Shut Up!

Juror 5 works in education and is from Harlem. She said she tries to avoid political conversations and doesn’t care for news. She said that she appreciates Mr. Trump’s candor. “President Trump speaks his mind,” she said.(1)

If there is one thing that I have hated, at least since my college days, is the excusing of stupid, irrational, racist, misogynistic, conspiratorial, etc. bullshit spewing from people’s mouths as the action of merely “speaking their minds” or “expressing themselves.”(2)

When people speak, I want reasonable, logical, factual discourse. 

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One thing I discovered today is that the American Legion considers me a “Patriotic American.” As such, I received a questionnaire that the AL has loaded with leading questions. 

Take the title question about protecting “American Values.” How can one answer “No”? Of course the phrase “American Values” is question-begging. What are “American Values”? How are they defined? And perhaps, more importantly, who has the right to define them?

The first question really gives the lie to any possibility of objectivity. Calling the flag “Old Glory” lays on the patriotic schmaltz pretty thick. 

The second question hauls in the ACLU as, one imagines, a boogie man. We all know that that organization’s activities are iffy, right? And here they are acting against “religious symbols.”

The third, fifth, and eighth questions veer away from so-called values. The third is another question-begging question. The other two are just banging you over the head with feel-bad information.

Questions six, thirteen, and fourteen are the red-meat American Legion questions. Question six drags in “traditions” (a question-begging word) to nudge a positive response to dragooning students into “reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem.” 

Questions thirteen and fourteen drag religion and God into the mix. I think it’s clear what “values” the Legion is trying to get us to reflex approval of.

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Now, I’ve written about the Pledge of Allegiance before(3), so I don’t have to go through the same ideas again. However, let me bring in one new thought: What is accomplished by having six- and seven-year-olds mumble off by rote the P of A, when they have no idea what the words mean? 

“What is ‘allegiance,’ Bobby?” “I don’t know, Miss Brown.” 

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Recently, I received a mail ballot for the election of fire commissioners for the part of the township I reside in. Wondering what exactly the commissioners did and who I should vote for, I accessed the Board of Fire Commissioners website and located the minutes of a recent meeting. Here’s what I found:

BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS MEETING

ORDER OF BUSINESS

REGULAR MEETING: October 2, 2023 / 2000 Hours

The regular meeting of the BOFC of the 7th Fire District was called to order at 20:00

hours by President Brian Henry, notice of the meeting was published in the Home News

Tribune and Star Ledger and posted in the Fords Library and on the Commissioners’

bulletin board.

Roll Call: All commissioners were present.

The Pledge of Allegiance . . .was given.

The guys whose job it is to fight arsonists start off their meeting with a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. Now, what in hell does reciting the Pledge have to do with snuffing out brushfires or rescuing cats from trees? Unless it is make sure that none of the elected commissioners have defected to the maple leaf flag or El Tri, leaving the district vulnerable to a towering inferno. 

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(1) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/nyregion/trump-trial-jury-hush-money.html

(2) See: https://drnormalvision.blogspot.com/2012/04/whisper-of-muse.html

(3) https://drnormalvision.blogspot.com/2019/06/ive-pledged-already-thank-you.html