We just returned from Greece today, so the Olympic gods are on my mind. So too is Democracy.
It may be a small point but the Parthenon, way above Athens city, was built by free men (yes, all male) but not slaves. The god honored was female: Athena, god of wisdom, the arts and peace.
The Acropolis safeguarding the city and western culture also hosts the Theatre of Dionysus, the first western theatre where the plays of the dramatists of the classical era: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, were first performed.
Think of it as a kind of Joe Papp/Oskar Eustis Public Theater, where as many 17,000 Athenians were invited to free performances during play celebrations many times each year. This is a national history to aspire to.
Now there is Trump, and the grim, embarrassing reality of his childish and militaristic march of false military might on Pennsylvania Avenue. He contaminates Washington, the nation and a formerly sweet and community-based national holiday, which celebrated American values like Freedom, ice cream, hot-dogs, hamburgers and fireworks (explosives transformed into art and entertainment).
Mad King Trump's July 4th disgusting spectacle may have been inspired by the Bastille Day celebration he saw in France in July 2017, but it is brings to mind the parades with tanks and guns rolling down the streets, intimidating ordinary people and boasting about their threatening military strengths by dictators worldwide, in China, North Korea, and, of course, Trump's nearest and dearest Russia. Trump shows who he is by the company he keeps and the imagery he claims for himself.
Call me old-fashioned but I prefer images like this to represent the 4th.
Trump in the White House is a scar on American history. Trump's “Salute to America" is a blight against the American Dream.
Major U.S. media networks ABC, CBS, and NBC announced Wednesday that they are all snubbing Trump's "Salute to America" celebration and plan to stick with regularly scheduled shows rather than provide live television coverage of the event. (Source, The Blaze).
C-SPAN will provide live coverage of the event, and Fox News has blocked off two hours for special coverage of the event.
Don't watch it!
Go celebrate the 4th with friends and family, and remember what America used to be, and will be again. #BlueWave2020
An aside, Trump's attempt to highjack and distort our national celebration, of course, has its comic side too. Trump is at his most innocuous a buffoon ( as well as a racist, misogynist, cruel, criminal monster with dictatorial aspirations).
As reported smartly in this Washington Post article on July 1, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment..., he has required that the Pentagon provide a multiple array of military hardware, including tanks and fighter jets, to fulfill his fantasy — escalating the gathering's cost and sparking concerns about the potentially damaging impact on the Washington Mall and other DC infrastructure:
Abrams tanks — which Trump referred to as "Abram" tanks in his remarks — weigh far more than 60 tons and are usually transported over long distances by heavy rail. Trump also said “we have the brand-new Sherman tanks," which have not been in use by the U.S. military since the 1950s.
He had to back down and place the outdated tanks on flatbeds on view, but not on a roll.
That's our Trump, the one we know and hate - stupid as well as un-American.
Pray for rain!
###
July 4, 2019
Voices4America Post Script.Trump is set to highjack our Independence Day celebrations. Don't watch it! And pray for rain! Celebrate the 4th with friends & family, & remember what America used to be, & will be again. #BlueWave2020 This post is my take on his disgusting parade. I hope you will share it.
One more thing, this is also happening too today.
