Mindless chanting makes me facepalm... and lose heart

[Blakenzy]

There 

A good counter to "teh Climate, it changes" is... 'Merica??... just how sheeple braindead can people get?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43lcd11QUqo

Don't like something? Just join the crowd and chant it away with USA!...

USA! USA! makes all your problems go away.

Still haven't won The War on™ "Whatever".. well it's probably because you haven't been saying your USA!s dummy!

In the face of adversity, don't think, just... USA!.. USA!.. USA!..

Now be patriotic and get this other Goldman Sachs crony into office!

USA!!!11!eleventy to infinity

[Perd Hapley]

Don't like something? Just join the crowd and chant it away with USA!...

USA! USA! makes all your problems go away.

Well, kind of. When someone is obviously just there to disrupt the event, they can be drowned out with a chant of some kind, and "USA!" is a pretty good one. Don't knock it 'till you've tried it.

[SADShooter]

Meh. When we routinely have mobs in the streets chanting "Death to [insert foreign leader/country]", burning  foreign flags, and assaulting foreigners in our streets I'll see an issue. As it is, people in groups want to feel part of the group. Chanting at a (peaceful) rally is somewhat the point.

[AZRedhawk44]

Agreed.


U-S-A! = Sta-Tis-Uhm!

Almost always backed up with some sort of authoritarian appeal (i.e. in this case, STFU to the guy disrupting by means of gang denial of his voice, but it was a big ra-ra thing for Bush II during the construction of the zOMG Patriot Act and other lovely trappings of authoritah).

[MechAg94]

Agreed.


U-S-A! = Sta-Tis-Uhm!

Almost always backed up with some sort of authoritarian appeal (i.e. in this case, STFU to the guy disrupting by means of gang denial of his voice, but it was a big ra-ra thing for Bush II during the construction of the zOMG Patriot Act and other lovely trappings of authoritah).

When did you start hating your country?   

[MechAg94]

Not having seen the video, I learned my lesson about rallies a couple decades ago.  Got the opportunity to hear the VP speak.  I thought it would be neat.  Turned out to be just a rally with a bunch of one-liners for the media, no speach at all. 

[HankB]

The "USA!" chant at a GOP rally is better than the mixed "Death to America!" and "Allah Akbar" chants at Obama events . . . 

[TommyGunn]

Agreed.


U-S-A! = Sta-Tis-Uhm!

Almost always backed up with some sort of authoritarian appeal (i.e. in this case, STFU to the guy disrupting by means of gang denial of his voice, but it was a big ra-ra thing for Bush II during the construction of the zOMG Patriot Act and other lovely trappings of authoritah).

The guy deserved it.  Romney had the floor; it was his political rally. 
Free speech does not include the right to A.) be heard or B.) interupt political rallies, speeches, etc., where some pre-selected guest "has the floor."

[AZRedhawk44]

The guy deserved it.  Romney had the floor; it was his political rally. 
Free speech does not include the right to A.) be heard or B.) interupt political rallies, speeches, etc., where some pre-selected guest "has the floor."

Agreed.

But the puppet mindless "U-S-A" bunk is far inferior to either Romney silencing the man with a witty rejoiner, or the security representatives of the place escorting the man out.

"U-S-A" is brainless political idolatry, and frankly there's a thinly veiled hint of mob violence behind it.

It is not becoming of a Republic.

[makattak]

Agreed.

But the puppet mindless "U-S-A" bunk is far inferior to either Romney silencing the man with a witty rejoiner, or the security representatives of the place escorting the man out.

"U-S-A" is brainless political idolatry, and frankly there's a thinly veiled hint of mob violence behind it.

It is not becoming of a Republic.

Rejoinders only silence individuals with a sense of shame and/or decency.

Leftist hecklers rarely exhibit either. (Otherwise the "pie attacks" would never have happened.)

[TommyGunn]

Agreed.

But the puppet mindless "U-S-A" bunk is far inferior to either Romney silencing the man with a witty rejoiner, or the security representatives of the place escorting the man out.

"U-S-A" is brainless political idolatry, and frankly there's a thinly veiled hint of mob violence behind it.

It is not becoming of a Republic.

Yeah, well, there WAS a mob there; it was a RALLY. 
After listening to Obama's "witty rejoinders" I'm just as happy Romney avoided one.

Anyway I wil start really worrying when the crowd starts chanting "Eine Reich, Eine Volk, Eine Fuhrer."
Or maybe "Seig Heil." 

[RoadKingLarry]

Would you rather hear  OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-...

[lysander6]

Whoever wins tomorrow, it will be Bush's fourth term.

AZR is dead-on that USA means statism pure and simple.  I love my country but fear my government

[lee n. field]

Would you rather hear  OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-OBAMA-...

A pagan ritual?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

AZR is dead-on that USA means statism pure and simple. 

the poisonous endorsement

[TommyGunn]

Whoever wins tomorrow, it will be Bush's fourth term.

AZR is dead-on that USA means statism pure and simple.  I love my country but fear my government

In a way I agree with you -- especially that last sentence.
But I have problems with automatically assuming that because they're chanting "USA" it necessarily is statist -- it could be patriotism, which is a far superior motive.  I will concede that you may be right, however, it still involves getting into those peoples' minds and intuiting their intent.  Both of us will be doing that through colored glasses, if you get the metaphor.  I'm just being a little "kinder" in how I'm "interpreting" what I see.
Whatever it was, it is still a political rally and people there do get a "mob mentality."   Those people may very reasonable and thoughtful people if you were to approach them individually, outside of the rally, so I'd be a little cautious about too harshly about them.  You never know ...  

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i remember 41 years ago
dad "if you are such and idividualist and revolutionary why do you have to where the uniform to fit in?!?"   i had an excuse i was 11

[MicroBalrog]

A country is not a state.

Even if it is called 'The United States of America' [here, I forestalled your witty rejoinder], loyalty to your country is not the same as statism.

[Perd Hapley]

Agreed.

But the puppet mindless "U-S-A" bunk is far inferior to either Romney silencing the man with a witty rejoiner, or the security representatives of the place escorting the man out.

"U-S-A" is brainless political idolatry, and frankly there's a thinly veiled hint of mob violence behind it.

It is not becoming of a Republic.

Help, help, I'm being repressed!

[lysander6]

I'll clarify:  I love my country but fear my tax jurisdiction.

[AZRedhawk44]

A country is not a state.

Even if it is called 'The United States of America' [here, I forestalled your witty rejoinder], loyalty to your country is not the same as statism.

Falsi-untruthitude.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/state?s=t

7.
a politically unified people occupying a definite territory; nation.

And before you hit me for cherry-picking the particular usage as an "alternate" one, the first 6 are all pertaining to psychology, condition or status.  The 8th one refers to your chosen usage of the term:

8.
the territory, or one of the territories, of a government.

Our 50 States are sovereign.

We used to be the united States of America.

Now we are called the United States of America, after a carefully groomed and executed public relations campaign following the Civil War.


That being said... this is not just "loyalty to country."

The interloper in the rally was a Globular warmulist.  How does "U-S-A!" rebut his argument at all?  In any way other than the implication of "we are the USA, we are mighty, you are not of us (as evidenced by us chanting against you and drowning you out by force of our voices), now begone before we flex our might further!"?

Black : White :: Globular Warming : [select below]

1. U-S-A!
2.
3.
4.

Nope.... doesn't compute.  Serious underpants gnome logic.

[HankB]

. . . The interloper in the rally was a Globular warmulist.  How does "U-S-A!" rebut his argument at all? . . .

There is no obligation for other rally attendees to engage an INTERLOPER in debate or rebut his screaming; he clearly wasn't there to engage in reasoned discourse, so the purpose of the chant was to drown out his unwanted and unwelcome heckling. The three letters - U-S-A - when spontaneously chanted are symbolic of patriotism, and in this context comprise a rebuke to the interloper with the clear implication that his unwelcome hecking was not recognized as patriotic.

And . . . this type of chant is more civilized than some heard at left-wing rallies. It shows support for the USA, and IS rooted in patriotism; I first remember hearing it from exuberant crowds at the 1980 Olympics when the US hockey team won . . . hardly a "statist" message.

Now, if people were chanting U-S-A in response to the Patriot Act or Obamacare being enacted . . . that would be entirely different, and a "statist" message could be inferred . . . especially if Administration officials were leading the cheers. But to drown out an interloper's heckling? Nope.

[Perd Hapley]

The interloper in the rally was a Globular warmulist.  How does "U-S-A!" rebut his argument at all?  In any way other than the implication of "we are the USA, we are mighty, you are not of us (as evidenced by us chanting against you and drowning you out by force of our voices), now begone before we flex our might further!"?

Who said it refutes him? It's not a debate; the interloper wasn't there for a debate. He was trying to score political points.

It wasn't a debate. It was a speech at a political rally. I'd suggest you avoid them, if a little shouting puts you in fear of physical violence. 

[MicroBalrog]

Falsi-untruthitude.

Do you think that people think of themselves as royal subjects when they say "I'm from the UK"? Or "I'm from the USA"? No, of course not. The official names of these countries had long taken up a use beyond the dictionary meaning of the component words.