I pledge

My pledge to you, dear reader, is to always mock flags. I get their symbolic function, but I laugh at it. Also, despair. Flags are tribe colors to designate sides, both to unite and divide. When you "pledge allegiance" you are of course proclaiming fealty to the political power that uses the flag as its tribe symbol. I pledge allegiance to all life, to the Universe as a whole, so what does a flag matter to me? Or, for that matter, what does the Flag Code matter to any Patriot? Violation, above. Violation, below.

So many Flag Code violations in today's American Empire.

lol america.

Fetish as Totem

So many people have died because of this man. And yet he is still worshiped!

Because of the Fetish - on many levels. That's all the Authoritarians run on: Fetish worship. Meaning is irrelevant. Details are irrelevant. Facts are irrelevant. All that matters is the tribal message - and that is, for now, Guns are Good. So worship guns, and death.

Die for your country - what an honor!

Choking the Chicken

So the Pats lost in tragic fashion - choked, you might say. I'll say it - they choked. And so goes a legacy of Greatness, replaced with Pretty Good but Couldn't Win Without Weiss and Crennel.

Also, as far as visual metaphors go, this is a good one:

Just boilin' out, y'all, diggin' life. Cooked.

In my Tribe

Normally, we wear blocks of cheese on our heads - we are known as the Cheeseheads, after all - but on festive occasions, we will wear our hallowed stadium on our heads instead. All praise to Lambeau, Home of the Frozen Tundra.

Seriously, I still can't believe the Pats lost to the damn Jets. Damn. Congrats to the Pack though - twas a fine championship run, and given the almost pure socialism of the public corporation known as "The Green Bay Packers", I can't think of a better team to win in the league. Patriots excepted, of course. Because, freedom, and America, and stuff?

But anywho, here's a fun game: Look at any behavior, any clothing, any music, anything you like (manmade), and try and trace back the tribal themes as far back as you can. It's pretty easy, I think, since we are, like all mammals, tribal creatures, and no matter how sophisticated, wise, or savvy we think we are, we're still just biological creatures, bound by the same genetic pressures driving all other living things. And mammals herd.

Biology/Genetics can explain almost any living behavior. If you believe that, then, what exactly are you? But a Cheesehead, in this case?

Desecrations (of imaginary totems)

If you have a military background, or were in the Boy Scouts, or are otherwise a huge nerd (that's me!), you're familiar with the Flag Code. To wit - it's filled with rules and regulations on what you can and can't do with a flag. Prominent among these restrictions is a ban on using the flag as clothing. 

Alas! Much like Teabaggers understanding of the Constitution (they have none), you can assume anyone wearing a flag as a piece of clothing has no idea. About anything, most likely. Or they don't care - but how could that be? These are REAL 'MERICANS!

Also:

And here's a quote from the GOP Candidate for Congress from Delaware, Glenn Urquhart:

Do you know, where does this phrase separation of Church and State come from? Does anybody know? … Actually, that’s exactly, it was not in Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists. He was reassuring that the federal government wouldn’t trample on their religion. The exact phrase ‘separation of Church and State’ came out of Adolph Hitler’s mouth, that’s where it comes from. Next time your liberal friends talk about the separation of Church and State ask them why they’re Nazis.”

Clearly, another GOP Constitutional scholar.


The pogrom is just warming up!

Patriots All

I don't have to know what it means, I just know it's Patriotic. 
Patriotic = Good, ergo, Good. 

A possible guide: When we do it = Good.
When they do it = Bad

"They" can be a surprisingly diverse and elastic group.

All for this moment

It was worth it!

Symbols

Cute, right?

Isn't it odd that the South of America, the old Confederacy, is also considered, currently, to be the most Patriotic region, home of the Republican Party and true Americans, who believe in:

1. The War and supporting our troops
2. Jesus
3. Guns
4. "States Rights" ;)

Let's not forget that it was only in the 50's that the USA had to send its Army into a Southern state in order to enforce the laws of the USA. That's Whiskey Rebellion stuff, people!

And yet we now bend our American knees to the South and all things Southern, as if Southern now equals American. You Connecticut Yankees should go back to Russia!

But let's step back for a second and consider the true power of symbols: They are what you make of them, and what you can convince/persuade your "victim" to make of them. Consider these fine chaps:
Not as cute, am I right?

No doubt these guys are looking for a reaction, hence the combination of so many fun fascist fashions, but the symbol is there, the very same symbol we're to believe can be Patriotic in other settings, or at least a reflection of tradition or culture, or perhaps at the very least, just good old fun!

I'd say there's some serious cognitive dissonance at play here, but when all is dissonance, is it really an exception any more?