a funding influx of patriotism in erica. < People stuck flags on r cars land flew them above r homes. Where has that loyal- ;one?BThe stickers have faded the flags that flew so proudly wadded into a ball and put into age. Patriotism has dwindled /n tola mere speck of dust in erica. 'low is a time like no other to together and support our >ps. Instead, there are protests riots against soldiers’ placc- ltsinEraq. But everyone needs ealize that those soldiers over- i are there by choice. vlaybe «people don’t support r country because they lack the wlcdgeito understand the defi- :>n of patriotism. Well, here it compliments of Dictionary, n: “IBve of and devotion to ’s coimtry.” am t»re that people love their country, but we lack the devotion, which is defined as “ardent, often selfless affection and dedication,, as to a person or principle.” How many people are truly selfless? Our soldiers overseas are the few in this country who put their own plans aside for love of country. The standard, everyday American has no understanding what our soldiers do for us and how much we neglect them. For example, how many people got together on Monday for a barbe cue? Many, but few Americans actually took the time , to realize what this national holiday really stands for. Monday was Memorial Day. It was created after the Civil War on May 5, 1868,'to honor those who died in the war. In the pres ent time, we have barbecues to celebrate a day off. There is no honoring or remembering the fallen .troops. It is just another excuse to have a beer and do nothing. Americans, wake up and real ize how easy we have it! Our lives are not guided by fear, but instead by free choice. This is a great honor and a gift we all enjoy a little too much. Wc take advantage of this pleasure and spat, in the faces of those who died protecting our freedom. Instead of protesting a war, thank a veteran. When war cov erage is shown on the news, stop and realize how easy life is for us at home. Stop and look at a flag. Imagine every thread on the flag is one soldier who died for our freedom. Millions of threads are intricately woven together to form a larger image. Take each of the soldiers who have died, weave them together and we get patriotism. Instead of standing up against war, we need to stand and' salute our soldiers. Aarriage is about love.- 'Terrorism' not as clear as if seems lon't sign away rights *This article contains racial slurs with the intent to inform, not to insult. Mary Jean Williams <’«e according to their nature, a right that heterosexuals have Liken for granted. A usually reserved acquain-. The fact is, sexual minorities: ice flashed across the street to . have been marrying and raising: g me Sown. “Would you like families all along. And with our ' sign this?” he asked, pfekeht- civil union laws, they enjoy many I the “Defense of Marriage” of i he same marital protections. rition.s What could 1 say? Our freedom to marry is closely I might appear to him to be intertwined with the great j model of a “Defense of \mcrtcan < oticepls of lite, hbtrty and the pursuit of happiness. irriagc” supporter, So what is to be < I am het (C gained by quibbling »sexual, happily over the mere use of a. irried ' and live a • nSl^vati v e, word? The right to ristiati lifestyle. legally call commit- iwevcr, this peti- ted gay relation ships “marriages?” n debases what Heterosexuals ikes marriage have no right to :aningful Us define other people’s The “Defense irriagc’lpcti- and Mr? Smith, I presume?” relationships/ n defines This petition image''jbased on a sex act amounts to name-calling. It is rween a|man and a woman. It analogous to working women pliek'/that only heterosexuals having .once been called “girls” capable of marital love. It and black men having once ores all the higher attributes been called “boys.” - It is to it make marriages worth hav-i deny that gays and lesbians are such as partnership, commit- fully mature, fully capable of: :nt and a passionate bond. »arital joy. Not only docs the “man and I faced my ■ acquaintance, a ¡man” definition debase mar- man 1 like and trust and said, “I ^c, it also defies nature, which can’t sign this petition. Fve seen es usjnore than just hetero“- the joy of gay people getting ;ualssi:i|\ccf>rding to Dr. Priva married and I can’t stand in their poor,¡Assistant Professor of way.” My acquaintance looked at ercultural Communication at. the ground and withdrew like a rtland* State University there gentieman. : actually eight genders, Our world needs more marital aong 'them arc: hermaphro- love. Please don’t sign the mis CS, bisexuals and people who named “Defense of Marriage” gctieficallv one gender with petition. : physiology of another. >plc “of all sexual natures Maryjean W'iidams ■erve the right to marry some- is a student at CCC. C ontributing W riter Joe Clement C ontributing W riter At some point in our educa tion, usually high school history, we arc given some kind of lesson on the nature of propaganda. In high school, this is most often taught to be a tool, used in times of war, to dehumanize the enemy as to gain support for the cause. In the Vietnam War, it was reducing any semi-East Asian per sona to “chink” or “gook.” Possibly the most memorable is the propagandist Red Scare of the 1950s, with the “godless commu nists.” Now in the on-going strug gle in the near Fast, anyone of noticeable Arab decent is a “sand nigger.” In all occurrences of such dehumanizing slurs and preju dices, the motive is making the enemy into something easier to hate; and makes it easier to forget they arc just as human as you or I. It is in this new age of war that a new and subtler form of this dehumanizing propaganda is surg ing through the American vernac ular: “terrorism”—properly in the hypothetical realm of the quota tion mark. Because you sec, America has degenerated the war that portions'of the Islamic world have been waging with the Western world into nothing more than a school-yard bully syndrome which wc call “terrorism.” In doing so, it has created a fictitious scheme in which to justify further U.S. involvement in the Middle East, and the “War on Terror.” For the past millennia, hun dreds of thousands (millions even) have been sacrificed for the pur pose of Holy War—the divine oxymoron. In all of the blood shed, all atrocities have been com mitted with one sole purpose, to take human life. Nowhere in the thousand-some odd years of Middle Eastern conflict has there been a movement we could prop erly call terrorism—one perpe trated purely to cause psycho logical .trauma. The word “terrorism” itself is misleading and even insulting to anyone of mediocre intellect. If wc consider the connotations that pop culture puts behind “war on terror” and “terrorism,” wc have a method of psychological warfare with the explicit aim of not neces sarily taking life, but causing strife. Even the most radical of Jihadists should like to think themselves as honorable, that they arc taking lives-and not just scaring people in the name of Allah. If we look at the attacks since 9/11, where do wc find acts of “terrorism?” They weren’t playing around, they weren’t out to terrorize a nation; they wanted to take lives. If 1 must make my statement explicit, it is simply to remember that this is war, not some school yard scare; employing such base terms as “terrorism” is juvenile, and insults not only the enemy, but us as well. Joe Clement is a student at CCC. Random act of white space Brought to you by The Clackamas Print
