A Fair Fight
It used to be Every now and then i reverted, once the dust, smoke, clogged freeway cleared, to the notion that I'm possibly glad to live in california as though california has some special place beyond my own history. Although, there is a tendency in america to not only be a nationalist (and to believe in some sort of american exceptionalism) but, also, an indistinct, vague belief that where one lives i.e. State, city, or town has some specific relationship to each of us.
A spiritual connection based on fragmented memory, personal history. Its not just about patriotism, reserved for only national pride but maybe the flag of the confederacy or a Tolkien perfect empire, that manifests a pride that cannot be denied and should it be?
Nowhere is this more apparent than in sports where ones affiliation with a home team is nearly as passionate as the furor over going to a righteous war.
These are men's ideals. It's about the underdog rising up to smite the one with all the weight, david vs goliath, and get the praise and if the passion you have is for the champ, then to crush david over and over again. And get the boos. But to live to fight another day. Ironically, these days the davids are the losers of the support based on far reaching bias and prejudices, class,cultural,race, and sex fixations.
Americans treat war like a long-awaited marathon, rousing all our passions to make sure our favorites win, as if war is as universally accepted as always, a fair fight. I dont think we really want a fair fight to do we, though CIA propaganda always/tells us that America is going against the second or first largest army in the world (as in Iraq) or the evilest (as in Afghanistan), or the sneakiest (as in Vietnam).
America lost against the sneakiest and the vilest and I'm still not sure if we won or lost in Iraq.
Needless to say, it's a couple of generations legacies down the drain there.
Look at Israel, since 1948 they've gained some territory, built walls around their city and neighborhoods, entrapped and isolated their immediate neighbors, and basically all they've gained is the sponsorship of the most economically secure but morally corrupt nation states in the world. What's that do to your religious based system of totalitarianism and authoritarian personalities?
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