Unamerican

Every day I drive home the National Observatory. I'm not quite sure what it is - some sort of government facility that is curtained with trees, fences and high security entrances. Every now and then traffic is blocked by police cars so that motorcades of black cars can come in and out - which presumably indicates senior government officials attending Terribly Important Meetings. Sounds very OTT, but when you've lived in DC for a while, it's 'oh look there's another motorcade'.

I'm not actually sure how related this is to the thing I'm really posting about. Right outside the National Observatory is a spot that is a prime location for activist groups holding banners with their slogans. I haven't decided yet whether they're there to catch the attention of Terribly Important People going to and from the Observatory, or whether it's just a great place to get noticed by all the people stuck in rush hour traffic.

I'm actually getting to the point of the blog now... Today there was a group of probably 40 people all holding banners featuring the word 'unamerican'. Typically when I hear 'unamerican' I groan, because it's a favourite word of ultra conservative, small minded people that want to brand whatever they have a prejudice against as 'unamerican'. Insert: immigrants, gays, gun control laws, legal abortion, etc. etc.

Well, today I thought it was interesting that this group's banners were actually protesting against torture as 'unamerican'. There was something satisfying about seeing this most abused of words being applied on an issue of true concern. How can you deny that torture is 'unamerican'. I have to admit that I think 'unamerican' is a word intended to press an emotional button more than to give a reasoned argument (what does it actually mean anyway?). However, there's nice sense of turning the tables that I like about this.