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Speak "American," Dammit! |
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Source: Mike Malloy
How wonderful. How sweet and touching. An international accolade to our "beautiful" nation. Just the kind of thing that really pisses off the Neocons.
Glen Beck ranted about how the ad -- the theme of which seemed to be unity -- was secretly designed to divide America into groups of racists or immigrant-lovers. Yeah, that makes sense. If you're a brainwashed Beckhead and see hidden symbols in the 30-Rock building and encrypted messages on the $1 bill that can only mean Obama is plotting a socialist takeover of the world involving the search engine "Google," Code Pink, Egypt, and the AFL-CIO.
Tea Bagger ex-congressman Allen West was so upset at seeing non-white, non-English speaking people singing the praises of America on his teevee he stopped mid-game to write about it: "It's a truly disturbing commercial. If we cannot be proud enough as a country to sing 'American (sic) the Beautiful' in English in a commercial during the Super Bowl, by a company as American as they come -- doggone we are on the road to perdition."
Such an intellect we lost when he left Congress.
Breitbart's Michael Patrick Leahy didn't appreciate the gay folk depicted in the obviously blasphemous ad. "Not only did Coke use 'a deeply Christian patriotic anthem whose theme is unity -- in several foreign languages,'" Leahy preached, noting that the "ad also prominently features a gay couple." Or maybe he doesn't like to see gay people sing. Or drink coke. Or walk down the street. Or breathe.
Predictably, Fox "News" spokes-models were similarly offended. "So was Coca-Cola saying America is beautiful because new immigrants don't learn to speak English?" Tweeted Todd Starnes, adding "Coca Cola is the official soft drink of illegals crossing the border..." How fair and balanced, Todd!
Thankfully, the Atlanta-based soft drink mega-corporation was defended by Atlanta-based local NBC anchor Brenda Wood. (As an aside -- she is one of the nicest people you could meet).
Media Matters has the story:
"BRENDA WOOD: But the fact that people are outraged over this ad is outrageous itself. People indignant that others would have the audacity to sing 'America the Beautiful' in a language other than English, when America was built on opening its arms to the world? The quote on the Statue of Liberty doesn't say 'give me your English-speaking only, Christian-believing, heterosexual masses.' It says 'give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, tempest-tost.'
"Have we forgotten that every one of us 'Americans' except for Native Americans, are descendants of foreigners?
"That the English language is from England?
"What makes America different from everywhere else is that we are a melting pot. We are not homogenous. It is our diversity that built this country.
"How dare there be indignation over the very thing that makes us great.
"And why not honor the beauty of that in song? What's so sacrosanct about this song that it can't be sung in other languages by other ethnicities, by those of diverse religions and diverse lifestyles?
"A relevant question considering the words of 'America the Beautiful' were penned by a gay woman, Katharine Lee Bates, in 1895, an English professor at Wellesley who also wrote lovingly of her longtime committed relationship with another woman."
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