The illegal immigration debate and the multiculturalistic effort are attacks at the very fiber of America. Since my days in public school, they spoke of a melting pot, but now they focus on the distinctness of a fruit salad, where everything remains identifiable from the rest. Out of that we have Italian-Americans, African-Americans, and Mexican-Americans, but heaven forbid you identify yourself as an Anglo-saxon-American. That's just not ok. The formation of a uniquely American identity is what makes America strong. it unites us behind our athletes at the Olympics, behind our soldiers in wars abroad, and when anyone challenges our morals, values and norms. Any attempt to balkanize us is an effort to break America.
Most people know of the stick analogy. If you try to break just one stick, it's easy. Put together a dozen or a hundred, and the difficulty rises exponentially or factorily, not just in an additive fasion. So, it takes more than ten times the force to break ten sticks than it takes to break one, because all of the other sticks help resist the tendency of those around them to break. That's why trees grow together. Single trees are much more vulnerable to the elements than a cluster.
I am inclined to believe that trends and fashion are designed to affect us in the same way. Every youth wants to be "unique", to "stand out", and so it pits us into conflict with one another at a time when they should be making friends based on things that are really common rather than on taste in music or threads with which they adorn their bodies. All of them are quickly rendered alone and isolated, each an island, and they find commonality based on activities, 'likes' and fads rather than on their honest feelings in an attempt to fit in somewhere. Detractors mock what is good and brave and true and endorse things of transient value and duration. Those without strong family units find themselves the slaves of drugs, alcohol and promiscuity.
Family is the great rock that is supposed to hold us together. The economy and other socio-political movements have robbed society of the safety that can be found in a family. Instead of a refuge, homes become places to store crap. Instead of being at home, parents are out working or socializing or 'living life to its fullest'. Our quest for wealth has robbed us of the mother as watchman over the home refuge. The fires are all gone out, and so are our children.
Unity is a great historical precedent for success. During the civil war, officers were there chiefly to make sure men kept formation and moved forward. Few of them had experience or credentials to render them effective leaders by example, and so most of them walked behind. I have seen the GAR field manuals. They dictate exactly where the officers should follow behind the men. Greece and Rome held military hegemony for centuries based on their fighting technique. It bound men together, but unlike the loose association by geography of the civil war, they were united by other values as citizens of a great empire. One Spartan phalanx of 300 men held off Persia long enough for the rest of Greece to unite, an army of nearly one million men.
Even, ironically, the popular culture reflects this principle. From time to time, a cunning director will insert a theme of unity into their message in film. In Spider Man2, a new yorker throws something at the villain and declares "you mess with one of us, and you mess with all of us". You can see the Roman fighting style at work in Gladiator where the general orders his men to cluster together to stop the chariot attack. Even JK Rowling, bless her heart, wrote one into her stories. Luna Lovegood tells Harry that if she were Voldemort she would want him to feel like he was alone because that renders him less of a threat.
In case you doubt me, consider the pledge of allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Indivisible. Aliens don't have to abide by the laws. What about justice for all?
We place far too much emphasis on what makes us unique at the expense of the things that bind us together as a people. Our enemies smile at this prospect because it is easier to destroy your enemies in handfuls than to face them in their combined strength. Rome and Greece were strong because of the phalanx principle. Unless breached, this "group of people standing, or moving forward closely together" was a nearly invincible fighting force. As Ben Franklin said, 'Gentlemen we must all hang together or we shall most assuredly all hang separately'. Let us move forward closely together, and we shall overcome any power that stands in the way of Liberty and Justice.
Most people know of the stick analogy. If you try to break just one stick, it's easy. Put together a dozen or a hundred, and the difficulty rises exponentially or factorily, not just in an additive fasion. So, it takes more than ten times the force to break ten sticks than it takes to break one, because all of the other sticks help resist the tendency of those around them to break. That's why trees grow together. Single trees are much more vulnerable to the elements than a cluster.
I am inclined to believe that trends and fashion are designed to affect us in the same way. Every youth wants to be "unique", to "stand out", and so it pits us into conflict with one another at a time when they should be making friends based on things that are really common rather than on taste in music or threads with which they adorn their bodies. All of them are quickly rendered alone and isolated, each an island, and they find commonality based on activities, 'likes' and fads rather than on their honest feelings in an attempt to fit in somewhere. Detractors mock what is good and brave and true and endorse things of transient value and duration. Those without strong family units find themselves the slaves of drugs, alcohol and promiscuity.
Family is the great rock that is supposed to hold us together. The economy and other socio-political movements have robbed society of the safety that can be found in a family. Instead of a refuge, homes become places to store crap. Instead of being at home, parents are out working or socializing or 'living life to its fullest'. Our quest for wealth has robbed us of the mother as watchman over the home refuge. The fires are all gone out, and so are our children.
Unity is a great historical precedent for success. During the civil war, officers were there chiefly to make sure men kept formation and moved forward. Few of them had experience or credentials to render them effective leaders by example, and so most of them walked behind. I have seen the GAR field manuals. They dictate exactly where the officers should follow behind the men. Greece and Rome held military hegemony for centuries based on their fighting technique. It bound men together, but unlike the loose association by geography of the civil war, they were united by other values as citizens of a great empire. One Spartan phalanx of 300 men held off Persia long enough for the rest of Greece to unite, an army of nearly one million men.
Even, ironically, the popular culture reflects this principle. From time to time, a cunning director will insert a theme of unity into their message in film. In Spider Man2, a new yorker throws something at the villain and declares "you mess with one of us, and you mess with all of us". You can see the Roman fighting style at work in Gladiator where the general orders his men to cluster together to stop the chariot attack. Even JK Rowling, bless her heart, wrote one into her stories. Luna Lovegood tells Harry that if she were Voldemort she would want him to feel like he was alone because that renders him less of a threat.
In case you doubt me, consider the pledge of allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Indivisible. Aliens don't have to abide by the laws. What about justice for all?
We place far too much emphasis on what makes us unique at the expense of the things that bind us together as a people. Our enemies smile at this prospect because it is easier to destroy your enemies in handfuls than to face them in their combined strength. Rome and Greece were strong because of the phalanx principle. Unless breached, this "group of people standing, or moving forward closely together" was a nearly invincible fighting force. As Ben Franklin said, 'Gentlemen we must all hang together or we shall most assuredly all hang separately'. Let us move forward closely together, and we shall overcome any power that stands in the way of Liberty and Justice.
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