4th of July - Is the New York Times Anti-American?

Is the New York Times un-american??

No. They are the last bastion of free thought in this country (-10 pts)

 

 1

No, but they kind of suck (-5 pts)

 

 0

Not Sure (0 pts)

 

 0

Yes, they have gone off the deep end (5 pts)

 

 0

Yes, and anyone that believes a word they write is a moron (10 pts)

 

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NYT - rather use it to start my fireplace than read it (you are a patriot 50 pts)

 

 5

In high school and junior college, I took classes in journalism, and majored in broadcast communications in college. The big names in the industry have come and gone, but the really big newspapers, the ones that almost have that aura of greatness were papers like the New York Times...yet reading a opinion piece in that paper about flying the flag, and its significance,  and the comments posted by readers,  made my stomach turn and blood boil.
Here is a sample:

"...in the Bush years of sanctioned torture and war built on deceit, many Americans withdrew from overt displays of patriotism. Some said they were ashamed of their country."

"Obama, the candidate, tried to explain why he initially stopped wearing a flag pin in 2007. No doubt, he was speaking for a lot of fellow citizens. “Shortly after 9/11, particularly as we were talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism,” he said in 2007. “I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest.”

Obama’s comment sounded like a more tortured version of Samuel Johnson’s aphorism about patriotism being the last refuge of scoundrels... he neutered the public blowhards who costumed themselves in red, white and blue at the peak of the Bush presidency.

If your great-great-grandparents were bought and sold in chains at slave markets in the south, then perhaps you might have reason for mixed feelings about the flag.

If you were one of thousands of American citizens interned by your own government during World War II, then again, the flag would give you pause at times.

Or worse, if you were run off your land, the land of your ancestors, and not granted full citizenship until 1924 – American Indians, a storyline whose only changes are geographic – the flag can seem foreign, at best.

The challenge is to look at the whole of it – the awful history with the daring leaps of progress – and see something living, ever-evolving. "

My take on this narrative is that it suppose we as readers will agree and in solidarity with the oppressed among us NOT fly the flag....oh but wait, here is what NYT readers thought:
"Actually I think the real question to be asked here is: why do so many Americans (of any political persuasion) feel an urge to display their national flag outside their homes, businesses, on their lapels? Among democratic nations at least, this is a uniquely American behavior, which is baffling and frankly rather off-putting to foreign visitors."

"A 4th of July question? Is the US the best country in the world? Safest from crime? Fewest in jail? Most educated? Health care for all? Safest banks?Why celebrate?"
"

Yes, I bought two big flags last January on the day before inauguration day, and I put them up at my business on holidays.

To make it short: we got our country back."

[Canice note: I am so lucky to be an American! I have traveled extensively outside my home, the United States. The United States is still the beacon of hope for people around the world. Our freedoms, our all-inclusive open-ness, our culture that encourages and permits adventure and exploration, out lack of pretentiousness, our genuineness….is a gift to ourselves and the world. The Fourth of July is when we should pause and give thanks that with all our problems, we are the luckiest society in the world.
I am blessed to be a citizen of The United States! And I wish all my fellow citizens a Happy and Prosperous Fourth of July! ]