Worrying in Advance
OK, maybe I'm off the deep end a little bit, but there are a few things that really make my blood boil.
One is when national symbols are used in advertising. I cringe whenever I see the Statue of Liberty in an ad. I hate seeing those stupid cartoons of Washington and Lincoln in February, placed in the newspaper or on TV by people trying to sell furniture or soap or whatever. I even dislike it when the newspaper prints those paper flags in July, because I know a lot of them are going to get used improperly.
Add to that the creeping use of 9-11 for rhetorical advantage. Didn't mind when Rudy Giuliani brought it up all the time -- he was there. But I am starting to hear more and more use of it in the generic sense of any sort of national catastrophe. "This [name your controversial act] is our nine-eleven," that sort of thing.
There was only one 9-11, and God willing there will only be one. No piece of legislation, no act by some partisan, no policy decision, no nothing, should ever be compared to 9-11. Using mention of 9-11 to make a rhetorical point is sacrilege.
So as the somber date approaches, I will be watching for what I consider to be misappropriations of that event, and I will be pointing my finger in shame. I hope I don't have to do it.
One is when national symbols are used in advertising. I cringe whenever I see the Statue of Liberty in an ad. I hate seeing those stupid cartoons of Washington and Lincoln in February, placed in the newspaper or on TV by people trying to sell furniture or soap or whatever. I even dislike it when the newspaper prints those paper flags in July, because I know a lot of them are going to get used improperly.
Add to that the creeping use of 9-11 for rhetorical advantage. Didn't mind when Rudy Giuliani brought it up all the time -- he was there. But I am starting to hear more and more use of it in the generic sense of any sort of national catastrophe. "This [name your controversial act] is our nine-eleven," that sort of thing.
There was only one 9-11, and God willing there will only be one. No piece of legislation, no act by some partisan, no policy decision, no nothing, should ever be compared to 9-11. Using mention of 9-11 to make a rhetorical point is sacrilege.
So as the somber date approaches, I will be watching for what I consider to be misappropriations of that event, and I will be pointing my finger in shame. I hope I don't have to do it.
posted by Allthenewsthatfits at 2:05 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with you getting bent out of shape about the 9-11 comparisons/exploitations. I just wonder, though, how WWII veterans who liberated concentration camps, or camp survivors themselves of course, would feel about folks comparing Bush or Obama to Hitler and Nazis.
I imagine they feel the same outrage. I don't share all of Barney Frank's opinions, but I sure did cheer when he (verbally) slapped down the nitwit who called Obama a "Nazi" at a town meeting.
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