| At
a divy little bar in Manhattan, I recently plugged the jukebox
with Johnny Cash and Snoop Dogg, back to back, and the patrons
were ecstatic!
The issue
of what “nationalism” means in America seems more
and more perplexing, with the country as divided as it is these
days. Can a country as culturally diverse as the United States
have a national identity, and if so, what is it?
There are
no doubt Johnny Cash fans that would love to “tar and feather”
Snoop Dogg fans, and no doubt Snoop Dogg fans that would love
to “pop a cap in the cracker ass” of Johnny Cash fans,
but there is a large contingency that embraces both.
Even those
who don’t like football recognize, without apathy, the frenzy
that the country gets into around the Super Bowl. And who in America
doesn’t love “The Simpsons”?! (But imagine for
a moment if “The Simpsons” were live action. How long
would it take nonproliferation groups, civil liberties organizations
and the Christian right to shut the show down due to the offensiveness
of a doughnut-eating buffoon working at a nuclear power plant,
an Indian working at a 7-11, or neighbors that warn against eternal
hellfire and damnation. It beautifully demonstrates our ability
to laugh at American distractions … as long as they’re
cartoons.)
Looking at
our history (a great history, but one that is riddled with theft,
religious fundamentalism and two holocausts that are even worse
than the famous one), pop culture sometimes seems to be the closest
thing we’ve got to “nationalism.” But there
is also truth in dismissing pop culture as a mere distraction.
It would
be nice to be able to believe that our nationalism comes from
a love for democracy, but in the past year alone our government
has discredited, overthrown and attempted to overthrow three other
democratically elected foreign leaders (Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat, Haiti President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez).
We are still
a country of immigrants. There is plenty of nationalism for one’s
own ethnic background in the United States, but few Americans,
due to their ideological, religious or ethical makeup, feel something
in common with everyone … which keeps us racist. If the
only nationalism that exists in this country is in “pockets”
- Jewish nationalism, black nationalism, Italian nationalism,
Norwegian nationalism … the country will destroy itself.
It is OK
to be proud of one’s ethnic heritage, but one also must
recognize the culturally diverse country that they’ve chosen
to live in, and feel a pride in it.
Sam
Selvaggio is a regular contributor to Raw Story. His past columns
can be found at the Selvaggio
archive page.
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