A sign in window at City Lights bookstore (SF) .. a report of responses to the sign and..

[link|http://www.thismodernworld.com/|Tomaso Ma\ufffdana] reports on the mood of the place:

... ... You see where I'm going with this? If you're out there on the right, or even in that sensible neocon center, you're probably not smelling the gas. You're probably not exposed to the overwhelming mass of sheer ignorant hatred that's out there, coiled and waiting. You're probably not subject to a constant barrage of email that reminds of you of this on a daily, even hourly basis, that makes you wonder, for the first time in your life, even including the years of Reagan and Bush the elder, if this country is actually, literally, genuinely headed for something more frightening than you'd ever thought possible.

But just because you're not seeing it--because in your sensible moderation, your support of the "war" and your denunciations of suicide bombing or whatever other incredibly brave and risky stance you've chosen to take (bad things are wrong! )--just because you're not seeing it, that doesn't mean it's not there. Ready to ignite and take you down right along with those crazy complainers in 3-b.

Way I see it: whether or not *his* mailbox is typical of anything "out there" -?- what are the odds that your friendly local Corporate nightly talking head -- will tell you anything at all: er unpleasant ??

I mean.. do stories describing Awfulness sell that new pharm-chem Miracle-Drug which you need to prod your Medico to order for you - SAP?

Of course too - maybe that has nothing to do with it: car-crashes are clearly very important to hear described. Regularly. And weather.

Y'see, there's a substantial minority who believe that 'Government' is a synonym for Evil Usurpers of Bizness Prerogatives: to run everything that's runnable. And runnable for Profit, it goes without saying. And.. let's not go into Whose, just here.

Consequently 'Constitution' is another word, just as easily dismissed as ~ [pick any of countless equivalent Yahoo slogans] the yammerings of the nattering nabobs of negativity: them Ivory Tower Intellek-shals and their Com-Symp fellow-travellers .. etc. Well.. the phrases are much longer than the Word, of course - but they fall so trippingly from the tongue, as you light those torches and put on the hoods.

(And of course too, Non Sequitur's cartoon adequately demonstrated the hatchet job done (a la innovation) on the idea of liberal, as in "liberal education", or "an open mind towards____")

So: mayhaps they had no 'neutral' choice that didn't evoke one of the above re-programmed traditional words: like The Constitution of the US of A and other such subversively tainted documents (?)

When a whole country has successfully fucked with Language to This Degree: you have to keep any slogans free of any need for actual Thought.

HTH?


Ashton

PS 'Usage' declares that: the Only America is US. The other folks on the landmass -- how many Divisions do they command in the field?