Freedom For All

So the news today came out about the so called Freedom Tower that’s going to be built on the old site of the World Trade Center, or Ground Zero as it’s more commonly know post 9/11… And after everything that’s happened, they want to build a bigger target.

But what bothers me most of all is this whole “Freedom” tag thats coming along with it, always riding the Patriotism ticket. Freedom from what exactly?

But the increase in “fake” patriotism post 9/11 hasn’t helped matters… If you didn’t have a flag on your car after 9/11, or have a patriotic shirt, people labeled you as a terrorist sympathiser. And don’t even think about questioning the government as you’ll be branded unpatriotic and unamerican, and you should just leave if you don’t agree with the current administration…

American patriotism is crammed down people’s throats, not just Americans but the whole world too. Taking the example of the French, America now gets pissed at other countries for not supporting the American viewpoint. To put it bluntly, the backlash against the French was simply because they acted “unamerican”.

patriotism
\Pa”tri*ot*ism\, n. [Cf. F. patriotisme.] Love of country; devotion to the welfare of one’s country; the virtues and actions of a patriot; the passion which inspires one to serve one’s country. –Berkley.

When did patriotism go from “I love my country, and I’ll do what I can to make it an awesome place to live” to “my country is the fucking best, how dare you question authority?”

And the saddest part is I’m going there in little over a month…