Everyone needs to see this.
I don't know exactly if others' education parallels my own experience, but growing up, my elementary school days were invariably replete with American history. We learned of our forefathers, and especially, we learned about the Revolutionary War that established these great united states.
Thus, though we may not always proclaim or show it, but the undercurrents of the "underdog" very much flow through our veins. For some, it flows more strongly, and for others, it is but a hint, a trace, a trickle of emotion that we may or may not squash before it hinders us.
We have always been a culture that celebrates the "story" behind a journey. We exalt and proclaim the bravery of those that fight "against the odds." Even when we are at the top of our game, already respected and revered, we somehow make ourselves the underdog, twist our point of view to fuel our underdoggedness and fight to beat the powers that be.
And we are usually the powers that be.
Take, for example, the Olympics. We are already considered athletically superior to a very large percentage of the world, yet our media coverage somehow finds a way to make it seem like we're the underdogs, fighting for the American freedom like our forefathers.
I'm sick of it.
We live in a great country, maybe the greatest in the world, maybe the greatest in the history of the world (except for Iceland, Norway, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France, Finland, Denmark and Austria), but quite honestly, there is a fine line between national pride and national arrogance.
Also, the whole "underdog" thing is so tiresome. I don't care if the story is inspirational, or if it's truly "American", in the end, it's just a story, a life that has to be lived like all other lives.
Enough with counterculture and underground and indie. It's time to realize that all of that is a part of the whole, a part of the big picture.
It's time to understand that nonconformity has become the new conformity.
Now leave me alone to eat my burger and freedom fries.
3 comments:
Freedom fries!!! how I would like some right now hahahha.
We live in a great country, maybe the greatest in the world, maybe the greatest in the history of the world (except for Iceland, Norway, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France, Finland, Denmark and Austria), lolz your blogs are always so educational!!!
true. this post reminds me a lot of your noncomformity post back when you had a xanga haha but yeah, there really is no indie or counterculture. just people trying to be different, like everyone else is. we're all the same, just living.
but well put as always, my friend. well done. :)
not that i wasn't blown away by her performance but wasn't Susan Boyle singing an "underdog" example right there?
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