"I Refuse to Help America on the Grounds it Might Tend to Inconvenience Me."
A stark black and white photographic essay back in 1972 that tore into the soul of Americas skewed beliefs is back again.
Then, as it is today, some say America went wrong. Others say America has gone wrong. Some say we have lost our way. Some say its too late to do anything. Most dont know why it went wrong, but they feel it deep down. Most all people react to the dilemma America has gotten itself into by simply "copping out". This is a book of photos of 27 different "cop-outs".
All shown objectively. No holds barred. And it has a very useful message with a 228 year old punch line.
Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) June 30, 2004 -- A book that raised America's level of outrage circa 1972 entitled. "Let's Get America Out Of Hock" has been reborn in a new and revised format, ready to do battle again in the 21st Century world of apathy, war, governmental hackery and political contempt. The man behind the book is Stan Cotton, ad writer, author and speaker who turned outrage into a science and irreverence into a way of life.
He's doing that today as the founder and ongoing developer of FOIL – the Foreign Oil Independence League and patrioticallycorrect.org. But some three decades ago, he created a stark satirical series of 27 black and white photographs of average people in a book that tore into the soul of America's skewed beliefs. Cotton used the U.S. Constitution as the punch line to trip up people and institutions that thought they were the icons of patriotism.
The book simply asked people if they would fight for their constitutional rights. They came up with a litany of reasons not to. I can do nothing for America, they said over and over again, "on the grounds that it might tend to inconvenience me" and then some. And those arguments are as fresh and on-the-mark today as they were when Nixon was declaring he was not a crook.
Famed columnist and government watchdog Jack Anderson wrote the introduction to Cotton's "Let's get America out of hock." "Humor moves the most cynical hearts, even those desensitized to outrage by daily news of corruption and malfeasance," said Anderson. "Humor can provoke action where stark, raw facts fail."
Page after black and white page of typical American folks photos all offering rapid-fire reasons why they could do absolutely nothing to improve the nations lot – even if they were protected by the nations governing document.
Anderson describes in the intro how "hippie and policeman, hard hat and black militant, and Communist and dictators all take a pasting for not being willing to undergo a little discomfort for the national good." Most of those "types" are still around – or have morphed into things that are even worse: terrorists, Middle East oil barons and war-mongering politicians.
Lots of 1972's sacred cows are still grazing in the field of human suffering. But as Cotton observes, "You don't know whose sacred cows you are goring until you make hamburger."
Look for the book preview and get a lesson in fighting apathy that's endured the test of time by logging into
www.patrioticallycorrect.org .
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