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piercehawkeye45 · 03-19-2008, 03:21 PM

How does the Reverend use the phrase "God damn America"?

The quote was taken from a rant where he was commenting on the injustices he sees done to the black community and how they are suppose to say "god bless America" in response to that. He is making a point that the black community shouldn't support a state that mistreats them. To put a more extreme example out there, should the black slaves or the blacks under the Jim Crow laws be saying "god bless America" or should they be fighting for justice?

I can say "fuck America" all the time but that doesn't mean I am anti-American, just that I disagree with the actions of the people that represent the state at the time. To quote someone that would be considered even more extreme than the Reverend, "I love my country, but hate the people in charge". This is no different, the Reverend strongly disagrees with the actions and views of the people in control of the United States at the time, so he expresses his anger and hatred for them.

It is obviously controversial and not made for an audience outside that church and community, but I still stand by my view that this is an undeserved smear campaign. When it comes down to it, it is nothing more than a catch phrase, as Lookout123 pointed out, to get people that either agree or disagree with him riled up. There are legitimate reasons to become cautious after this event, but in my opinion, this is really no different than the conservative smear campaign to attack anyone that disagreed with the Iraq War as terrorist sympathizers or anyone that wasn't strongly anti-Communist as Communist sympathizers in the McCarthy era.

If the Reverend said "kill all white people" then this reaction would be more than necessary, but all he did was criticize the people in charge of our country, something that is done ALL THE FUCKING TIME.

03-19-2008, 03:21 PM	#6
piercehawkeye45 Franklin Pierce Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,695	How does the Reverend use the phrase "God damn America"? The quote was taken from a rant where he was commenting on the injustices he sees done to the black community and how they are suppose to say "god bless America" in response to that. He is making a point that the black community shouldn't support a state that mistreats them. To put a more extreme example out there, should the black slaves or the blacks under the Jim Crow laws be saying "god bless America" or should they be fighting for justice? I can say "fuck America" all the time but that doesn't mean I am anti-American, just that I disagree with the actions of the people that represent the state at the time. To quote someone that would be considered even more extreme than the Reverend, "I love my country, but hate the people in charge". This is no different, the Reverend strongly disagrees with the actions and views of the people in control of the United States at the time, so he expresses his anger and hatred for them. It is obviously controversial and not made for an audience outside that church and community, but I still stand by my view that this is an undeserved smear campaign. When it comes down to it, it is nothing more than a catch phrase, as Lookout123 pointed out, to get people that either agree or disagree with him riled up. There are legitimate reasons to become cautious after this event, but in my opinion, this is really no different than the conservative smear campaign to attack anyone that disagreed with the Iraq War as terrorist sympathizers or anyone that wasn't strongly anti-Communist as Communist sympathizers in the McCarthy era. If the Reverend said "kill all white people" then this reaction would be more than necessary, but all he did was criticize the people in charge of our country, something that is done ALL THE FUCKING TIME. __________________ I like my perspectives like I like my baseball caps: one size fits all.