The LA Times on the “new, nuanced patriotism.”

Perhaps this increased understanding explains the sort of scene that keeps unfolding nationwide. Last Sunday, for instance, on the dusty Taos Pueblo reservation in New Mexico, a native American in traditional garb clambered up a tall pole as part of an autumn ceremony. Lightning flashed in the surrounding mountains and a crowd of local Indians and tourists watched, transfixed. When this member of what may be the most abused ethnic group on the continent reached the pinnacle, he stood and unfurled an American flag.

It’s not likely this patriot did so because he thought America was perfect. More likely, he had seen the Pentagon in flames, watched the World Trade Center collapse and felt the resurgence of a deep, protective impulse, dormant in this nation since World War II. Suddenly it hit: Democracy and freedom are not just afloat in a sea of equals; they are the ideals to which repressed and downtrodden people worldwide aspire, and when the best hope for ever achieving them is assaulted, nuanced solidarity becomes a rational form of self-defense.

Link Discuss (via Making Light)