Readingground Blogazine

by David McGee

Let’s talk for a second about blind loyalty.

Is there a place for blind loyalty in this increasingly complex, morally ambiguous world? Sure. And that place is sport(s). You know, sport(s). Like football or “football” or that game with the skates on the ice. Hinkey?

For instance, I blindly support the Indianapolis Colts (’Mer’can) football organization despite knowing little about the actual people the team comprises. And what I do know about them is disagreeable. Their star quarterback and I are political polar opposites, their star wide receiver had a little incident wherein he (allegedly) shot somebody during an argument, their head coach is an outspoken homophobe, and they play in the state of Indiana, the thought of which place has always made me vaguely uncomfortable. I suppose I’d like it better were it called Nativeamericana. And if it were placed, perhaps, in some sort of cupboard.

And yet: blind loyalty. I support them against all comers, because I do. And I do because I do. I choose not to think about any of that other stuff, because I use their game as escapism; as a route to the haven of the id for just a few short hours a week. And that’s acceptable, I think. That’s sort of what they’re there for.

You know where blind loyalty isn’t acceptable, though? Anywhere else. Seriously: it’s acceptable in sport(s) because sports don’t matter. At all. But blind loyalty is completely and totally unacceptable when things actually matter. I really, really love my friends. But sometimes my friends make idiotic choices, whether in the realm of behavior toward others or behavior toward self or the growth of disastrously misguided facial hair. My role — hell, my duty — as a friend is to call them on these choices. To participate as at least a portion of a multi-bodied rudder, to make a sort of disturbingly weird metaphor. And it’s what I rely on my own friends for; friends that don’t call each other on their BS aren’t friends. They’re at best acquaintances, and I think even that’s pushing it.

It’s not just friends that need to be watchful, however; it’s citizens. Our duty as citizens in this learned, educated, freedom’d age is to be watchdogs. It is our patriotic duty to make sure that our countr(y)(ies) behave like grown-ups. Blind loyalty to one’s country isn’t the same thing as blind loyalty to a football team, it’s like blind loyalty to a “friend.” It’s a poor, poor choice that speaks volumes about how little you must actually care.

Am I pro-America? Ab. So. Lutely. In the same way that I am pro-My Friends. I love my friends. But sometimes my friends can be idiots. Telling them that they’re being idiots doesn’t make me anti-Friend, it proves that I am pro-Friend. Thus is the nature of actual grown-up human discourse and relationships: it’s not a bicameral system. Shades of grey. Wonder of wonders. Ain’t nobody perfect.

So: the US Presidential election is, depending on how frequently you check your email, TOMORROW. Or maybe it’s TODAY. One of two certain people is going to win, despite my and Ralph Nader’s dreams. One of the two candidates and his campaign is trying at every opportunity to make this choice between those who are “pro-America” and those who are “anti-America”. They refuse– and trust me, I’ve looked– to define what exactly the hell they mean by “pro-America.” But it’s become awfully clear that what they mean by “pro-America” is what the rest of us mean by “blind loyalty”. It means unchecked, rabid support; the kind of support that should be reserved for things that don’t matter. It means chants of “USA! USA!” regardless of what the USA does or doesn’t do or says or stands for or is becoming on what is supposed to be our watch.

Please: do not let anybody get away with this. We are grown-ups, and should demand to be treated as such. Just as you wouldn’t let your friends get away with any “If you were really my friend, you would just support me regardless” malarkey. There’s been a lot of ‘patriotism’ talk thrown around these past few weeks. Here’s one more: dissent is patriotic.

I’m pro-America. I prove it by being pro-Dissent. Because loving one’s country and agreeing with one’s country aren’t the same thing. I love my country so much that I want it to be perfect. And I love my country enough to recognize that as of yet it isn’t. This shouldn’t be big news. It’s what our country has been about from the first moment Jefferson touched pen to paper, or quill to parchment or whatever the hell he was using.

Normally, at this point I’d say something nice and non-partisan like ’so perform your civic duty and vote.’ Sorry, not gonna do it. Not at this juncture.

Vote for Barack Obama. You’ll know which one he is. He’s the one that isn’t telling you that if you don’t vote for him it means you hate your country. He’ll be awfully easy to spot.

I’m David James McGee, and I wrote this message.