A week ago today, a large "Restoring Honor" rally was held in Washington, D.C.
When Americans start talking about honor, it's usually a smokescreen for something else, or empty rhetoric.
If I recall correctly, the last prominent American to trumpet the word HONOR was President Richard M. Nixon, same man who would fall to the Watergate Scandal. Here's an excerpt from his "Peace With Honor" speech on January 22, 1973, regarding the US-Vietnam War:
[T]o all of you who are listening, the American people: Your steadfastness in supporting our insistence on peace with honor has made peace with
honor possible. . .
Now that we have achieved an honorable agreement, let us be proud that America did not settle for a peace that would have betrayed our allies, that would have abandoned our prisoners of war, or that would have ended the war for us but would have continued the war for the 50 million people of Indochina. Let us be proud of the 2 1/2 million young Americans who served in Vietnam, who served with honor and distinction in one of the most selfless enterprises in the history of nations. And let us be proud of those who sacrificed, who gave their lives so that the people of South Vietnam might live in freedom and so that the world might live in peace.
Aside from the fact that Nixon seems to be addressing preschoolers, what did "PEACE WITH HONOR" mean then? What does "RESTORING HONOR" mean now? Anything at all, or just a load of BS to keep the loyalists galvanized?
Today's Rune: Separation (Reversed).
2 comments:
Honor and patriotism really seem to be words whose meaning is changing.
The only "honor" I believe in these days is any kind of personal "honor" (or perhaps lack thereof,) that I possess, myself. When it comes from an outside source, you can bet there are all kinds of strings (or is that barbed wire?) attached.
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