One of those right-wing media sites has an interesting write up on a recent rant from CNN's Glenn Beck. The funny thing is that all of the quotes they used really argue something entirely different.
First, let's keep our brains on and remember that Paramount is making a movie, and movies play all over the world. Would a US-centric film do that well overseas? Probably not. So if Hollywood has an agenda, making a shitload of cash is probably first on it, and that's pretty American to me.
Second, the whole suggestion that we're trying to get our own kids to hate America and whatever it is we stand for is silly. When I was a kid, I just wanted to play in the sandbox, and when I was a teenager, I just wanted to touch boobies. I couldn't have given two shits about what we're supposed to stand for.
But since we're on the subject, what exactly do we represent in terms of culture? Honestly, as a young country that represents a broad cross-section of ethnicities and cultures, we don't really have our own culture unless that diversity is itself the culture. Civilization didn't start here. We have almost nothing more than 200 years old (other than the environment itself).
In terms of values, democracy and freedom are certainly things we can all agree on. So far, at least, they seem to work as a driving force for wealth and security. There's irony there too, because we want to impose those core values on everyone, but yet when another country wants wealth and security, we start building walls and don't want to share.
Fuck pride! Pride only hurts, it never helps. Fight through that shit.
-Marsellus Wallace, Pulp Fiction
I've always loved that little speech because it really forces Butch to evaluate his own values. Throwing the fight is bad, but Butch comes out with a wad of cash, and that's good for him. Not throwing the fight but betting on himself when the odds are against him makes him even more money, which is less bad because he sticks it to the bad man. Regardless though, Marsellus is right: Pride only hurts. Butch does not act out of pride in terms of who wins the fight. He just wants to get away with his little French girlfriend.
Pride hurts, because it distorts our view and keeps us from seeing a bigger picture. Should you be proud to be an American? Yes. Should you be proud of what America does? No, not all of the time. A lot of politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle suggest that these two things go together, and they don't.
The bottom line is that pride has gotten in the way of common sense. It fosters the with-us or against-us mentality. Everything is so divisive now, and the current crop of presidential candidates look like they're doing nothing to break that cycle.
The world is shrinking, we don't own it, and we won't be the dominant force on it forever (especially the way we're borrowing money for this bullshit war). There are other kids in the sandbox, and they're not going anywhere. While we should all celebrate our ethnicities and culture, we can't be naive enough to think that we can get along by ourselves forever. Science fiction movies almost universally refer to a united future that involves one governing body (in part because there's some alien race to fight instead, but I digress). What's so bad about that? The members of the European Union don't seem to mind some level of oneness.
So yeah, be proud to be an American, but don't assume that means you need to be proud of everything we do.
I smiled while reading the article because I was remembering the last time I babysat for my nephews. When I was putting the 4-year old to bed I learned that part of the routine is reciting the Pledge of Allegiance after his bedtime story. Now this isn't because his parents force that on him. He just learned it in school and is excited about it, as 4-year olds tend to be about the things that they learn, and he likes to say it. My point is not that he is some patriotic kid or anything, just that kids are still learning the basics.
The other thing about this that strikes me is how one could conclude that kids receive any kind of subliminal messaging from the dialogue of a cartoon movie. Most Disney movies have some adult content to their scripts. That's how they manage to make them entertaining for the entire family. Kids are drawn to the exaggerated animation, the sounds, and the lights. The idea that the UN saving the day at the end of the movie creates an anti-American subliminal message is just plain ridiculous.