POSTMAST@ALBNYVM1.BITNET (Neither Rain nor Sleet...) (02/09/90)
another typo in the address.... -postmaster
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Americanism ain't the movies! The movies have been one tool in teachng the
American people that some actions are acceptable and others are unthinkable.
It is ACCEPTABLE to "do" alcohol and nicotine, but not heroine and cocaine. It
is acceptable to fistfight, but not to stab someone in the back with a knife.
It is acceptable to believe in capitalism and democracy, but unacceptable to
support socialism, fascism and military dictatorship.
Thankfully some of these ideas are changing slowly. That is where I
hope to see the 'Amercanism' of tomorrow, back where it was in 1789. The basis
of our government makes it theoretically possible for anyone and everyone to
stand up and shout for what they believe in. Whatever the people believe in,
that is Americanism. The people need to believe that the system works and use
it everyday. That is the way both capitalism and democracy work in theory. If
the nation as a whole supports its government by working in and through it,
rather than griping about it on some disarm-l, than maybe, just maybe things
will start to change for the better. Look what we've done already. Racism,
while still rampant, is out of fashion, is no longer 'American.' Nicotine,
while still a national drug, is loosing its support in the government (slowly).
Handgun regulation is a BIG question, where once it was unmentionable.
The people in power, whoever they are, have used the media, Hollywood
and every thing else to tell us that certain things are unmentionable. And the
people in power tell us that these things are BAD everywhere. Maybe the people
of this country prefer to have capitalism as part of their national system.
That doesn't necessarily mean that communism is bad in El Salvador. Maybe
"Salvadorism" includes government planning and operation of business.
"Sovietism," "Frenchism," and "Canadianism" are the accepted norms of those
countries and are not inherently good or evil because of there difference from
"Americanism." They work their way in their countries. It is rather for us to
condemn the problems of "Americanism" here and "Worldism" eveywhere. What is
or is not socially acceptable can change,both for the better and for the worse,
if Americans work together to change 'americanism' for the better and everyone
works together to change 'humanism' we may just have a Utopia. And each who is
willing begins immediately to do his share, and everyone else continued to send
us all to destruction.