***UPDATED***

One of the things that bothers me about the contemporary view of America is the thought that it has to be repackaged to be acceptable to the rest of the world. There are groups who have preached that America is evil, imperialistic and megalomaniacal…and have done so for a generation. There will always be a small group of dissenting views, there were even during WWII, but it became socially acceptable to bash America in the Vietnam years of the late 60’s.

This social trend became a political one when one party decided that it could use the disparagement of America to their advantage. When challenged about being anti-American, they recoil in horror with the “How dare you question my patriotism!?” These folks are no doubt patriotic,  but what are they in allegiance to? Are they aligned with the America that is, or the one that they see in their minds eye, the one that they hope to change it to?

I have a question of logical consistency to those who speak of America in terms of being militaristic, war mongering, imperialistic, selfish, evil and any of the other slurs vested upon our country. When you profess patriotism, are you swearing allegiance to this definition of America or are you lying to yourself and others for political advantage?

The reason that I started this post with Cap is that they are changing the movie title to First Avenger for promotion outside the United States because they don’t believe that the title Captain America will sell. Seems trite to mention as well but they also changed GI Joe to a completely different meaning for the same reasons. In the movie based on Tom Clancy’s book, The Sum of All Fears, the antagonist was changed from Islamo-fascist terrorists to a bunch of more politically correct neo-Nazi white guys.

I remember a time when the world craved anything with the word “America” in it because of what it represented. I wonder why our leaders are afraid for this to be true today…

UPDATED AND PROMOTED

It didn’t take long for my thoughts to be validated.

Have a look.