jcm's blog

Let’s clear this up…

I am not now, nor have I ever been “anti-American” nor necessarily “pro-American” in the way that people would like to think I might be. I have believed for a long time that the US has a very flawed foreign policy, that the Republican party is extremely damaging to the country as a whole, that modern day isolationism doesn’t work and that Canada’s previous Liberal government made a number of much more enlightened decisions than their neighbor (which I expect Harper’s Conservative government to screw up as quickly as possible). I am, however, very much pro the reasons for the founding of the United States and the ideology underpinning the whole thing, I just feel that there are a few bad apples trying to ruin it. But the same is true of most western[ized] countries.

Actually, I’ve been remarkably consistent in my geopolitical views for a long long time (there’s more than one reason for the blue theme on this blog…), it’s just that interpretation will inevitably follow whatever I choose to talk about. If I decide to write about how I think Independence was a good idea then I’ll be accused of being “pro-American” by some people. But if I decide to criticize the Iraq war as an unjustified conflict retrospectively relabled as a liberation excise to calm those with short memories (as I have done many times), then the inverse will be deemed true too by some people. Most people have a mixture of views on different subjects, not always in line with one overall viewpoint or another.

Jon.

Photo: My alter ego, Team America Jon comes to save the day.

So, just in time for Independence Day to be over, my order for large US flags was fulfilled and I became the proud owner of one too many of them. I’ve now got 4 5×3 feet flags, one 3×2 and a giant cotton flag on order that I’ll pick up in the US next week. That’s not counting the original Star Spangled Banner t-shirt I ordered on cafepress over the weekend. Betsy Ross would be proud (and a little disturbed, I’ll reckon). There’s no particularly good reason for this, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. I don’t like to do such things in half measures.

The Declaration of Independence

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security” — Declaration of Independence (backdated July 4th 1776).

Anyway, 230 years ago on Tuesday, 56 brave people signed a declaration that changed the world forever. In case you’re interested, five of them were later caught and died (read: brutally and horribly murdered for treason) at the hands of the British (it’s arguable whether they died specifically for signing it or just because the British didn’t think too kindly of them in a cup-of-tea? let’s all go to war fashion). These weren’t poor men either – amongst them were lawyers, farmers and other men of notable means. They knew their lives would never be the same, but they believed in something. In fact, they believed that they were morally obligated to effect positive change on the world around them because they were in a position to do so. And I think that’s amazing.

What the British did wrong

The full list of charges in the declaration against the British waste-of-time Monarch – George III – included some fantastic farces:

• He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.
• He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

1776 was hardly the finest hour for the British and what’s most annoying to me is that we don’t learn in school about that history. In fact, few people in the UK can be aware of the true extent to which we were utterly evil and reprehensible in our actions (we burned the library of Congress in the War of 1812 too – so the British did know in history how to burn books). For if they did, it might get a little more attention in the media next 4th July. It’s not just an American holiday, it’s a reminder that we in the United Kingdom weren’t always whiter than white either.

And the point is

Learning about the history of the United States (trivia: did you know Texas was an independent nation for only 9 years?) makes me think differently about events that came later – for example the American aid in WWII that helped us out of a real jam. I now understand the isolationist viewpoint of the US in earlier times, though I’m glad the world of today is very much a more connected one. My point? For all the Republican right-wing crap of the modern day United States of America, it’s a great nation that’s done a lot of good in the world too.

In the future, I have no doubt that the United States will address a few of the efforts to undermine democracy in the modern age. Illegal spying and other government interference in due process that goes against all that the Founding Fathers believed in. That declaration of Independence was made 230 years ago this week, I think it’ll still be good in another 230 years – and no, neither this nor the constitution is “just a piece of paper”. No matter how hard Bush and elements of the Republican party try to destroy the values of these historical documents, they’ll still be there.

Jon.

Update: I just ordered a copy of Common Sense and Rights of Man by Thomas Paine from Amazon. Common Sense is one of the books that kickstarted the American Revolutionary War and describes Britain in no uncertain terms for how it treated its North American colonies in the 18th century. Paine described the “royal brute of Britain” using language that appeals to me. And yes, I’m anti-unelected unrepresentational Monarchy. I think that’s pretty obvious. Monarchy is antiquated crap.

It’s the 4th July next week. I’m going to be hanging out with some friends in London to celebrate. In fact, I’m going to be in London for a picnic this weekend to celebrate Canada day too – check out the Canadian embassy for more information about Canada day. I just think it’s really cool that we can all come together and not particularly hate one another, in spite of the history there. And yes, I was invited to participate.

I was watching the Boston Red Sox playing last night on channel 5 at around 3am (having never really considered channel 5 useful for much). I’ve decided to go and see a game next month, if I can book a ticket – it’s looking a little tricky if the website is to be believed, but maybe I can pick up a ticket somehow (any of you Bostonians got suggestions?). It was pretty random that I ended up watching that, but I had just gone all the way to Bournemouth to spend 10 minutes on the beach at 1am (random road trip, option of a ride was there, I wasn’t doing anything much by 11pm when we left…) and ended up watching TV when I got back until I fell asleep. The cool thing is, next year I can drive to New York or similar places when I get bored and restless, especially on weekends.

Aside from watching baseball last night, I caught a little 24. I’m now getting very annoyed with that show. The plot is crappy and the technobabble utterly shite and unbelievable (did you forget to “update your protocols”? What about your databases? Oh no! Not the database!) – but that’s only true if you think about it on any level or can see through their technoshite. Anyway, I got bored and used the plot spoiler on wikipedia to find out what happens at the end of the series. I was otherwise spending the last couple of nights watching too much of that crap – it’s addictive crap, even though it is utterly crap. Like I expect crack would be.

Amazon should be furnishing me with a Dummies guide to baseball shortly. I’ve played a long time ago but decided that a necessary part of living near Boston is to understand the mechanics of the game. This is unlike football (which I also understand and have played in the past) because I’m actually interested in playing from time to time

Jon.

Ever get that feeling that you just need a rediculously fucking large flag for no particular reason? If I’m going to ever really fit in the US, I’ll need to get more into the flag waving thing (and you Canadians are no better when it comes to having twenty miniature flags where one discrete flag would do). To me, it makes a lot more sense seeing random flags everywhere in the US (than in the UK) since the flag helped to define and build the country, it forms part of the pledge of allegiance (to the flag) and has had a profound effect on the country in history. That doesn’t stop me laughing when I see Uncle Sam fire hydrants complete with flag.

It’s unfortunate that Wallmart America has gotten into the flag as a marketing tool – go check out your nearest car dealership in the US, you’ll find a bazillion flags on the building, grass, anything that’s vaguely nailed down… shopping malls are the worst places for flagitis, but it’s pretty much overdone as much as possible in consumer-facing settings (because if you stick “patriot” in a product name and slap a flag on it, you’ll unfortunately sell more of $product – even if it’s actually made in China by staff that work 25 hours a day in crappy conditions…). We use flags in this country too – but mostly as a football related marketing gimmick. Anyway, rant about abuse of the flag for modern day marketing aside, back to the point…

So I decided to order one. A hand made US flag of the kind you stick on a large pole. It’s not of the $3000 variety that they also sell – for those who just need to cover the entire side of their building in the largest flag ever made. I’ll hopefully have it in time for the July 4 events I’ve been invited to in London. This is the point where my sister finally disowns me. Finally, for historical ironists everywhere, this one’s made in the UK (Wales, I believe, but interestingly most of the England flags are made in China…)

Jon.

Update: I do realize the hypocrisy of wanting a giant flag and moaning about flagitis. But the point here is that I’m criticizing the number of flags that are used and the commercial exploitation of the flag for marketing purposes. That’d be like me slapping a US flag on a Tux and setting up a Patriot Linux distribution, or something. I’m sure it’d sell…