General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA pet peeve of mine
is the fascist nomenclature of "Homeland." I hate it. Bush the Younger changed this. "Homeland Security." Bah. Homeland nothing. We are the United States. We are not some version of "Der Fatherland."
I want Joe to change it all back. We were doing just fine before! Our identity is not fascist!
I have gone so far as to reject courses labeled: "Homeland Security something." It is offensive to me, and I would not want a diploma hung on my wall with this word on it. It'd be like a Nazi award.
I don't know why brainless Bush had to do this. Now, we will have youngsters who know nothing else, and perceive it as normal.
Joe, Honey, do me a favor and just start changing it back. And, maybe while you're at it, take "In G-d We Trust" off the national money. We trust no one; we verify. And, also, I want Harriet Tubman on the $20. See if you can find a photo of her smiling.
hlthe2b
(102,105 posts)Ferrets are Cool
(21,102 posts)YorkRd
(326 posts)I hated this from the first day!
Solly Mack
(90,758 posts)But you do know why - because that's exactly why. To normalize it.
Bush doesn't mind fascist/authoritarian/nationalistic forms and trappings - he, and other republicans, would just rather you called them uniquely American instead of making historical comparisons.
Bush would also like people to forget the attacks on the Press, the erosion of civil liberties (think Patriot Act), and well, war crimes/crimes against humanity by his administration.
EndlessWire
(6,453 posts)when one of Bush's Cabinet members stated on the nightly news that we were going to send prisoners offshore to a third country--not Gitmo--so that they could be tortured for information.
It made me want to vomit. Those aren't clean hands. And yet, they wanted the average citizen here to think that it was all okay because we weren't doing it in our own backyard.
wnylib
(21,312 posts)DENVERPOPS
(8,787 posts)That it was HWBush, not W.
W's mind was fried by Alcohol and Cocaine, just as Reagan's was by dementia or Alzheimers. Both were pure pawns or front men.
HW.........head of the CIA
Then VP under Reagan, but truly running the show with Cheney/Rumsfeld/Pearl/Wolfowitz and others.
Then HW became president, and continued with that same administration after having to pardon them all for shit in the Reagan years.
However, he pissed off the Repubs when he promised no new taxes and then did an increase anyway, violating their main thrust.
Clinton sneaked in, but did a lot to appease the Repubs.
Then, Repubs corrupted the election and installed W...Twice...with the same administration his dad had, Cheney/Rumsfeld etc
Enough dems finally got pissed and elected Obama by a large enough margin that the rigging of the election machines wasn't by enough
And I am sure the Republicans were trying to install some other republican, other than Trump, but they hadn't planned on Trump being blackmailed and assisted by Putin's help during the election......
The common thread for most of the past 40+ years was HW Bush and his cronies...............
Karadeniz
(22,461 posts)With its beauty, then hits you between the eyes when you realize the Nazi evil it camouflages. In its aim to send a message to the viewer, it is as perfect as it gets... and therefore horrifying. I don't have much use for nationalism and suspicion of that is yet another thing that needs to be taught in high school.
EndlessWire
(6,453 posts)And you don't hear "Fatherland" until near the end. The voice singing it is pure, delightful, and young. But, as soon as you hear "Fatherland," you instantly associate it with Nazi Germany.
csziggy
(34,131 posts)You're right, when they pan down to show the Nazi symbol on the boy's brown shirt it is creepy. Then when everyone stands to join in, it gets much worse.
wnylib
(21,312 posts)part of a singing duel in Casablanca, when the band plays Les Marseillais?
csziggy
(34,131 posts)I don't think the song from Cabaret was written before the war.
Here's the scene you are thinking of:
wnylib
(21,312 posts)I just wondered because I remembered the Nazi soldiers singing the word "Vaterland" in Casablanca.
That was Die Wacht am Rhein, dating from the Franco-Prussian War. It is anti-French. When the refugees drown out the Germans by singing La Marseillaise, it still brings tears to my eyes though I have seen the it about 100 times.
wnylib
(21,312 posts)hunter
(38,301 posts)And, please, ubundle law enforcement functions from humanitarian functions. Let the cops deal with the dangerous criminals, the bureaucrats with the ordinary immigrants, the customs agents with importers and exporters, and the social and medical workers with everyone else.
Fleeing genocide, violence, and starvation should never be a crime.
EndlessWire
(6,453 posts)had a very good idea of hooking a national license and malpractice insurance onto the police forces in exchange, I think, for Federal funds. I think this would force the police to provide better training, and better vetting of officers. Everyone else has to be licensed at something. Why not them?
hunter
(38,301 posts)Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sometimes, whenever she's been self employed, it's been more than our mortgage.
Why do the police get a free ride?
csziggy
(34,131 posts)I think the police unions should underwrite the "malpractice" insurance for officers. After the police unions are the ones that have fought to keep police from the consequences of their actions. Let the unions bear the costs of that action.
Vinca
(50,236 posts)sarge43
(28,940 posts)Mine: POTUS, stop the saluting. You are not a member of the armed forces; hell sir, you're not even in uniform. A standing military is tolerable only under civilian, repeat civilian, control.
ancianita
(35,926 posts)should see their nation. It's not just "offensive" for historical reasons, it's dangerous for undermining America's vision of a sustainable, green, peaceful, moral future.
I'd like to see a better word or words that replace it. Dept of American Security, or ...
Warpy
(111,124 posts)No, it's not anTEEfah. It's more like Auntie-Fah, it's just short for anti Fascist, which any sensible person should be.
Your point is well taken. We did far better before Dubya and Cheney gave us the DHS, which seems to exist mostly to get in the way of agencies that pre existed it, like FEMA.
Extra layers of bureaucracy rarely do anyone any good except a bunch of overpaid top bureaucrats who got the made up jobs.
Maeve
(42,269 posts)And I say that as one whose ancestors arrived in 1750. "Homeland" has always pissed me off.
And yes, some came unwillingly and some have been here for thousands of years...no disrespect intended.
ShazzieB
(16,265 posts)The Dept. of Homeland Security has never been called anything else. It was created after 9/11, name and all.
I'm not a fan of the name myself and would be happy to see it changed. But it would have be a new name. There isn't anything to change it "back" to.
llmart
(15,532 posts)We lived without it for all of our history and can live without it again.
Biophilic
(3,623 posts)And I hated that the United States would use something so fascistic. My molars still grind when I see or hear it and...well you get the idea. I really, really hate it and all the things and feelings it connotates.
barbtries
(28,756 posts)somehow this shit flies. like "pro-life" for people who not.
sarchasm
(1,011 posts)pet peeve indeed. I remember reciting the pledge in school without "under God."
demigoddess
(6,640 posts)llmart
(15,532 posts)I hated it from the first time I heard it. It just reeked of Nazi as far as I was concerned.
Iggo
(47,534 posts)ymetca
(1,182 posts)I am not a "human resource". I am a person. A sentient being, not some disposable, replaceable cog in the machine.