John Katz,Editor,The American Dossier
This past week, which celebrated the 243rd year of our nations birth. It can best be summed up in a quote from Charles Dicken’s A tale of Two Cities.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, …”
In the mid-1980’s much like today politics was very much at the epicenter of our popular culture on the world’s stage. Even at the high school level we were encouraged to keep up on current events and taught to not let history repeat itself. Namely in regard to the atrocities of both Slavery and The Holocaust. It was a time in which whether you agreed or disagreed about political persuasions there was attention and a path to find resolve brought to many issues such as famine relief ,AIDS, and ultimately the end the Cold War. These were the fruits of an allegedly confused generation of the world’s political leaders.
Many of the world leaders at the time were labeled by main stream media and pop culture as stoic, older and set in their ways. Because of the sexual and cultural revolution of the 1960’s many were considered confused and out of touch with the younger generation. Political satire was very much in fashion too, but unlike today it was simply that. One particular song from the 1980’s that comes to mind was
“Now did you read the news today They say the danger's gone away But i can see the fire's still alight There burning into the night.
There's too many men Too many people Making too many problems And not much love to go round Can't you see This is a land of confusion.”
This is the world we live in And these are the hands we're given Use them and let's start trying To make it a place worth living in.”
The video for the song used puppet caricatures of political figureheads to make a point… as it called us all to get involved and have a voice and to unite to make the world a better place. And despite protest dialog thrived.
Fast forward to today unfortunately political satire has become a divisive and cynical tool that has been allowed to replace dialog. It has become all too common to see the late night talk show hosts impose their political views and if you happen to disagree you are not only accused of being confused …. and as according to Mr. Kaepernick et al we Americans as are guilty of the worlds transgressions and live in the worst of times.
Unfortunately we live in a present day world that follows the gospel of celebrity. It seems that we have lost regard to facts in our nation’s history.
Once again our nation’s flag and everything patriotic came under attack by Colin Kaepernick and his manifesto.
This time it has been an on going sleuth of mis-quotes and his self-interpretation of American history, in regards to both Betsy Ross and Frederick Douglas In recent days after Kaepernick pressured Nike into recalling a line of shoes that featured the Betsy Ross flag because he said it had connections to slavery.
Here is a brief history lesson on Betsy Ross:
· Betsy Ross was a Quaker
· Quakers were abolitionists
· Betsy Ross lived in Philadelphia and slavery was illegal in Philadelphia
· Betsy Ross never owned slaves
Furthermore her humility to serve our nation in time of adversity in losing two husbands during the American Revolution is very much of an uncommon valor by today’s standards.
Mr. Kaepernick defended his disdain for our nation with this out of context quote from Frederick Douglas’s July 5, 1852 speech;
“What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? This Fourth of July is yours, not mine…There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.” - Frederick Douglass
The reality is that he left an important quote out from this speech that Mr. Douglas was indeed a patriot and saw the importance in being so as he goes on to state :.
“There are forces in operation, which must inevitably, work the downfall of slavery. ‘The arm of the Lord is not shortened,’ and the doom of slavery is certain.’
“I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from ‘the Declaration of Independence,’ the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age.” - Frederick Douglass
The power of celebrity has almost become a dangerous demi-god like replacement from separating fact from fiction.
In closing as reported in The Blaze:
· A Gallup poll found that the number of people surveyed who consider themselves to be "proud or very proud" to be Americans is at an all-time low.
· 45 percent of American respondents considered themselves to be "extremely proud" of the U.S.
· 22 percent of self-identified Democratic respondents said they felt pride to be American — a 10 percent decrease year over year.4
However amongst the many who were surveyed there was one statement that stood out with unapologetic patriotic esteem.
"I think we have a country rife with opportunity, a country rife with abilities to become successful, I don't know," a male student told Phillips. "In light of what's going on around the world, it's pretty damn good to be American."
Statements like this are what make this the best of times as the truth prevails in spite of adversity.
It is one thing to be confused and another to choose to embrace delusion. So for a company such as Nike who for over a decade seemed to embrace American values with its “Just Do It” campaign, one has to wonder if they actually believed in their own message or if it was it all about the American Dollar?
As of this writing the company's decision has led to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to pull financial incentives for Nike's planned factory in the state in response. Hopefully others doing business with them will follow suit.
As for Mr. Kaepernick and his deluded views and for our country’s need to grow toward a path towards healing from the atrocities of slavery the best we can do as humans is “Let God Do It”
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