-Caveat Lector-
Sat, 27 Feb 1999 13:44:29 EST, Kris Millegan wrote:
>
> an excerpt from:
> Blood Rites - Origins & History of the Passions of War
> Barbara Ehrenreich(C)1997
> Metropolitan Books
> Hennry Holt & Companty
> ISBN 0-8050-5077-9
> -----
> I can not say enough about this book. These excerpts do it little justice. I
> strongly recommend reading this book.Well-written and thoughtful; when all is
> said and done, the veneer between passions, expectations, propaganda and
> thought can be very thin. There are chapters on the warrior elites, the
> sacralization of war, the effect of missle(guns/longbow) warfare and war
> worship. A very important book.
>
> Om
> K
[7] Blood Rites - Origins & History of the Passions of War
<http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind9902D&L=ctrl&P=R88571>
<snip>
> American patriotism, like the nationalisms of other
> nations, is celebrated on special holidays, and these
> are, in most instances, dedicated to particular wars
> or the memory of war. The Fourth of July, Memorial Day,
> Flag Day, and Veterans Day all provide occasions for
> militaristic parades and the display of nationalistic
> emblems and symbols, especially the flag. On these and
> other occasions, such as commemorations of particular
> wars or battles, bugles are blown, wreaths are
> ceremoniously laid on monuments or graves, veterans
> dress up in their old uniforms, and politicians deliver
> speeches glorifying the nationalistic values of duty
> and "sacrifice." Through such rituals and observances
> of nationalism as a "secular religion," historian
> George L. Mosse has written, war is "made sacred."[42]
>
> But the "religion" of American patriotism is also
> distinctive in at least two ways. First, it features
> a peculiar kind of idolatry which can only be called
> a "cult of the flag."* {*Other comparable, English-
> speaking nations--the United Kingdom, Canada, and
> Australia--do not indulge in flag worship. According
> to the Wall Street Journal (Nov. 7, 1996), British
> efforts to create a mass market for Union Jacks have
> fallen flat: "Many don't like what it stands for.
> A fair number aren't sure when, or if, the law lets
> them unfurl it. Quite a few haven't the foggiest
> idea of which side of it is up."} Just as the wartime
> Japanese fetishized the emperor's portrait, Americans
> fetishize their flag. A patriotic pamphlet from 1900
> declared in unabashedly religious terms that the
> United States "must develop, define and protect
> the cult of her flag, and the symbol of that cult
> --the Star Spangled Banner-- must be kept inviolate
> as are the emblems of all religions."[43] Early
> twentieth-century leaders of the Daughters of the
> American Revolution held that "what the cross is
> to our church, the flag is to our country," and,
> in more overtly primitive terms, that the flag had
> been "made sacred and holy by bloody sacrifice".[16]
>
> The American flag can be found in almost every kind
> of public space, including churches, and it must be
> handled in carefully prescribed, ritual ways, down
> to the procedure for folding. It is "worshipped" by
> displaying it, by pledging allegiance to it, and,
> occasionally, by kneeling and kissing it.[45] It is
> the subject of our national anthem, which celebrates
> a military victory signaled by the survival, not of
> the American soldiers, but of the American flag, when
>
> the rockets' red glare,
> the bombs bursting in air,
> Gave proof thro' the night
> that our flag was still there.
>
> And anyone who still doubts that the American flag
> is an object of religious veneration need only consider
> the language of the proposed constitutional amendment,
> narrowly defeated in the Senate in 1995, forbidding
> the "desecration" of flags.
from:
<http://www.sltrib.com/04201999/nation_w/99405.htm>
Tuesday, April 20, 1999
New Effort Unfurls Against Flag-Burning
BY JOHN HEILPRIN
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Sen. Orrin Hatch plans to stoke the embers of his
crusade to ban flag-burning at a Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing today.
The Utah Republican, who chairs the committee, has
pushed since 1994 for Congress to approve a constitutional
amendment to prohibit desecration of the American flag.
The states would need to ratify the amendment.
Seven witnesses scheduled to speak at the hearing on
S.J. Res. 14 include retired Army Maj. Gen. Patrick
Brady, chairman of the Indianapolis-based Citizens
Flag Alliance; fifth-grade teacher Maribeth Seely
of Branchville, N.J.; and Harvard Law School professor
Richard Parker.
Protecting a patriotic symbol is the sort of issue
that helps rally Hatch's conservative base. Last year,
supporters in Illinois and Connecticut held rallies
for the amendment over the Memorial Day weekend.
But critics say amending the Constitution -- something
that has been done only 17 times since the Bill of
Rights was ratified more than two centuries ago --
would needlessly endanger the First Amendment's
free-speech protection.
"It's nothing more than political grandstanding of
the worst sort," said Todd Taylor, executive director
of the Utah Democratic Party. "Here's somebody who's
putting forth legislative solutions that have no
problem they're addressing."
Among the opponents is Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah,
who has said an alternative bill that does not
alter the Constitution would be a better solution
for prosecuting flag-burners.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1989 struck down flag
protection laws in 48 states and the District of
Columbia, ruling those laws infringe on free-speech
constitutional guarantees.
Hatch disagrees, and he repeatedly has testified
that protecting the flag would not infringe on
free speech since destroying federal property is
not about actual speech but instead what he terms
"expressive conduct."
Hatch's committee approved his proposed amendment
last year. In 1995, a similar proposal by Hatch
fell just three votes short of the necessary
two-thirds majority in the Senate. The House
in 1997 backed a similar proposed amendment.
© Copyright 1999, The Salt Lake Tribune
[Fair Use - For educational purposes only]
-------------------------------------------------
Heroes and honourable ones, it would fain
set up around it, the new idol! Gladly it
basketh in the sunshine of good consciences
- the cold monster!
Everything will it give you, if ye worship it,
the new idol: thus it purchaseth the lustre of
your virtue, and the glance of your proud eyes.
It seeketh to allure by means of you, the
many-too-many! Yea, a hellish artifice hath
here been devised, a death-horse jingling
with the trappings of divine honours!
Yea, a dying for many hath here been devised,
which glorifieth itself as life: verily, a
hearty service unto all preachers of death!
The state, I call it, where all are poison-drinkers,
the good and the bad: the state, where all lose
themselves, the good and the bad: the state, where
the slow suicide of all - is called "life."
Nietzsche, "Thus spake Zarathustra" (Ch. 11 - The New Idol)
<http://www.css.itd.umich.edu/~alexboko/zar/first/first11.html>
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Om
