I love USA authors, novels, music, theater, and movies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love most USA comedy, especially our late night talk show guys now, as well as Colbert and Conan. And I loved Carson and Letterman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love every one of the Golden Girls<\/em>, and loved them before they were Golden Girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I love Sesame Street<\/em>. And the muppets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I love our national parks, national monuments, national forests, Bureau of Land Management lands, state parks, state forests, county parks, city parks… I love our public lands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love how our Interstate road system is numbered, including exits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love the food of my country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n No one cheers more loudly during a World Cup game, men or women’s, than me for the USA teams. Same during the Olympics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love studying the origins of what is called “Western Civilization”: as a child, I memorized the names of most of the Greek gods and goddesses and could tell you their Roman name counterparts, at university we studied the philosophers of the Greek and Roman times as well as those of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and we studied the different versions of the Bible as well as how in the eighth to 14th centuries, scholars in the Islamic world played a vital role in preserving, translating, and expanding upon the works of ancient Greek philosophers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I would be content reading an excerpt from Shakespeare every day of my life, let alone seeing a production of any of his plays regularly. I love English, Old World and New. I love the words of Falkner. And Steinbeck. And Barbara Kingsolver. And Toni Morrison. And Tennessee Williams. And so many, many other authors born and raised in this country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love learning about US history, including the many shameful moments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I am so proud of my paternal grandfather’s service in the Army during World War II. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though I am an atheist, there is a part of me that feels moved deep inside when I hear a gospel song, or pass a small wooden country church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All of what I love about US culture and about “Western Civilization” is from a mix of cultures, and even inspired by cultures not considered “the West.” And I celebrate it by reading its greatest works and seeing artistic productions from it and about it. But neither Western Civilization, nor American culture, is a monoculture. It has never been “fixed” and unchanging and evolving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Immigration doesn’t degrade my country or its culture. Learning about the history and experience of people in Asia doesn’t degrade my country or its culture. Revising what I thought I understood about Viking culture because of the discoveries of tombs of women warriors doesn’t degrade my country or its culture. Learning a different language doesn’t degrade my English (in fact, it improves it). Finding out the banjo has African origins doesn’t degrade my country or its culture. A Black American history museum doesn’t degrade my country or its culture. An American football pitch also being a soccer pitch doesn’t degrade my country or its culture. Efforts related to diversity, equity and inclusion don’t degrade my country or its culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My version of American culture and values isn’t so fragile that it falls apart at the study of the history of enslavement or racism or disenfranchisement in the USA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Romans were not a monoculture. Not only has Europe never been a monoculture, the residents within any European country have never been a monoculture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When I want to celebrate any of these things, specifically, I read a book, I listen to a song, I watch a documentary, I go see a play, I go see a movie, I go to a concert, I go to a sporting event, I listen to someone reciting the spoken word, I learn to play something related to such on one of my instruments, I go out to eat or cook something myself related to this culture, I go for a road trip, go hiking or go camping, I talk to an older person about once upon a time…<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you love English and think everyone should speak it, then read more classic English language novels – American English novels, specifically – and go see more productions of great American plays and donate to your local theater to produce such, learn some great English poetry, make a point of speaking correct English, and even better, teach an English as a Second Language class and help people in the USA learn English. Help fund camps for kids and classes in schools related to the arts. Help fund the local library. Watch some PBS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have serious doubts about anyone who whines that some people in the USA aren’t speaking English, but cannot speak nor write English properly themselves, and think it’s unnecessary for native English speakers to take English classes in high school. Or mocks me for loving Shakespeare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You don’t have to stop admiring George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Stephen Austin, and any other white male historical figure of the USA. Acknowledging their slave ownership and their promotion of slavery doesn’t completely cancel the reasons you might admire them. And learning about Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth or Ona Judge doesn’t change that the men you admire are worth admiring. Acknowledging that the stories of great black Americans have been purposely ignored and removed from our studies of history doesn’t “cancel” the traditional white American men you learn about, and that people should still learn about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw on Facebook that, near the town where I grew up, a band was playing a free concert of American composers\u2019 music. That happens all the time, via professional orchestras and high school bands. If you love the USA, you go to those sometimes, right? You can name at least five composers with works that are played by orchestras or bands, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want kids to pray more in your specific religion? Focus on your own: pray together when they get up, before the go to school, after they come home from school, before supper and before bed, and tell them you want them to pray before eating anything at school. I grew up in the Bible belt and some students prayed over their lunches – no one made fun of them. No one tried to stop them. And, of course, everyone prays before a test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t like gay marriage? Never go to a same-sex wedding and don’t go to a church or other community of faith where such would ever happen. But I hope you might feel as strongly and negatively about child marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Same for women leading in your church or other community of faith. Don’t like it? There are plenty of religions you can switch to that ban it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And what’s up with deciding that it is EVER okay to separate parents from their children because one or more of the family members entered the country illegally or stayed in the country illegally? Or that it’s okay to deny people basic or emergency medical care, to give them food full of worms or bugs – or no food at all, to deny women access to menstrual products, to deny people access to legal counsel, to put them in situations where they are raped and physically assaulted by citizens of the USA who are supposedly there to guard them, or to torture them mentally and physically, because they entered the country illegally or stayed in the country illegally? Denying basic human rights and dignity to people, even if you think they have committed a crime, has never been something to celebrate nor endorse – it’s something to find abhorrent, as a human who believes every person has certain inalienable rights that don’t disappear the moment they commit a crime or are convicted of such. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I know that many white US citizens, when it comes to Constitution<\/em>, believe it applies only to other US citizens. But the Declaration of Independence<\/em> is also one of our country’s founding documents, and supposedly you believe in that to. And it says: <\/p>\n\n\n\n We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The laws of the USA, including our founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence<\/em>, are based on the concept of natural law, a philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles that are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts that certain rights and moral values are inherent in human nature and can be universally understood, independent of enacted laws or societal norms. The theory has its roots in Greece – classical history, which all you white people claim is what you value most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, before you condemn people that come to the USA illegally, please trace your family tree and identify how each of your ancestors came to the USA, from where, and how (be sure to look for those papers that give them permission to be here, okay?). Absolutely, you can believe that it becoming a permanent resident, or even a citizen, of the USA should come with requirements, but don’t complain until you find out what those requirements are, now, and how many of those requirements your ancestors that immigrated here met. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Take a deep breath and start learning about why people come to the USA without legal permission to do so and learn what it would take for them to come to the USA legally. Learn what happens to MOST people who come here to the USA without legal permission – you might be surprised to find out most learn English, they pay taxes, they revitalize economies and communities that were struggling, and their children learn English and forget their native language. And be sure to have a look at the right wing Cato Institute’s reports on the economic impact of immigrants on the US economy, BTW – like that immigrants pay more in taxes than most US citizens<\/a>, and immigrants have a profound affect on reducing the national debt<\/a> and immigrants use far less government welfare than the people born in this country<\/a>. In learning all that, you still can believe that people who live in the USA should come here legally – you just might have to alter how you think about what the law should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short: having such hatred against people because of their immigration status or their ethnicity does nothing to preserve the English language or Western Civilization. There are much better ways to celebrate your English heritage, or your greater Western European heritage, or what you consider your Western Civilization heritage, than railing against immigrants, Critical Race Theory and religions other than your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I love USA authors, novels, music, theater, and movies. I love most USA comedy, especially our late night talk show guys now, as well as Colbert and Conan. And I loved Carson and Letterman. I love every one of the Golden Girls, and loved them before they were Golden Girls. I love Sesame Street. 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