Well, If I Have To Take It Seriously...

Look, first of all, Palin has apologized for implying some citizens of the US are anti-American by saying specific parts are pro-American. To me, the whole flap is completely flawed trinary logic, of course: maybe the rest of the country that wasn't so pro-American was simpy neutral, a sort of ho-hum-American, instead of downright anti-American. But no, everything in US politics is a duality, so of course Palin was implying everyone and everything else was anti-American when she said she was happy to be in specific spots in the US that were pro-American.

So yes, on the fucked-upness that's just starters for me. Because for most people from countries in northern Europe (and probably many everywhere else too), the idea that being called anything but all bonkers and hoppingly excited about your own country is some kind of insult is kinda nuts. It reads as flat, uncritical, thoughtless, cheerleaderesque, and well, um, as they would say here, "so American". Unbridled default nationalism is so suspect here -- we kinda got a history with it.

For the last couple of years certain elements in Dutch politics have tried to create a certain sense of nationalism in the Netherlands, trying to base the existence of their parties on it. Fortuyn was big on nationalism, and some other people are trying to carry that legacy -- and, in the end, equally as haplessly as Fortuyn's party, which imploded once it got into government. It just doesn't fit the Netherlands right, the nationalism just never strikes the right chord. We are a swamp and you are supposed to stay vigilant and critical of it lest it get worse. In the UK the tory press tries to talk about British National Identity mostly as a pretense for whining about how Labour ruined, ruined it by doing things like pulling the House of Lords and the succession rules into the 20th century, but I think that if I asked anyone here "So you're pro-Britain, right?" they'd be wondering if some sporting event was on that they were missing. (And I say this a former Daily Mail reader.)

Well, still, the US is the culture my friends are in, and, if you buy the whole 'if you ain't pro you must be anti, and boy you must be pro' notion, the best comment on it comes from danger_chick, who works in a national lab for military and other research plonked down in some godforsaken place in New Mexico:

I've been pissed about Palin's language since her part of the campaign started. I think the whole "pro-America" comments have become the proverbial straw on the camel's back. I live in a town that is split 50/50 on political lines but exists entirely to serve this country. To assume that the 50% that are not interested in voting for McCain are not "pro-America" shows a complete disregard our work. It's not like most of us are here for the great benefits package or to live in the middle of nowhere. We are here to be part of the lab, to be part of the lab's mission, to reduce global threats again this country, to help get the soldiers back home in one piece. I think I am actually angry enough that I am going to write the McCain campaign, assuming I can calm down enough to make sense.

You can link to it here.

Also, http://www.fuckjohnmccain.com , courtesy of fengi.

What's With The Sire-- Oh. Crap.

"What's With The Sire-- Oh. Crap.", Nokia N73, London, 2008