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CHARLES J ARNETT
October 25,
2001
Englewood Independent
Editor
P.O. Box 100Englewood OH
45322
Dear Editor
The attack on America on 9-11 has brought about a new patriotism. I give praise to almighty God for the renewed patriotism. I am proud to be an American. While people are very thankful for the renewed patriotism, many are asking, “How long will it last?”
Non-linguistic fallacies are the menaces that destroyed patriotism. Those fallacies must be dealt with if the new patriotism is to survive. Non-linguistic fallacies are tricks used in discourse that seem logical but are not. They are fallacious arguments. The liberal wing of America has been employing fallacious arguments for years to wittingly or unwittingly to destroy patriotism.
The first to consider is the practice of substituting a word that almost means the same but has a different connotation. Some years ago the media, entertainment, and education replaced patriotism with nationalism. Nationalism then was defined as narrow-mindedness and bigotry concerning the rest of the world. By this subtle trick of fallacious argument the liberal convinced some of us that political globalism was the American way and the way of intellectual broad-mindedness. Call me narrow minded; I never fell for it.
The second fallacy is even more destructive. It is the practice of attacking the person(s) instead of the ideal or the issue at hand. This was brought to my mind by an anonymous gift. On Oct. 17th I received in the mail “our Sacred Honor” by William J. Bennett from an unknown benefactor. It is a book using the writings and speeches of our founding fathers to show the ideals and sacrifices that made America great. I am proud of our heroic founding fathers.
Early in the book Bennett spent a paragraph showing the “substantial” flaws of the founders of our great nation. Bennett then spent 400 pages pointing out their ideals that made America great. You see, people do not always live up to their ideals. That doesn’t mean their ideals are wrong, they just don’t live up to their ideals. It has been my observation that most people who do live up to their ideals don’t have very high ideals. This started me thinking about a few things. A short time ago, there was a movie about Thomas Jefferson’s alleged affair. Isn’t the story of Declaration of Independence far more important? Americanism began to wane in light of personal flaws. The present telling of history is filled with the flaws of founders and little about their ideals, while the heroes of modern history is about personalities with little or no ideals.
A few years ago a freshman class on globalism used a book in which focused on the flaws of early Americans, while the greatness of other countries around the world was pointed out. The material also pointed out the flaws of some Christian groups while extolling the broad-mindedness and tolerance of Islam. The ideals of early America or the ideals of Christianity were not mentioned. This was all in the name of destroying prejudice and teaching tolerance. Fortunately for the school some parents objected and the school stopped that book.
Where has this led us? A junior in High School was suspended for ten day for displaying pro-war posters. A TV station’s newsroom forbade the news people from displaying American flags or symbols of America. A city made the fire department take American flags off of the fire trucks. We could go on and on. All this was done in the name of tolerance for other nationalities. Keep in mind that these incidents are consistent with the liberal influence and indoctrination over the past several decades.
“God Bless America Signs” are under attack. The President asked the nation’s school children to say the pledge of allegiance at a pre-appointed time. Some schools rejected his request in the name of tolerance.
America is at war with terrorism. Patriotism is at war with liberalism, left wing globalism and extreme multi-culturalism. Patriotism must survive if America is to win this war against terrorism. Don’t allow the radical left to destroy the new patriotism and show their ugly fangs.
Proud to be an American
charles j. arnett,
Union Ohio
836-3272