And listen. I wasn't going to say anything at first. I really wasn't. I was just going to let it go.
But then, uniformed, ignorant posts kept showing up on my Facebook news feed. Along with an absolutely ridiculous, grossly under-researched, and entirely offensive article. And the more I was confronted with the idiocy of it all, the angrier I got.
You can read the article I'm referring to here.
Apparently, there are several people, including Ms. Barnes here, that are a little angry and offended by this commercial. You know - the one where like, all these funny looking people with weird foreign accents started singing in a different language.
So mad, in fact, that they go on an entirely biased, unreliable news outlet and churn out a piece on 'redefining America.'
Guys.
Ugh.
Now I'm not going to point out every single thing that's just - wrong - with this piece, like the fact that apparently male role model is a negative term that's all but bastardized the word father, because it's neither here nor there. Instead, I'll just say this.
First of all, every single day, this country gets redefined. If it didn't, I still wouldn't have the right to vote and my mom's black best friend would have to use a separate bathroom. History is reactionary and demands that culture be accepting of inevitable change. As the world shifts, the way things look and operate shift as well. America as we know it now is an amorphous, albeit accommodating place, that does, in fact LOOK FRIGGIN DIFFERENT than it did when the Puritans wandered over here from Europe. And BY THE WAY - in case you forgot Sarah Barnes, the damn place wasn't empty when they got here. Lots of people with dark skin who spoke tribal languages THAT WERE NOT ENGLISH and worshipped a multitude of gods and animals had already set up shop and were doing just fine until white dudes showed up with polio-infested blankets and started handing them out to cold children. (THAT HAPPENED. READ A BOOK).
Secondly - if we're going with the definition of 'Murica, let us not forget that our founding fathers, the ones so readily referenced when talking about patriotism, did in fact define America in specific terms. Those terms were things like, oh, tolerance. Freedom to worship without fear of persecution. These were men who came out of an era of intellectual awakening called The Enlightenment whose principles were based upon rationality and reason. NOT blind ignorance and bigotry.
I'm sorry that you're a little miffed at the notion that not every single person who lives in this country looks, sounds, dresses, prays, fights, loves, dances, cooks, eats, and works exactly like you for the same reason that you do. I'm even more sorry that you're the type of person who's offended by that.
The Red, White and Blue doesn't mean what you think it means anymore. And if we're being honest, it never did. Do you even remember Ellis Island? Or the fact that your own families immigrated here? We are all transplants. And that doesn't in any way make us less patriotic. Choosing to alienate entire groups of people based on race or ethnicity was a common theme in like, WWII, I think. And we were pretty against it then, from what I remember when I was doin' all that learnin' in them public schools.
Not only are you coming across as ignorant, you're also coming across as an asshole, so disconnected from the vast scope of human experience that you refuse to acknowledge the fact that this country has never, and will never be homogenous.
If I ever feel proud to be an American, it's in those times when I feel like we've stood together, expressed global tolerance, attempted to be inclusionary, and shown that we're capable of opening our minds to ideas that were scary or new.
It's not that America doesn't want you, Ms. Barnes. We aren't asking you to agree with or join up with or accept some crazy gay-loving, women-have-rights-too, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect ideology. We're simply asking for 2 seconds of brief consideration. Consideration of the notion that there isn't one idea of America and that that's what makes it beautiful.
And while we're at it, if you really want to start defining or undefining or redefining or whatever it was you were talking about in your bitter diatribe, maybe you should open up one of those book shaped things and check out what liberty actually means. Because last time I checked, exclusionary, ignorant, hateful, and close-minded were NOT synonymous with ANY of the values that this country was founded on. Unless you're Anita Baker, in which case your entire ridiculous article would start to make sense.
I understand that I'm approaching this as someone who isn't say, in the military. And my values and therefore persepctive are clearly different than someone who has decided to sacrifice their time and lives to defend the nation. But because I am accepting and open to new people and cultures and ideas that are presented to me right here at home, does not make me any less of a patriot. Multiculturalism is not a liability. And it doesn't make me any less proud to live here.
It does, however, make me much less proud of you.
