Living In America - Cognitive Dissonance

So I go to the supermarket, and as I'm checking out I see that they're selling red, white & blue-colored magnetic car ribbons with "Proud to be an AMERICAN" emblazoned on them.

Then I go and read in the NYT today that some American soldiers in Iraq are getting their kicks by smashing empty Coke bottles over the heads of random Iraqi civilians (they call them "hadjis"), kicking and beating Iraqi children, and shooting down unarmed prisoners in cold blood:

Detainees who had been demonstrating over a variety of grievances began throwing rocks at the guards. As the disturbance grew, the Army authorized lethal force. Four detainees were shot to death.

Mr. Delgado confronted a sergeant who, he said, had fired on the detainees. "I asked him," said Mr. Delgado, "if he was proud that he had shot unarmed men behind barbed wire for throwing stones. He didn't get mad at all. He was, like, 'Well, I saw them bloody my buddy's nose, so I knelt down. I said a prayer. I stood up, and I shot them down.' "

But I'm sure it's just a few bad apples...and of course, it's quite controversial to suggest that mere foreigners shouldn't have been shot. After all, they were throwing stones!

Oh well. I guess I won't be buying a patriotic ribbon today.

Living In America - Cognitive Dissonance

So I go to the supermarket, and as I'm checking out I see that they're selling red, white & blue-colored magnetic car ribbons with "Proud to be an AMERICAN" emblazoned on them.

Then I go and read in the NYT today that some American soldiers in Iraq are getting their kicks by smashing empty Coke bottles over the heads of random Iraqi civilians (they call them "hadjis"), kicking and beating Iraqi children, and shooting down unarmed prisoners in cold blood:

Detainees who had been demonstrating over a variety of grievances began throwing rocks at the guards. As the disturbance grew, the Army authorized lethal force. Four detainees were shot to death.

Mr. Delgado confronted a sergeant who, he said, had fired on the detainees. "I asked him," said Mr. Delgado, "if he was proud that he had shot unarmed men behind barbed wire for throwing stones. He didn't get mad at all. He was, like, 'Well, I saw them bloody my buddy's nose, so I knelt down. I said a prayer. I stood up, and I shot them down.' "

But I'm sure it's just a few bad apples...and of course, it's quite controversial to suggest that mere foreigners shouldn't have been shot. After all, they were throwing stones!

Oh well. I guess I won't be buying a patriotic ribbon today.