"I didn’t think nationalism was a bad thing and I was tired of constant reminders in the media of why I should be ashamed to be an American."

Constant reminders? Where do you people get this shit? I've been listening to the same media you have, and for a lot longer, and I've never heard any such thing. Neither has Podrock, from his comments. I just think Conservatives are overly sensitive on this topic. They're terrified one day the brown hordes will rise up and take their revenge for what they did to them.

I've got my problems with the media, especially in the past, especially when they give the people what they want to hear instead of what they need to know. I also resent how much influence the commercial sector exerts on media, but not all this radical propaganda you seem to be alluding to. It just isn't there. You are making it all up.

Now I can see why you might be upset at criticism of our genocide of the Indians, or our enslavement of the blacks and their subsequent segregation from full participation in society, or the racism and oppression inflicted on our immigrant populations that were deliberately brought here as cheap labor to build this nation. And yeah, there's been all the little indignities we've heaped on the Jews, the Gays, the Catholics, and everyone else who wasn't white, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant.

Hey, I'm not blaming you. You had nothing to do with it. Neither did I (My ancestors slaughtered Indians and enslaved blacks too, centuries ago in Cuba, I don't feel the least bit guilty about that. I wasn't there).

But if you really believe the "Media" has been forcing you to face these little horrors, rubbing your nose in them, maybe its because its about time someone did.