The Partly Cloudy Patriot Book

Straight up, i am really not a fan of sarah vowell's love affair with american exceptionalism & naked liberal partisanship. there were parts of this book that made me throw it down in disgust. like the piece about sarah & her nerdy politco internet buddies going to george w. bushe's first inauguration, to "witness" the fact that not every american just stood around & did nothing while the election was stolen, blah blah blah, yeah, standing on the mall & crying your eyes out sure is going to change the world. anyway. she says that she had an epiphany that "this country enslaved people, we got the president we deserved". uh...i think there are an awful lot of black americans who are probably pretty unimpressed with the fact that the united states used to permit slavery, & probably also did not vote for george w. bush. i can't even put it into words at this point because it's so mind-boggling, but does sarah vowell think that only white people read her books? it's like she doesn't event ATTEMPT to consider any other audience. & i know, i know, when you're on national public radio as often as she is, it stands to reason that your audience is going to be mostly white people. but still!

& then there was her piece about how obnoxious it is when people compare themselves to rosa parks. because, you know, rosa parks was such a unique individual, flying in the face of institutionalized racism, a lone freedom fighter in the shape of a weary middle-aged lady just trying to get home after a long day, sparking off the civil rights movement with her renegade refusal to give up her seat on the bus. this is what we have been taught, & this is the bright shiny pretty idea that sarah vowell clings to with all her heart. never mind that the bus boycotts were orchestrated in advance, & rosa parks was specially selected from among all these people already working tirelessly on tedious but well-organized civil rights campaigns, to specifically get on a bus, refuse to give up her seat, & become the face of civil rights. i know well-organized activist campaigns that manipulate people's heart strings with good PR aren't really as stirring to the heart of a patriot as the mythos of the charismatic individual bucking the system & ignoting the hearts of the people, but...the reality of pragmatic political organizing is a lot more exciting to me personally.

& this is my entire issue with sarah vowell. she buys into all the myths of american history--jefferson can be forgiven for owning (& raping) slaves because he was such an awesome writer. lincoln was a stirring orator who wept at the idea that another human being would be enslaved. teddy roosevelt was a charming, sad nerd. rosa parks was just a regular everyday lady with no connection to the civil rights movement before her singular decision on a bus one day broke everything wide open. american exceptionlism NEEDS these myths to survive, but they're just a bunch of bullshit. the reality is a lot more complicated, a lot murkier. it means looking at one's heroes & acknowledging that they were deeply flawed & conflicted. it means acknowledging that history is not inevitable, & that the nice guys on white horses aren't going to swoop in & save you if you wait patiently enough. she actually says at one point that she takes it for a fact that people in other parts of the world "hate us for being american". um...okay, george w. bush. seriously, WTF? i have never thought that anyone hated americans just for being americans. i can understand that maybe they hate the united states because the u.s. is a imperialist superpower whose control of the world has been founded on the oppression, extermination, & marginalization of millions & millions of people.

whatever. basically, i hated this book & i don't get people who love sarah vowell. her worldview is so facile. there is a way to interface with the things you love about your life, your surroundings, your political engagement, whatever, without this kind of bullshit partisan hand-over-heart cornebread & cheese.