L.M. Arndt, the Marin County homeowner whose letter to the San Francisco Chronicle I criticized the other day, sent me this e-mail:
Stefan:
You don't know me. And your assumptions are just plain wrong. I was born in the United States and have lived here all my life. I grew up at a time when we learned Civics in school--the differences between Democracy and Communism; the way our government is supposed to work, the balance of powers among executive, legislative, judicial. I collected scrap metal during WWII. We had rationing--tires, gasoline, butter, sugar, meat.Many of my classmates died in the war. I love my country in ways that I'm afraid you would not understand. I love our flag. I remember many years ago at a Fourth of July event scolding a boy who persisted in running around during the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance. I felt sick, after 9/11, to see that beautiful, wonderful flag desecrated, abused, misused--dangling limp from a crane, attached to a car antenna to be shredded, tied around the neck of a dog. Is that "patriotism"? Not in my book.
Yes, I own a very nice home in Marin County. My husband and I saved--and we were lucky. Does that make me ineligible to exercise my First Amendment rights? If your loved one is an addict, denying that fact simply makes you an enabler, not a loving friend. The U.S. government has made mistakes--admit it. The people of the U.S. are not any different from any other people: generally friendly, open, generous, kind, wanting for themselves and others the kind of world in which we can all live in peace, minding our own business, raising our children, living our own lives. That is why so many of us who love our country oppose the Bush/Cheney push for war. To me, this is the most patriotic thing I can do. You may disagree--but please do not assign motives and characterizations to me of whom you know nothing.
L. M. Arndt
Ms. Arndt -- Thank you for writing. You are correct. I don't know you or the totality of your experience and opinions. I was merely reacting to the few statements you wrote and signed your name to. This is in no way an attempt to deny your "First Amendment rights". You have every right to express your opinions, and here I am granting you "equal time" on my own private website to explain your views further. But your right to express your opinions also means that the rest of us have the right to say that your opinions are misguided, dangerous or just plain silly. And if you want to start your own website where you argue that my opinions are silly and misguided, I'll even point you in the direction of how to get started.
I do agree with you that there is more to patriotism than flag-waving and that it is a patriotic act to express one's disagreement to government policy. I also agree that our government has made mistakes. But here's where I differ with you. Although the individual human beings of United States are no more or less deserving of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness than any other people, I have to say that our society and culture as a nation is superior to others. -- and precisely because, with all our collective faults and imperfections, we have done a far better job of giving people the opportunity to have a safe, comfortable and rewarding life than any other society that exists today or has existed in history. That is why millions have come from around the world to these shores. That is why my great-grandparents came here from Eastern Europe a hundred or so years ago to escape poverty and persecution. That is why my wife's parents came here in the 1960s from Korea with only $30 in their pockets. That is why many more continue to come today, and many more want to come, but can't. On the other hand, how many Americans (especially those in Marin County) are so dissatisfied with their lives that they are queueing up to move their families overseas so their children can enjoy a brighter future? Not many, and I guess that should tell us something.
So when I read your letter to the editor when all you could say about this country was a litany of hysterical complaints against the current administration ("assault on women"?, give me a break ) and that a tattered flag was "all we have left", I blew a gasket. That we can do a better job at many things is a given. But for a person with the obvious success that you deservedly enjoy to be so absurdly critical is not only an incredible, unhelpful contribution to an important public debate. It is also an insult to those of us who are grateful for our country's many blessings, and to those of us who work and contribute to make this land an even better place to live than it already is.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 15, 2002 01:58 PMBravo to Ms.Arndt. Perhaps it will shut up some of the self righteous commenters from the previous posting.
Perhaps, Ms. Arndt's letter was an exaggeration ("only thing we have left".) Nevertheless, I find it EXTREMELY ironic that Mr. Sharkansky can praise the possibility to live a "safe, comfortable, and rewarding" life in America yet dismiss the beliefs of someone out of hand for apparently doing just that. It is unfortunate that Mr. Sharkansky seems to think that living in a nice neighborhood turns one into Barbra Streisand and negates the validity of public policy criticism.
Our country has been special precisely because we hold ourselves to a high standard not a low one. I don't want to wait until the government is holding tens of thousands of Americans without lawyers, charges, or trials. A handful is enough to make me skeptical.
I am thankful that Ms. Arndt is not waiting for a gulag to open in Sausalito before voicing her complaints.
Posted by: alferd packer on September 15, 2002 04:16 PMOooh...the Gulags of Guerneville! Is Guantanamo a gulag, chock full o' people who just want the right to assemble, free speech & free school lunches? No. They seek the right to poison your water supplies, slit your throat and convert your children. And they are being helped by traitors, who should also be tried in tribunals.
Riddle: What would cannibals Alfie Packer & Idi Amin(PC Alert! Arab Name!) eat if they went out for lunch? Donnernuts.
Mrs. Arndt's assertion that all peoples of the world are the same is the idiotic. When was the last time you blew up some ancient statues, cut off your slave/wife's clitoris or banned kite-flying? Save that mullah-cultural bullshit for the Walker-Lindhs. Daddy would be the first one executed if sonny-boy evergot his way. But what can one expect from a place where they can't even spell MARINE?
Alferd,
You seem to live in a rich fantasy world. I don't dismiss out-of-hand the beliefs of people who live in nice neighborhoods, and there's nothing in what I wrote that would support the claim that I do. But bombastic sweeping statements about how terrible our country is are pretty silly to begin with, especially coming from people who live in a nicer house in a nicer town than nearly everybody else on the planet.
If we ever get close to having gulags in this country, call me up and I'll protest along with you. But detention camps for enemy combatants doesn't suggest that we are any closer to gulags than we've ever been, except maybe in your own fertile imagination.
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on September 15, 2002 08:22 PMGod, more Marin-bashing... Well, I guess we've earned it.
I live in Marin County, in a nice house in a nice town. The weather is nice, the dogs are nice, the trees are nice -- you get the idea. This is paradise.
I thank God for it, and I thank America for it: our economy, our laws, our financial system -- all work together to make it possible for me to live in this nice place. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (It helps that I work hard as hell.)
We're not all terror-loving New Age stooges here. That Chronicle cover made my blood boil, and Lindh -- don't get me started on Lindh. Oddly, it's the older residents who are fuzzy-headed. The newer residents of Marin are yuppie capitalists like me; the older ones are leftover hippies, whiners and New Age types who bought their $$$ houses 20+ years ago.
Anyway, don't hate us because we're beautiful. ;->
Now let's fucking ROLL.
Posted by: Patriotic in Marin on September 16, 2002 01:20 AMAllow me to clarify, Stefan. I was NOT referring to the detainees in Guantanamo. Those guys are POWs and deserve what they are getting.
No, I am talking about guys like Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who was grabbed getting off a commercial airline in the U.S. Do I have a problem with the Justice Dept. simply declaring U.S. citizens enemy combatants and detaining them indefinitely in a military brig without a hearing, a lawyer, a criminal charge, or a trial? Yes. While egregious actions against one or two people who quite possibly might be dangerous (although no evidence has been produced) does not constitute a grave threat to our way of life, I do not choose to ignore it either.
Finally, if you have a problem with bombastic sweeping statements then you might choose address those of posters like Mr. Pointed Arrow who is now attributing statements to her that she never made and suggesting, a la Ashcroft, that she is helping the terrorists by questioning the actions of our govenment.
The fact is that Political Correctness often amounts to little more than the inference that someone who makes an off color remark or comment is racist, sexist, or bigoted. This type of extrapolation of values is abhorent whenever it occurs. However, do not kid yourself that it only exists on the left. You and the other posters to your blog have had merry fun extrapolating a panoply of values to Ms. Arndt based on little supporting evidence. Sorry, Ms. Ardnt doesn't sound like a fuzzy-headed, Lindh-loving, New Age hippie stooge to me. She sounds like a patriotic American who has every right to express her views no matter how much yuppie capitalists over-pay for for the privilege of being her neighbor. Those who choose to put her in that box are no less guilty of PC-think than those they condemn. I thought that was an obvious lesson. Too bad you chose not to learn it.
Posted by: alferd packer on September 16, 2002 06:12 AMAlferd,
Quote: "The people of the US are no different from any other people." End Quote. I did not make up anything. It's in the last paragraph of her E-mail. Reading her letters in totality portrays a far-left mentality on just about everything under the sun, which is fine, but the Fruit-Loops box is of her own making.
When I said 'the terrorists were being helped by traitors who should be tried in tribunals', I was not refering to Mrs.Arndt. I was refering to Jose Padilla, James Ujamma & those Americans who are actively collaborating. And I don't have a problem with their "indefinite" incarceration in a time of war. They will be adjudged in due course. I trust military officers who have sworn an oath to the Constitution, often more than I trust certain politicians & judges who might have taken the same oath.
I did not challenge her(or your) patriotism. I didn't challenge her (or your) right to speak. I did not say she was helping the terrorists. I did not say she "loves" Lindh. Fuzzy-headed?... Definetley!
I see you were not refering to Guantanamo as a gulag, just as I was not refering to Mrs. A. as a traitor.
My other point stands. The multi-cultists have opened this country to many people who have no loyalty to it & are expected not to assimilate. Witness Wahabbi mosques in Texas, dancing in the streets in N.J., & Yemeni-"Americans" in N.Y., who are American in no sense, except they demand we pay for their lawyers. This attitude lets Atta fly in & out of the country, expired visa or not.
All other people are not like Americans, only some. Lacking a miraculous change of heart, the murderous must be imprisoned, killed or appeased. And they won't be appeased.
So now lawyers are a good thing? Damn straight.
Posted by: Ipsofacto on September 17, 2002 07:45 PM