Comments on: Freethought San Marcos: Sen. Cornyn continues to lie about his ’support’ for veterans

By: Shane Scribner

Shane Scribner — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:54:12 +0000

That’s a funny response, Lamar. As I recall, you have cut and pasted entire wiki entries for your responses on other articles. Here’s a refresher:

[Lamar Hankins (author) said:

To Shane Scribner:

Wikipedia has a very thoroughly footnoted entry...]

- from: http://www.sanmarcosmercury.com/archives/10097

So, Lamar – what you are saying is wiki is a good source when it fits your needs, but sub-par when it doesn’t? Where’s the consistency? The funny thing about your response, Lamar, is that wiki cites ‘real dictionaries and similar references’ for it’s definition – the Oxford Dictionary being one of them.

By: Lamar Hankins

Lamar Hankins — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:48:33 +0000

That’s why I tend to use real dictionaries and similar references, rather than Wiki for understanding words. Rodale’s “The Synonym Finder,” recommended by the late William Safire, uses numerous words as synonyms for jingoism. The ones I had in mind were blind patriotism, flag-waving, and wrapping oneself in the flag, which Cornyn loves to do by associating himself with support of our troops, which in his case is hypocritical at best.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines jingoism as “extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy.” Cornyn likes to associate himself with an aggressive foreign policy that always requires the use of military force or the threat of it, which is always carried out by our military, the members of which he always supports to the hilt, if you believe him.

The word has a range of connotations, some of which apply and some which are not on point in this context.

However, the point of my column was to expose Cornyn’s mendacity regarding veterans, not argue about the usage of one word.

By: Shane Scribner

Shane Scribner — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:24:14 +0000

Lamar,

How are Sen. Cornyn’s words ‘jingoistic’? My understanding of the term, and confirmed by Wikipedia, is that it refers to extreme nationalism in regards to foreign policy.

According to wiki, jingoism in practice, “refers to the advocation of the use of threats or actual force against other countries in order to safeguard what they perceive as their country’s national interests, and colloquially to excessive bias in judging one’s own country as superior to others – an extreme type of nationalism.”

Seems to me that you are misusing the term. What’s your take?