March 29, 2003
With Us Or Against Us
I'm having poor luck so far finding a picture of this, but I've seen it on two different local newscasts this evening. At a "pro-troops" rally in Vancouver, WA, one Nancy Dorr (from the National Children's Day Association, apparently) stood at a podium and announced that now is the time for people to show whether or not they are truly Americans. The insinuation, of course, being that if you're antiwar, you aren't an American.
Here's the thing, though. Here's the reason I'm seeking a photograph. She was wearing the most ludicrously ostentatious over-sized Uncle Sam hat that I have ever seen anywhere in my entire life.
Perhaps I shouldn't put fashion in the mix when discussing patriotism, but let me state one thing right now: If it ever becomes the case that to prove I'm a true American I need to wear a hat like that (or, for that matter, drive a truck like the one pictured here previously), then forget it. I'll go be something else.