[MD] Cheerleading for America

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Marsha]
Oh Arlo, please don't forget C-SPAN.  C-SPAN is the greatest public 
&  political forum available to the public.

[Arlo]
Agree. Oh, and root/birch beer. Did I mention jazz? Buffalo wings. Apple 
computers. And how can I not mention directly chili!

[Platt to  Arlo's initial list of Hoo Ha's about America]
Not bad, except for rock and roll. :-) How about the free market system 
that has brought about a diversity, not to mention abundance, of goods and 
services? And, at the top of my list, like DMB's, the Bill of Rights.

[Arlo]
Well, I guess I declined stating the obvious. But agree.

[Platt]
Well, you'll have to admit up to now you've pretty much emphasized the 
negative.

[Arlo]
I don' recall saying anything positive about Iceland recently, but don't 
take that as a sign that I don't like the place.

[Platt]
Do I detect with "rah-rah America" an insinuation that sticking up for the 
U.S. is something to be mocked?

[Arlo]
In this case, I feel its generally irrelevant to what we are discussing 
(blind obedience to social structures), so if I am mocking anything its the 
need to have any criticism of America prefaced with accolades to how 
wonderful it is. I don't do that for other countries. I don't say, 
"Cambodian food is excellent, and the Cambodian sense of humor is one of 
the best in the world, but Pol Pot's actions were evil."

It seems to me simply a basic truism that while some social structures are 
more moral, none are perfectly so, and so being critical of any given 
social structure's immoral missteps is simply doing just that. America has 
misstepped. Germany has. Japan has. Britain has. The Christian Church has. 
The Muslim Church has. I don't think I can name one that hasn't. And nearly 
all those "missteps" were the result of blind obedience and blind 
acriticality of the dictates of the social structure. But that's for the 
other thread, let's keep this one satisfying this specific need.