Okay, you want an argument?

[feren]

Then you've got it. After the cacophony of wailing and gnashed teeth over Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" and the fact he was punted from ABC's Fourth of July special because of the "controversial lyrics" and "flaming rhetoric," I've decided I won't be sorry about posting this. Hell, you know what? I'm proud to post this, and here's why: Lately it seems that people can't stand it when somebody says something negative, or dares show even the least bit of self-confidence in their opinion -- especially if it's unpopular or goes against "current wisdom." Having an opinion or belief that challenges the accepted norms or might upset somebody has gone from merely frowned upon to being outright hated and used as an excuse to dismiss the points raised entirely. We've become a nation of drones it seems, afraid to challenge our socially-programmed thought processes because sometimes the things that do that are the things that aren't viewed as being "trendy," "enlightened," "politically correct" or even "polite." It's like we've got our own little thought police slowly being integrated directly into society. I, for one, can't stand it.

So I'll be the unpopular, hated bastard whom you should cry to have strung up by his thumbs. I challenge you: read this e-mail I was forwarded. Form your own opinion. Discuss amongst yourselves. See if you can guess where I stand on it.

---

Subject: Profiling - food for thought
From: [redacted]

Profiling:

To ensure we Americans never offend anyone or have unfair practices; airport screeners are not allowed to profile people. They will continue to perform random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Norwegian girls and 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips.

Let's pause a moment & take the following test:


In 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympics by:
(a) Grandma Moses;
(b) The cleaning crew at Rockefeller Center;
(c) Invaders from Mars;
(d) Muslim male extremists between the ages of 17 and 40.

In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by:
(a) Norwegians from the University of Oslo;
(b) Elvis;
(c) A tour bus full of 80-year-old women;
(d) Muslim male extremists between the ages of 17 and 40.

In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
(a) A pizza delivery boy;
(b) Crazed feminists;
(c) Geraldo Rivera making up for a slow news day;
(d) Muslim male extremists between the ages of 17 and 40.

In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
(a) Luca Brazzi, for not being given a part in "Godfather 2";
(b) The Tooth Fairy;
(c) Butch & the Sundance Kid;
(d) Muslim male extremists between the ages of 17 and 40.

In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed by:
(a) The entire cast of "Cats";
(b) Martha Stewart;
(c) Cheese-crazed tourists from Wisconsin;
(d) Muslim male extremists between the ages of 17 and 40.

In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
(a) Mr. Rogers;
(b) Hillary, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems;
(c) "Mustapha the Merciless"; (Wrestling Villain)
(d) Muslim male extremists between the ages of 17 and 40.

On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked and
destroyed by:
(a) Bugs Bunny;
(b) The US Supreme Court;
(c) Barney;
(d) Muslim male extremists between the ages of 17 and 40.

Hmmm, nope, ain't no patterns here. Darned if I know. Even though thousands of innocent people have been killed, why we should ever even think about profiling.

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Comments

[feren.livejournal.com]

[The main thing that disturbed me about the CNN article was this lyrics snippet:
"You'll be sorry you messed with the U.S. of A. 'cause we'll put a boot in your ass. It's the American way," the song says. Yeah. The American way is to just blindly blow shit up and hurt people, in the hopes of snagging whoever did it. Mmm-hmm. Yay.]

I think when interpreted broadly enough, you can make any lyric say anything you want. I don't think that interpretation of it is at all correct. I don't read that as advocating blind, broad destruction arm harm in the pursuit of the individual(s) who dealt the blow. Instead, I read that as being "the American way is a steady and unwavering commitment to ensure that the wrongdoers are brought to justice, and you've done us one hell of a wrong."

Commitment as well as the action it drives can be very focused and precise, you know, and doesn't necessarily have to involve blindly staggering out of the munitions shed and making holes in the hopes that eventually one will get a lucky hit.

[lcremeans.livejournal.com]

Never mind that the rest of the world would probably be even more displeased with us if we *did* go shooting blindly at anything even vaguely related to the bombings ("hey, let's go bomb Malaysia! They're Muslim, right?"), and that displeasure would probably lead to a crushing defeat in the ensuing World War III.

-lee

[captain18.livejournal.com]

I agree with your statement on how you've interpreted the lyrics.

However, and I put this far more eloquently in a post LJ conveniently ate, I'm with DaveQat with how I interpreted the lyrics.

[genet.livejournal.com]

...and doesn't necessarily have to involve blindly staggering out of the munitions shed and making holes in the hopes that eventually one will get a lucky hit

I'm a horrible American. I don't pay very much attention to the news, but.. Isn't this exactly what we're doing in Pakistan?

I guess I'm one of those people that would be content to find a little hidey hole in the mountains and retreat from wars and other world catastrophes. I don't pay much attention to government, and only have the vaguest of ideas of what's going on with US policy at any given time.

Therefore, I don't really think I have the right to bitch about it. I can't expect changes if I'm not willing to work for them.

Bleh. I think I'm going to think about this and put it in an entry in my own journal. This is too complicated for a comment.