Bob Warring: Americanism for sale

Apparently, I'm a bad American.

Since the attacks of Sept. 11, I haven't purchased a single car, applied for any new credit cards or even donned one of those T-shirts with an eagle on it. Actually, I'd say that if one thing in my life has certainly not changed in the wake of the terrorist attacks, it's been my spending practices. I never seem to have much money anyway, so maybe it's irrelevant. But, nonetheless, I'm worried -- with Americans like me, how in the world are the rest of you supposed to "keep American running?"

Sure, I have always thought that patriotism was a rather curious thing to begin with, but don't get me wrong -- I can wave a flag with the best of them. (Rocky IV, Glory and Saving Private Ryan are among my favorite movies.) I do think that patriotism is too often an excuse not to think, but my latest gripe isn't with patriotism per se. It's with patriotism's recent marriage to consumerism.

While who-knows-how-many bodies remain under the rubble of the World Trade Center towers, already we've trodden all over what should be sacred ground. Watch some prime time television, and I bet you will find it's easier to count the commercials that don't contain an American flag or an allusion to the American spirit (which, by the way, is either so heavy or cumbersome that only Ford trucks are strong enough to carry it).

Go to your local mall and just count the number of vendors peddling "Remember the Towers" and "American Spirit" T-shirts. Since Sept. 11, we have indeed established a new, disturbing value: patriotism equals consumerism.

Granted, math was never my strong point, but something here doesn't quite add up. When did I have to buy my Americanness? I'm a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant (Baptist -- it counts), I played a little baseball in high school, and I can put away apple pie like it's nobody's business. If it were 1962, I'd be on a poster somewhere.

But now that's all changed. You no longer need my crew cut and blue eyes to be "a real American." This is a good thing. Instead, now, you need to associate your needs and goals with those of big business. This is a bad thing.

Why is it, that in the recent economic downturn, as in most recessions, it's the profit margins of big business that must remain untouchable and holy, while workers (surprise, surprise!) have proved all too expendable?

Now, before I get a flood of e-mails from a certain business school, let me defend myself. I understand the fundamentals of capitalism (I did take Economics 1 and 2), and I agree that one of the largest disservices we can do ourselves as Americans is to let the World Trade Center attack disrupt our way of life, including our purchasing decisions.

But how dare these companies play on our grief-inspired patriotism to sell their products as they lay off masses of workers. How patriotic is that? If we were really united (you know, like that airline whose pilots were on strike last year), couldn't these businesses make a greater effort to ensure we get through this together, and employed?

I don't see why patriotism must be the burden of the common person. What we're talking about here is the difference between keeping corporate profits high and joblessness and financial ruin for individual people and families. In times of crisis, who really has the power here to step forth and "keep America running"? The jobless?

I will admit I'm no Economics major. (To be perfectly honest, I didn't even do so hot in Economics 1 and 2). I know I might be asking firms to forgo rational self-interest for a while, but at worst -- when appealing to patriotism to ask me to spend more -- it's no more than what they are asking of me.

But let's put the economics aside and remember the real tragedy here. Thousands of people died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Many of their families will never even have the closure of a proper burial. Allusions to this grief -- no matter how oblique -- have no place in marketing unless all profits from those sales are going toward whatever limited comfort money can bring to the victims' families.

So let's all be good Americans. You don't have to spend more, although a donation to the September 11 Fund or American Red Cross wouldn't hurt. But whatever you choose to do, just don't do it with a flag covering your eyes.

Bob Warring is a senior History and English major from Hanover, PA.

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