4th of July at the LA Times: Founding Fathers "A Bunch of Racist, Slave-Owning White Men"

NewsBusters.org ^ | 4 July 2006 | Dave Pierre

[infoguy]

If you thought the folks at the Los Angeles Times would use the Fourth of July to take a day off from spewing their usual bias and vitriol, think again. Readers of today's op-ed page (Tuesday, July 4, 2006) in the Times are greeted to this piece of bitterness by Mark Kurlansky, "Fathers don't always know best" (The title comes from the print edition; online, the title is, "WWFFD? Who cares?" We have already written about the discrepancy between the print and online titles at the Times here.).

Apparently, Kurlansky is not too impressed by the very people who founded our nation. He begins his column by listing reasons why the United States is such a horrible "backward democracy." And the blame, implies Kurlansky, lies at the feet of the Founding Fathers (emphasis mine):

We ought to do something. Instead, we keep worrying about the vision of a bunch of sexist, slave-owning 18th century white men in wigs and breeches. Even in the 18th century, the founding fathers were not the most enlightened thinkers available. They were the ones whose ideas prevailed. Those who favored independence but were not in favor of war are not called founding fathers. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania ...

Gee, and a Happy Fourth of July to you, too, Mark!

Someone might want to remind Mark that the very freedom of the press that he enjoys is owed not only to the men and women who have fought for its defense over the centuries, but also to the very men who enshrined it in our Constitution. Hey, Mark. Every country doesn't have that freedom.

(By the way, Kurlansky's piece also contains a whopper of bad writing. He begins his article by ranting, "I am sick and tired of the founding fathers and all their intents." Yet in his closing paragraph, he appeals, "So let us stop worshiping the founding fathers and allow our minds to progress and try to build a nation of great new ideas. That is, after all, the intent of the founding fathers." Apparently, Kurlansky is sick and tired of the intents of the Founding Fathers, but we should follow his premise because that was ... the ... intent ... of ... the Fathers. Good grief. Does anyone ever edit these articles besides their titles?)

=-=

Kurlansky is not the only killjoy today. Next to Kurlansky's sad opinion piece is the latest drivel from Joel "I Don't Support Our troops" Stein. Apparently, Joel thought the Fourth of July would be a terrific day to belittle the American flag and the people who display it proudly. His article is, "Eek! A flag on my lawn!" As a promotion, a local realtor planted a small flag outside of Stein's house and at those of his neighbors. Is Stein grateful for the flag? Not in the least. As the title of his article suggests, Stein acts as if the flag were the equivalent of a poisonous vial of anthrax left in his driveway. Stein harps over his "panic" over the flag.

But my bigger panic was over what to do with it. I'm not a flag-waving kind of guy, but I knew damn well that I couldn't just throw it in the trash. Throwing away a flag is very, very bad. It's just as bad as burning it, which, I believe, brings 30 years of bad luck to your country, leading it to repeat the same mistakes. Like sending troops abroad to fight in open-ended civil wars.

So I was going to have to keep this flag for the rest of my life.

Much like you, at about this point, my wife, Cassandra, got sick of this conversation. So she plucked the flag out of our planter and threw it away, not even in the recycle bin. This is a woman who hates both political parties.

Someone might want to let Joel and Cassandra Stein that the American flag has nothing to do with political parties. "Hating both political parties" should have no bearing on your love for the United States, Cass.

But Stein gives away his usual condescension and arrogance in this passage (emphasis mine):

[The realtor] told me that in the town she grew up in near St. Louis, most people kept a flag up all year. Even though I've seen tons of neighborhoods that do this, I've never actually lived in one. I've also never lived in a neighborhood that had those flags reminding you of the holidays and seasons. In fact, I've always looked down on those places. If you need semaphore to inform each other that it's going to get hotter in the upcoming months, nobody is putting a magnet school in your community.

So the reason I didn't want to put a flag outside wasn't because I disapprove of our international policies. It was because I didn't want to associate myself with the other people who put them up, and with their unquestioning, tribal, us-versus-them, arrogant mentality. Though I love being American, I don't want to proclaim it as the sole basis of my identity.

Yikes. Did Stein actually say "arrogant"? Yes, he did.

Happy Fourth of July.

[Theresawithanh]

Thanks, guys! Duh, should've figured that one out for myself.

WDIWDAHDIMCST! LOL!

[hsalaw]

The LATimes and its master, the NYSlimes, are worth less than the stuff you scrape off your shoes after a walk through a pasture. These "writers" prove that. I fly my flag every day and, yes, I think I'm much happier than these whiney weenies who run screaming like little girls when they see our flag. Idiots. Rant over, now.

[pollyannaish]

Whoa. Stein needs to do a little research on the concept of arrogance.

[EveningStar]

Neo-Marxist treason ping. Make sure you check out the main article at the Times.

[LiteKeeper]

mega-dittoes from a 24/7/52 flag flyer!

[lawdude]

There are more blacks in bondage under the modern democrat party than ever existed in early US history.

[mrsmith]

"I am sick and tired of the founding fathers and all their intents."

"Life of a Founding Father is always intents!"

[Wilhelm Tell]

"So let us stop worshiping the founding fathers and allow our minds to progress and try to build a nation of great new ideas."

When they call for "new ideas," it is always a rehash of Marx and Hegel. They look to some failed totalitarian state and say, "let's try a variation of that." The sad thing is that they really think they are being creative and original.

[tflabo]

"I am sick and tired of the founding fathers and all their intents." Yet in his closing paragraph, he appeals, "So let us stop worshiping the founding fathers and allow our minds to progress and try to build a nation of great new ideas."

Oh yeh...great liberal progressive ideas as
Abortion, Gay Marriages, Flag burnings, Censuring religious expression, Legalize marijuana, anti-military, tax and spend....etc...etc...

Without the founding fathers the LA or NY Times would not exist you lamebrain editor.

[bwc]

Liberals, no matter what they call themselves or where they appear or post messages, all have some things in common.

They dislike or even hate the founders, the founding colonies and anything else that represents a morality formed from principles found within scripture.

Liberals dislike the Constitution for the same reason, it represents law and culture that liberals are opposed to. They love activist judges who spend their life looking for ways to destroy the Constitution so they can then replace it with their own. For them, hating the founders is natural, easy, even chic.

[Fiji Hill]

The founding fathers were all men of the establishment who wanted what Robespierre sneeringly called, when his own French Revolution was accused of excess, "a revolution without a revolution." John Steinbeck noted that the American Revolution was different from that of France's or Russia's because the so-caled revolutionaries'did not want a new form of government; they only wanted the same kind, run by themselves."

Is Kurlansky saying that he would have preferred a revolution of the sort led by Robespierre or the Russian revolutionaries?

[bordergal]

Maybe they should alll move to Britian and France?

[LisaMalia]

Note to Mark Kurlansky, I intend to email my thoughts spoken below him as well.

LEAVE! PLEASE LEAVE OUR COUNTY ASAP! Because you just don't get it, and obviously never will.

I had the privilege of spending the day with my two children, their spouses, and my precious little Granddaugher, as well as other family and friends, watching Red, White, and Boom at Columbus, Ohio yesterday.

As I watched the crowd gathering down below from my daughter and son-in-law's condo window, the flags, the kids playing, the music..... my heart was full. It was as if my life flashed before me, and remembered as a child growing up in the country, how special it was to be free and happy, and safe..watching the fireworks on Independence Day in our small town.

We all knew back then, and know now, that this freedom did not come without a price. It was because of all who fought for our great country, some of them from my own family.

Fast forward many years later, looking down from that window, I was reminded how their sacrifices was the reason I was able to see the beautiful scene below.

When the fireworks started and we went down to the grass to watch them, my granddaughter, was not scared of the sights or sounds. Her eyes were wide open in awe. Her little arms reached up, pointing to the beautiful hues in the sky. It was as if she knew what it was all about.

Funny that a 9 month old baby gets it, yet a very "educated" journalist does not.

[Rummyfan]

John Steinbeck noted that the American Revolution was different from that of France's or Russia's because the so-caled revolutionaries'did not want a new form of government; they only wanted the same kind, run by themselves."

If true, that desire was certainly not borne out in facts: no monarch, a bicameral legislature with two active chambers, a judiciary, and many powers ceded to the state level. How does that represent the British Parliamentary system?

[gondramB]

>>We ought to do something. Instead, we keep worrying about the vision of a bunch of sexist, slave-owning 18th century white men in wigs and breeches<<


So basically this is an argument against considering the framer's intent when considering constitutional cases.

I wonder whose intent they would like substituted? /rhetorical

[Rummyfan]

And he missses the whole point. They may have been racist slaveholding, sexists

but they still devised the best system of government ever established by man!

[garbageseeker]

I use the LA Pravda for the lining for the bird cages. That it is the only thing the newspaper is good for.

[Lorianne]

My daughter's history teacher said much the same thing. Made the class write an essay on how America was 'founded on inequality'.

[whatisthetruth]

We can attack this columnist but the issue remains until confronted fully, were the Founders racist and sexist?

[rlmorel]

I read this article by Joel Stein that was linked.

In it, he states: "...Though I love being American, I don't want to proclaim it as the sole basis of my identity...

Now, I don't know Joel Stein. But after reading his editorial, I understood he really doesn't get it.

Joel Stein thinks that patriotism is the flag. And he thinks that people who respect that flag and what it stands for are ignorant rubes.

Joel Stein makes the mistake of confusing Patriotism and Jingoism. Jingoism is defined as: Extreme nationalism, xenophobia, flag-waving; hawkishness, militarism, belligerence, bellicosity.

Joel Stein displays the worst kind of ignorance, that of discounting the benefits bestowed by something he disdains.

I see Patriotism as giving credit to the environment that has made possible the achievements we gain in life. God is foremost, but our country has a great deal to do with it as well. There are many pious people in third world countries, so living in the USA has enabled many of us to live more comfortable, fulfilling lives that might otherwise be possible. Patriotism is an acknowlegement of that fact. Joel Stein does not realize that his right and capability to write whatever he wants, at the level of proficiency he may or may not have attained did not happen simply because he worked hard.

He is where he is because he stands on the shoulders of others who made it possible for him. People bled and died so that men like him could peddle their tripe. They paved the way for him. Patriotism is understanding and acknowledging that.

And he simply does not get it.