New York City’s department of complaints reports that after the attack on Libya it was deluged with calls complaining that there should have been less bombing or more bombing or no bombing at all. According to the department, many of the callers seemed to believe the mission had been conducted by the New York Air Force. Now that’s parochial.
It’s hard to get New Yorkers excited about American patriotism. Of course we go all out for the Fourth of July; but the theme is “I Love New York,” and the intrusion of Americana is puzzling and a bit resented. After all, Lady Liberty welcomed all those immigrants to New York, didn’t she? Some find that even New York is too much to handle. Their patriotism is limited to the Upper West Side, the East Village, or Flatbush. This may not be all bad. The great Burke told us about loyalty to the “little platoons” and how we are attached to the universal through the particular. Even the Upper West Side is a pretty big platoon by his measure.
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