Memories

 

 

Here's a posting from 15 years ago. History doesn't change much.

 

CITIZENS – "He was the son of Puerto Rican immigrants." Not so. Puerto Rico has been part of the United States for more than 100 years, since the end of the Spanish-American War. The word "immigrant" implies that someone came to America from a foreign country. But since Puerto Rico is part of the U.S., it is not, by definition, a foreign country. People in Puerto Rico send delegates to national political conventions, vote in presidential elections, and serve in the military, as do people in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They are all American citizens and carry U.S. passports. Therefore, they should not be referred to as "immigrants."

 

HISTORY – Spanish is not a foreign language in America, and never has been. Remember 1492 and Columbus, an Italian seaman sponsored by Queen Isabella of Spain? Keep in mind that Spanish was spoken here long before the English arrived. So was Swedish, as well as Dutch and several other languages. Also, while the English organized colonies as business ventures, settlers were recruited from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, many of whom spoke Gaelic or Welsh.

 

WRONG-WAY RALEIGH – A newsletter for apartment dwellers, in its history trivia section, claimed that in 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh brought tobacco to Virginia from England.

 

COMMENTARIAT – There is more danger to individual liberty from the Far Right than from the Liberal Left. Examples: Germany under Hitler, Italy under Mussolini, Spain under Franco, Chile under Allende. "It can't happen here," you say? Yes, it can, and very nearly did. The novel by Sinclair Lewis was fiction, but it was based on real events of the 1930s. Try reading "The Plot to Seize the White House," by Jules Archer (1973), Skyhorse Publishing, New York, 2007. It documents an attempt by corporate America to oust FDR by military force. The duty of a free press is to monitor and expose activities of government and/or any extremist group that threatens liberty.

 

RADIO RHETORIC – The big talkers maintain that their words do not lead others to violence; that they are only exercising their constitutional right to free speech. But words can kill. Not directly, but words have often been used to demonize and dehumanize. And when an individual or group is felt to be less than human, it becomes acceptable to beat, torture and even kill in the name of patriotism, religion or some other fanatical fervor.

 

PLATE STATEMENTS – From New Jersey, one of our favorites: The Unitarian clergy with UU REV on his car license plate.

 

AIN'T CULTURE WUNNERFUL? – Pug Mahoney suggested that Edith Wharton's novel, "The House of Mirth," should be subtitled "The Real Housewives of 1907." Sign on store window: "No Loitering. Police Take Notice." Teenagers are OK, but no cops allowed. A factory banner proclaimed "Now Firing." This stopped us for a moment, until we recognized the building as a ceramic tile factory.

 

HOLLYWOOD CHUTZPAH – A film studio refused to give a mime screen credit for his role in "Revenge of the Fallen" because his performance "was not a speaking part."

 

CREATIVE COINAGE – The CIA does not assassinate, according to former top official Cofer Black. What it does, is "engage in war-fighting, where the goal is to degrade the command and control capability" of the enemy's leadership.

 

BEWARE OF ABSOLUTES – A Middle East government spokesman said its security forces "never fire on innocent civilians." This can be a true statement only if one accepts the premise that there is no such entity as an "innocent" civilian.

 

KINDLING – An Amazon.com exec said of his firm's electronic gadget, "We think reading is an important enough activity that it deserves a purpose-driven device." And all this time, we thought that's what a book is.

 

CHOICE PHRASES – For a know-it-all, she has very little understanding. At the age of 30, he was already like someone's grandfather – set in his ways.