Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Words of Wisdom

Most of us, despite the outrage we may feel...still identify with our country. We take pride in being citizens of a self-invented, self-reforming, enduring constitutional democracy...Many of the exceptions to this rule are found in colleges and universities, in the academic departments that have become sanctuaries for left-wing political views...

...But there is a problem with this left: it is unpatriotic. In the name of "the politics of difference," it refuses to rejoice in the country it inhabits. It repudiates the idea of a national identity, and the emotion of national pride. This repudiation is the difference between traditional American pluralism and the new movement called multiculturalism...Academic leftists who are enthusiastic about multiculturalism distrust the recent proposal by Sheldon Hackney, chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities, to hold televised town meetings to "explore the meaning of American identity." Criticizing Mr. Hackney on this page on Jan. 30, Richard Sennett, a distinguished social critic, wrote that the idea of such an identity is just "the gentlemanly face of nationalism," and speaks of "the evil of a shared national identity." 

...a nation cannot reform itself unless it takes pride in itself -- unless it has an identity, rejoices in it, reflects upon it and tries to live up to it. Such pride sometimes takes the form of arrogant, bellicose nationalism. But it often takes the form of a yearning to live up to the nation's professed ideals. 

...you can feel shame over your country's behavior only to the extent to which you feel it is your country. If we fail in such identification, we fail in national hope. If we fail in national hope, we shall no longer even try to change our ways...If in the interests of ideological purity, or out of the need to stay as angry as possible, the academic left insists on a "politics of difference," it will become increasingly isolated and ineffective. An unpatriotic left has never achieved anything. A left that refuses to take pride in its country will have no impact on that country's politics, and will eventually become an object of contempt.


Source:
Richard Rorty,
Professor of Humanities


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Batman and his jokers(Hagalites) are headed your way. The anaconda of the seed of the serpent has been unleashed by your liberal kinsman to destroy the nation of Israel. Christians have wolves amoungst the flock that infiltrate its churchs constantly attempting to destroy its religious base and Religious Israel has been infiltrated by those claiming to be Jews but are the seed of the serpent. "Thank You" Laughing Joe Lieberman for unleashing the butt stupid base from which the beast has sprung. Not only have you taken on the role of a spokesman for the beast but you are actually looking like one of his 3 agent frogs of Rev:16-13. God has a message for you he has a caldron of boiling sulpher reserved for you in hell and he wants you wearing your skull cap when he throws you in to it. You Mr. Lieberman are guilty of feeding Gods children religious strychnine lased with sugar. It seems you have created an environment in America where the only thing that is illegal is the truth.

Anonymous said...

The King Kong of desecrators is right round the bend. He is absolutely enraged because Israel was suppose to be a distant memory by now. If the Syrian conflict had not been interrupted by Russia the sequester would have never been a problem for the annointed on. But now that he runs the risk of having only one air craft carrior in the area it will be hard for him to get you to swallow what he has to tell you. Such as, Israel will be expected to return to pre 67 borders, right of return will be demanded along with retribution. And the not so obvious demand for all Israeli woman being raped and carrying Islamic babys while their husbands are killed and their children are sent to Islamic male prostitution harems....which will be the result of all of the above demands being imposed upon the nation of Israel.... will be a winking secret amoungst those that are in the know. I saw a rabbi being interviewed on Fox news, he made the remark that the annointed one will get along with Israel if he comes with an attitude to listen and not make demands on Israel... that they will not accept. What planet is he living on. Thats absolutly not the way this negotiation is planned to unfold. Israels race is to be eraced from this planet...that is the annointed ones mantra. I hope you understand what I am attempting to convey and make appropriate plans to deal with REALITY!!!