…/… In the aftermath of 911, then, Americans unfurled the Stars and Stripes,
voiced their support for the acting president, and pulled up their
sleeves to go to work. Insofar as this character trait is supposed to
provoke ridicule, I find it rather solemn and low key. And there is
nothing new about this. In fact, the journalist Arthur Higbee, a Pacific
War veteran, wrote in the International Herald Tribune that after Pearl Harbour, America's attitude was even more low key.
Very few people hung out flags, and nobody wore a flag lapelpin. No flag-waving was needed. The tone of the nation was one of grim determination. Recruiting offices were overflowing.
"Grim determination": there is a better description of patriotic America, today and in the past, than Dana Burde's pacifist caricature ……/… Wailing Europeans and other Uncle Sam detractors [not least in the United States itself — see AOC, Kaepernick, Obama, etc etc etc etc] ought to make sure they keep their droning continuous and never-ending. Because, if instead of endlessly lamenting the distressing state of Americans' patriotism, they were to shut up and try and study it a little more closely and a little more rationally, they might come to believe that Yankee patriotism is not so mystical, or frightening, or perilous, as is commonly believed. Then they would have less to wail about. Can you imagine that!? Wouldn't that be awful?! …/…