Cinnamon Stillwell: The making of a 9/11 Republican
San Francisco Bay Area writer Cinnamon Stillwell moves from the Flower Generation to the New Greatest Generation. Read the whole thing.
A sample of Ms. Stillwell’s article:
Having been indoctrinated in the postcolonialist, self-loathing school of multiculturalism, I thought America was the root of all evil in the world. Its democratic form of government and capitalist economic system was nothing more than a machine in which citizens were forced to be cogs. I put aside the nagging question of why so many people all over the world risk their lives to come to the United States. Freedom of speech, religious freedom, women’s rights, gay rights (yes, even without same-sex marriage), social and economic mobility, relative racial harmony and democracy itself were all taken for granted in my narrow, insulated world view.
So, what happened to change all that? In a nutshell, 9/11. The terrorist attacks on this country were not only an act of war but also a crime against humanity. It seemed glaringly obvious to me at the time, and it still does today. But the reaction of my former comrades on the left bespoke a different perspective. The day after the attacks, I dragged myself into work, still in a state of shock, and the first thing I heard was one of my co-workers bellowing triumphantly, “Bush got his war!” There was little sympathy for the victims of this horrific attack, only an irrational hatred for their own country.
As I spent months grieving the losses, others around me wrapped themselves in the comfortable shell of cynicism and acted as if nothing had changed. I soon began to recognize in them an inability to view America or its people as victims, born of years of indoctrination in which we were always presented as the bad guys.
Never mind that every country in the world acts in its own self-interest, forms alliances with unsavory countries — some of which change later — and are forced to act militarily at times. America was singled out as the sole guilty party on the globe. I, on the other hand, for the first time in my life, had come to truly appreciate my country and all that it encompassed, as well as the bravery and sacrifices of those who fight to protect it.
Thoroughly disgusted by the behavior of those on the left, I began to look elsewhere for support. To my astonishment, I found that the only voices that seemed to me to be intellectually and morally honest were on the right. ..
Color her fingers purple.
I live in Sacramento California, and I just recently discovered Cinnamon Stillwell’s writings. She kicked axx. God Bless America
Comment by Paul D Tran — 3/4/2005 @ 8:56 am
I read Cinnamon’s article on slavery in Mexico and it was the clearest writing that I have ever read on the subject. I remember talking to a very big-shot Mexican and he stated that Mexico had never had slavery. We need more clear-writers like Cinamon.
Comment by Toma's de Lacy-Espana C. — 8/19/2005 @ 5:11 pm