This weekend, I walked into work and was immediately met by an obnoxiously loud song blasting in the whole room. At first, I was a little angry that I would have to listen to this irritating song sung by someone that sounds like Kid Rock, yelling at me the whole day. After awhile though, I actually started listening to the lyrics of the song...I then went from a little angry, to very angry. The song I later found out is called "Warrior" and what do ya know, it IS by Kid Rock. Anyway, the chorus of the song is, "I'm an American warrior, a citizen soldier." The rest of the song is about "breathing in red, white, and blue" and my "favorite" line, "If you ain't gonna fight, get out of the way." I went home that day and watched the video of this song on youtube. It is basically a big army commercial with big words like "loyalty, mission, and citizen" flashing once in awhile.
The reason I bring this experience up is because it really connects to the idea of our American Studies Unit 1 question that is, "What does it mean to be an American?" This Kid Rock video states simply that a true American is a loyal soldier. War, strength, and determination are emphasized in this song. This is very interesting because MANY people in the United Sates are given this image of who we are and what we should be. In fact, I can securely say that this "soldier" image is something I've seen all my life.
There are many different images that we are shown that tell us what we must be as Americans. After all this, I just thought to myself how lucky I am that I have grown up in a place like this and can experience a class like American Studies. By studying the question of what it means to be an American, that alone causes us to question this instead of be told the answer. I am just realizing this now as I type, in fact, that the answer to this Unit 1 question is, there is no answer. America is truly a country of diversity, and we all have different views of what it means to be an American. No one image, like this Kid Rock video, can ever persuade me that THAT is what it means to be an American.
Here is the "Warrior" video, if you are interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHzSBEVbXtM
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I didn't get a chance to watch the video (diaper change calls -- not mine, my daughter's) but I wonder if the song and lyrics are intended to be satirical? Is Kid Rock actually mocking a stereotypical view of what it means to be American?
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