The Olympics and Patriotism

I haven’t mentioned the Olympics yet in this blog, which is strange, as the Cornells are watching them semi-religiously. Twins Corbin and Cornelius have been up far past their bedtimes to cheer on the Americans and Michael Phelps and the gymnasts and whatnot, and it’s been a whole lot of fun.

What’s delightful about the Olympics is that it’s based solely on excellence. There’s no forgiveness, no feel-good consolation prize, no margin for error. Political correctness had yet to infect the Olympic process with “everyone is special” self-esteem-boosting pap. Not everyone is Michael Phelps-style special. I like to think I can eat 12,000 calories per day and still look great, but my gut says otherwise.

The other thing remarkable about the Olympics is that it’s patriotic as all git out. You spend your time cheering for your country and celebrating American achievement. In everyday life, Democrats moan and whine that Republicans are always “questioning their patriotism,” yet they think that they can slice down their country at every opportunity and demand that be considered equally as patriotic as those who want the USA to succeed. That dynamic is stripped to its essence in the Olympics – either you want the American gymnast to win, or you want the “16-year-old” Chinese infant to win. One choice is clearly more patriotic than the other.

That may be the reason why Beavis McCain is coming back in the polls. In their hearts, most Americans are rooting for America. They’re not Michelle Obamas who think their nation is downright mean or that they can’t be proud of their country. They’re not Barack Obamas who worry about what the rest of the world will think if we keep driving SUVs and turn our thermostats down to 72 during the summer. I loathe McCain, but I will say the unspeakable, which is that McCain is obviously more patriotic than Obama is. The reason this statement makes the Left so sputteringly angry is that it’s demonstrably true, and they have no argument in response other than to call people names.

Blatant expressions of patriotism always make Lefties feel uncomfortable, like someone sitting in a damp swimming suit. When everyone was sporting the American flag after 9/11, the Bill Moyers crowd was wringing its hands about the dangers of the flag lapel pin and little flag logos in the corner of TV screens. Displaying the flag is the first step down the road to fascism, doncha know, and don’t you dare call me unpatriotic for saying so!

The fact is that the word “patriotism” means something, and the defensive of the Democrats demonstrates that they’re less comfortable with the definition than the Republicans are.

Speaking of being uncomfortable with patriotism, I found the goofiest current example of an unpatriotic boob in the latest online edition of Newsweek, which features a diatribe by this pinhead, pictured here:



Said pinhead is named Sameer Reddy, and he states that the U.S. Olympic uniforms are – wait for it – racist, classist, and evidence that Ralph Lauren is a self-hating Jew. Don’t believe me? Here’s the money quote:

The biggest sports-related news stateside has been the redesign of the U.S. uniforms by Ralph Lauren, who took the reins from Canadian company Roots. Lauren has built an empire by becoming the unofficial outfitter of the American Dream, marketing an idealized image of America's former ruling class to the nation at large. However, the WASP aesthetic he sells-think of characters from "The Great Gatsby," clothed in tennis whites and delicate tea dresses-has come to represent a classist and racist set of ideals, hardly representative of the current multicultural social fabric of the United States. A strange choice then, to redefine the U.S. team's visual identity in this way, even as it marches further away from the 20th century, when WASP power reached its peak. But if one stops to consider America's shaky status as the world's preeminent superpower, Lauren's nostalgic, retro creations begin to make more sense.

But wait! There’s more! It seems the NeoCons who are too stupid to see the bigotry here. Here’s more from said dweeb:

Social conservatives would probably fail to read anything insidious into these outfits-after all, at least the U.S. team looked pulled-together and semi-formal-but the clothes, in and of themselves, are not the problem. The issue is that the Polo brand is built upon an aesthetic intended to communicate to the world, the wearer's successful assimilation into the traditional institutions of upwardly-mobile American culture-the elitist world of typically WASP-only country clubs, prep schools and cotillions. (Never mind that Ralph Lauren, née Lifshitz, was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants who most certainly would not have been allowed into the country clubs that many of his designs seem destined for.)

Oh, yeah? At least Ralph Lauren isn’t unpatriotic, dweeb boy. And you are.