In the May 2 Post Dispatch, there was an article about a flap in Lake St. Louis over publicly acknowledging that the U.S. makes mistakes in wartime. A group of veterans prepared small plaques for a public park denoting famous moments in US military history. They had the temerity to list a few “mistakes” made in past and present wars. Because of complaints, supposedly from other veterans, the “mistake” plaques have been removed. A Lake St. Louis official said that information like that had no place in a war memorial and that the city wanted only information that citizens can be proud of. He said the discussion about “mistakes” belonged in a “different forum.” LIKE DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE!
And the Myth goes on
03 Saturday May 2008
Posted in Uncategorized
because, for me, it’s synonymous with “lie to yourself about anything you don’t like about your country’s history and force those lies on others.” If “patriotism” included caring enough about what happens to this country to be honest about our mistakes, I’d like the word.
I may be wrong, but my impression is that the plaques were placed in what was intended to be a memorial to honor dead soldiers and while I agree with the text of at least the plaque that was presented in the online version of the article (dealing with the current Iraqi war), I quite realize that there are many who would not–yet I think that we all grieve for the sacrifice made by those who died in all of the wars to be memorialized on the plaques. I also read some text elsewhere for other wars that I would take issue with (or at least insist on some qualification). Consequently, I can quite understand that it might be preferable to confine text on such plaques, meant to edify all comers, to statements on which there is a real consensus.