A rant...
There’s this song by some crazy rock band that goes "I’m not a patriot, I’m not a fugitive, I’m an American, I’m an American..." I don’t know how the rest of the song goes because I’ve never stopped to really listen to it. But as for the bridge, I agree.
Because I’ve never really been all about the USA. I mean, I celebrate the 4th of July and Thanksgiving with the best of them, but I only have ever voted in presidential elections (though let’s be honest, I’ve only been eligible for, like 4 elections or something), and I don’t watch the Olympics or the World Cup, but if I did, I’d totally be rooting for France. And obviously I am not that attached to my country or I wouldn’t have just chosen to spend a year in someone else’s. But I do have a problem with people who come over here (France, Europe, really anywhere other than the US) and suddenly pull a Natalie Maines. You don’t do that. You don’t show up in another country and then start bashing your own. It’s just bad form, particularly when you are from a country that’s as hot to discuss as the US. You don’t need to stir controversy when it comes to us. Like, if you were from Switzerland, no one would care, because the Swiss have pretty much never in the history of the world done anything bad. Their whole army does nothing but sit around and make knives, for crying out loud. Oh, and I heard they branched out to watches too, but still– you could, if you were Swiss, go anywhere you wanted and whine about Switzerland, and everyone would just think you had lost it, because Switzerland never does anything objectionable to anyone.
But now Natalie Maines has made it all hip to leave the US when people start burning your CDs and show up in some other country to bash Americans, and everyone thinks they ought to do it. Though why anyone would ever want to pattern their lives after a Dixie Chick is beyond me. (By the way, I find it ironic that she has so much animosity toward the US when her band is named after, oh, the confederacy.) One could argue that Billie Joe Armstrong and the rest of Green Day did the same thing by touring for an album so obviously anti-American that the title refers to George W. as the "American Idiot." And Johnny Depp, from my old Kentucky home, lives in France because he doesn’t like the US. I am less mad at them though because they, you know, are actually cool. But then there are also people like Brandon Flowers, who tours Europe and completely leaves out the fact that he is American, going so far as to come down on Green Day for their overuse of anti-American symbols in places where they are misconstrued and un-understood.
I am not saying that, as ex-patriates, we should be pro-US. I am not saying that we should all tie yellow ribbons ‘round our old oak trees or even that we should shop at Wal-Mart. Heaven knows the sight of GAP in France makes me want to go say a prayer for the souls of anyone who sets foot within.
But I am saying that, no matter your feelings on the US, if you are an American citizen, then at least do your best to not create more controversy. I’ve lived here for five months now and have taken part in political discussions, and I can vouch that there are ways to do it where you don’t come out banging the dead horse of anti-Americanism.
I’m not particularly pro-Bush, though to be honest it’s been so long since I’ve thought about it that I don’t really know what I think anymore. I’m not pro-war, either. I mean, think about it: I am 21 years old, the people fighting over there are my peers, and some of them are my friends.
It’s not just the war and the president, either; I realize that Europe does things differently than we do, but that’s all it is, different. With most policy issues, it’s not better or worse, just different. They don’t have a perfect education or healthcare system, and neither do we– their drawbacks are just different from ours. So for goodness’ sake, don’t you dare show up in France and two days later start railing on the USA for not having a socialized medical plan. If you’re gonna knock it, at least wait until you’ve been sick enough that you’ve had to use it, and then tell me that lab techs who don’t wear gloves and thermometers that still contain mercury are really the wave of the future.
The problem is that for the crowd my age, the hip thing is to be against the government. We’re not the first generation that has decided that the government became lame when we turned 18 and we should all go anarchist. But we are the first generation that has the opportunity to broadcast those views as widely as we do. I don’t care what your views are, just keep them to yourself. You aren’t here to rag on the US, you’re here to learn a new culture.
To people who would show up here and try to do everything the American way, shopping only at GAP and buying Starbucks’ coffees, I would say the same thing, because that drives me even crazier. You are not here to spread American culture and globalism, you are here to learn a new culture. So forget, for a moment, that you are from the United States of America, and live like a French person for a day. Trust me, walk a mile in their stiletto boots and you will be reminded that the things here are not so much worse than for us and not so much better either...
So dang it, just learn to keep your mouth shut.
You gotta fight (for your right)
~Beastie Blair