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Re: Unamerican

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Friday, May 5, 2000, 23:21
AcadonBot wrote:
> For one American to call another > person "unAmerican" has nothing to do IMO with that person > not being a US citizen, it is closer to saying that he IS in fact a > US citizen -- but a traitor to either the nation or its ideals.
Right, a person who's not a US citizen is just non-American or foreign. Traitor comes pretty close, but for me it's specifically "traitor to the ideals of the nation". America is, after all, a nation founded on ideals, which is probably why un-American has that feel to it. Most other nations weren't founded on any kind of ideal, but just sort of "grew".
> But it > is sometimes turned around (partly in jest) to insult "right-wingers"
I don't think that there's any jest to that use. It's just that, to leftists, rightists seem to be betraying the ideals of the US.
> Of course there are USA chauvanists (as in other nations) > and many tend to be "right wing." But IMO they would use > other insults, not "unAmerican," to attack any foreign persons > or groups that they wanted to denegrate.
Such as "illegals". -- "If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!" - Ralph Waldo Emerson ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor