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It is important not to confuse “patriotism” with “nationalism.” As I define it, nationalism is a monologue in which you place your country in a position of moral and cultural supremacy over others. Patriotism, while deeply personal, is a dialogue with your fellow citizens, and a larger world, about not only what you love about your country but also how it can be improved. Unchecked nationalism leads to conflict and war. Unbridled patriotism can lead to the betterment of society. Patriotism is rooted in humility. Nationalism is rooted in arrogance.
And yet Orwell asks us, if there is no one with the power to call out a lie as a lie, does it end up ceasing to be a lie?
At first glance, it might seem as if the press is a destabilizing force: It can undermine the credibility of our elected officials and ultimately our confidence in government.
Where would America be without the muckrakers of the progressive era, like Ida Tarbell, who uncovered the perfidy and immorality of the Standard Oil monopoly under John D. Rockefeller; without the New York Times’s publishing of the Pentagon Papers, which exposed the lies around the Vietnam War; without the dogged work of the Boston Globe in documenting sexual abuse within the Catholic Church? Because of the press, powerful institutions were held accountable for their actions, and we became a stronger nation.
We have seen individual journalists and some of our best press institutions singled out for attack by the highest of elected officials for reporting truths that the powerful would rather remain hidden; for pointing out lies as lies; and for questioning motivations that deserve scrutiny.
That he was ultimately brought down by investigative journalism does not diminish the damage done during his tenure in office.
in reference to Nixon
at Fox News. But the majority of programming is opinion rather than news, and this opinion is often in service of conservative political objectives regardless of the facts.
We often hear about how we need to be more tolerant: to make room for people, ideas, and actions with which we may not agree.
A society worthy of our ideals would be a much more inclusive one, a more integrated one.
E pluribus unum, “From many, one.”
We must find a way to defeat the forces of intolerance. If we do, we will emerge a better, stronger nation.
Back in 1980, the science-fiction author Isaac Asimov wrote, “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’ ” It is what
a democracy requires open access to ideas. It requires a willingness to struggle and learn, to question our own suppositions and biases, to open ourselves as citizens, and a nation, to a world of books and thought.
Progress cannot be only intuited. It must be written, and read.
As John Adams wrote, a republic “is a government of laws, and not of men.” A government of laws is a government of reason, and a government of books. That was true at our founding, and we must ensure that it remains a hallmark of our future.
I felt a supreme belief among the citizenry that we were a nation of laws and not of men.
We have never fully regained the confidence we felt at the end of World War II, or the unity. Korea led to a long and arduous path of questioning our place in the world.
remember hearing from a scientist once that the universe tends toward chaos, a sobering reality that underpins the laws that govern our planet and the vastness of space.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s own equation for our journey through time and space: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.”
Elie Wiesel quote
resilience of the human spirit.
I am confident we can find the common ground that unites us.
