The following is about the opponents to WW1 in England, and the frenzy against them and for the war.

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/i-tried-to-stop-the-bloody-thing/

[an extract from the piece] The whole piece is worth reading.

Unlike, for example, American opponents of our wars in Vietnam, Central America, Iraq, or Afghanistan, the Britons who opposed this war had no major newspapers and only a tiny handful of legislators on their side. For someone in a prominent position to advocate any compromise was considered close to treason. When Rev. Edward Lyttelton, the headmaster of Eton, proposed some possible peace terms, the resulting uproar forced him to resign. From Parliament to pulpit, ferocity reigned. “Kill Germans! Kill them!” raged one clergyman in a 1915 sermon, “ . . . not for the sake of killing, but to save the world. . . . Kill the good as well as the bad. . . . Kill the young men as well as the old. . . . I look upon it as a war for purity. I look upon everybody who dies in it as a martyr.” The speaker was Arthur Winnington-Ingram, the Anglican Bishop of London.

Csteele,

John Stewart is more than a comedian - he's a particularly savvy social and political commentator, who happens to use humour to deliver a penetrating message. Like his stable-mate, Stephen Colbert, he was, and still is, an antidote to neo-con politics in the U.S., especially in the guise of Fox News. Both of them staged a successful rally in response to one by Glenn Beck and the Tea Party movement in Washington.

I don't think you can equate their style and scope with the average patriotically conditioned man in the street, who wouldn't for a moment challenge, or even question, the narrowly defined ethics of perceived wisdom. Indeed, if these people watched Colbert, they'd be battling to ascertain that his character is a send-up.

Jon Stewart and his ilk are miles in front when it comes to lifting the edge of the rug to see what's been swept underneath.

csteele,
no offence taken.
"Unthinking zealots" is a strong phrase but I don't resile from it. The unthinking zealot in this context is the common patriot and I suppose it is technically elitist to describe him/her as such, albeit they are in the vast majority. I do think that those who look critically beneath the palaver are a tiny minority, but not "elitist" in any strict sense of the word. Elitism in the strict sense conjures notions of supremacy "within" institutional thinking, and to that extent I was not being elitist, as I try to think outside those terms that are laid down for me as categorical. To be critical of an institution's "actions" is to tacitly condone its "essence", thereby making no critical examination at all. If anything, by criticising its actions we imply that they are "deviant" from its essential purity and wonted propensity. There is no such purity in patriotism, or arguably in any institution. True and honest critical thought is far more painful to one's sensibilities than the boast of protest. As if the virtual entity or its agenda was open to criticism--it is the nature of institutions to be impervious to it!
I know nothing of the Jon Stewart campaign but the buttons he pushed only reinforce the dogmatic US mindset of victimhood, indignation, heroism and revenge as its entirely admirable responses---no real self or social-examination at all.
I remember thinking after 9/11 that here was the US's chance to show the world it was a truly great nation, by taking thought and responding moderately, diplomatically and self-critically; but there was and is none of that, just arrogance, self-righteousness and shallowness. We saw the patriots in action recently over the revenge-killing of Bin-Laden, cheering at ground zero.

Poirot

Re: Colbert Report

After moving from his segment spot on the Daily Show, Stephen and started his own show as a "right wing bully", he had a large fan base of right-wing conservatives until the penny finally dropped.....

Shame about the shows no longer being shown on ABC2, although I do watch online - but not the same as sitting relaxed in the living-room.

I find both shows very cathartic after being subjected to narrow minded thinking of all and any political dogma.

Apologies for being off-topic.

pat-roit
pat-rot-ism

t-ERROR

died for us?
died for our sin?

they will not grow old
but the reasons for murder..never grow old

at the fall of night
we will return to our caves
and with the aid of murder she wrote[csi/bones/murder cooking and mayhem[ahem]..shall we foerget

till the next time we fear [hear] the call
then we shall remember

feel the guilt and go off quitly..to die..for another lie
to put yet more gore
on other peoples shore

that we know for sure
we know peace only when its pure

war to make peace

is like fu.."KKK'ing...for virginity
or murdering..to make life
or getting clean..by rolling in the mucKKK

Apologies for not posting a link to better explain what occurred with Jon Stewart.

Those who follow The Young Turks may have seen this clip, it presents a good summary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knqpgj0x7xY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

What is at play here? Taking the position of an American I say guilt is playing a far greater role than patriotism. The first responders were those who ran toward the collapsing buildings as the rest of 'us' ran away in sheer terror and confusion. While on the surface the narrative may well be 'we need to support our heroes' these were people doing what they were paid and trained to do. Why should they be getting extra? It is because we feel we owe them something more even though we do not know any of them personally. The reality is it saves a focus on our own fear and confusion.

What are the motives of Stewart? Primarily patriotism? Hardly. Why did Capitol Hill see the need to act once the issue was given air? Guilt and shame is obvious.

The left's apportioning blame to unthinking zealots, oligarchs, and subservient governments and the right's dance with the heroics of service men and women all need to give way to a greater sense of responsibility for what it done in our names and with our tacit permission.

As an aside I have been thinking about the deep patriotism of Americans. Perhaps it fills the hole left by their rejection of the types of collectivism that defines a country like Australia eg universal health cover.