perfidy

From Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle:

"The highest possible form of treason," said Minton, "is to say that Americans aren't loved wherever they go, whatever they do. Claire tried to make the point that American foreign policy should recognize hate rather than imagine love."

"I guess Americans are hated a lot of places."

"People are hated a lot of places. Claire pointed out in her letter that Americans, in being hated, were simply paying the normal penalty for being people, and that they were foolish to think they should somehow be exempted from that penalty. But the loyalty board didn't pay attention to that. All they knew was that Claire and I both felt that Americans were unloved."

Discuss.

[wik] From Johno (this no-comments business is crap): I had a long response all set to go for this and nixed it at the last moment. Why? Because I spent 1000 words arguing... arguing.... well, something... and then I realized I was having a hard time pinning down what I was trying to say about Vonnegut and his observations on American patriotism because, as Getrude Stein once said of Oakland, "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer, when in the course of human events our fathers brought forth on this continent milk, bread, cheese-- dental floss!, in Xanadu did Kublai Khan a stately pleasure dome decree, with truth and justice for all, Amen."

[alsø wik] Which is to say, you can't box with a shadow and even if he can walk on water, Jesus can't walk on this much beer.