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Srbija 2020

Proud to be an American?

Sunday night, despite my Belgrade locale, I found myself audience to two separate performances of the American National Anthem: the first by Laibach at its SKC concert, and the second by Billy Joel, broadcasted live from the pinnacle of American sport culture - the Super Bowl.

Needless to say, the two renditions could not have been more opposite. For over twenty years now Laibach has toed the anti-establishment line, while the Super Bowl, by definition, is a celebration of the establishment. Yet after viewing the two performances, I found that Billy Joel’s heartfelt, patriotic version, tweaked by CBS, did more to send home Laibach’s message than did any of the Slovenian band’s ominous warnings and sinister imagery.

Laibach performed its remix of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as a part of Volk, an album featuring a series of national anthems, each spun to reflect the problems found in the respective counties. In its rendition of Francis Scott Key’s 1814 tune, Laibach disparages America as a country filled with arrogance, religious fervor, and hypocrisy. The song opens with the lines:

 

So the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave,

Are your stars still so bright? Does your banner still waves?

Oh, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave,

Are you heaven on Earth or the gloom of the grave?

 

It then goes on to mock the idea that America has achieved the goals set out in the Constitution, asking:

 

You, the people of the United States,

did you form a perfect union,

establish justice, ensure tranquility,

secure the blessings of Liberty to yourselves and your posterity?

How blind can you get for your country right or wrong?

 

While Laibach is not incorrect in noting America’s failure to achieve its full aims, I found the song and its criticism overly simplistic and totally out of touch with reality. Of course the ideals of the Founding Father’s have not been achieved, because they are just that – ideals, goals of perfection that can be used as guiding principles through an unavoidably imperfect reality. Granted, these ideals do not always serve at the main guiding principle for all American leaders. But is it really worse to have ideals that are only half followed than to not have them at all?

In short, the song with all its doom-and-gloom lyrics left me feeling no more in question of my country than I was before, and if anything slightly more on the defensive.

Following the concert I joined some American friends to watch the Super Bowl, an event which in practice has reached the status of a national holiday. Each Super Bowl Sunday the game is watched by over 140 million Americans, a viewership which has translated into commercial time sold for an estimated $2.5 million per 30 second time slot.

Oddly enough, Billy Joel’s Super Bowl performance left me far more unsure of my country and what it stands for than did any of Laibach’s American, capitalist-slave imagery.

Before tuning in to the big game, my friend turned the television on to CNN. The reporter, delivering a weekend overview of world events, read allowed the death toll of Saturday’s suicide bombing in Baghdad, which by that point had reached something around 130 lost lives.

Then game time rolled around and we switched channels just as Billy Joel began to sing. Between shots of the packed stadium and the row of proud football players, the screen flashed to an image of American soldiers, dressed in tan military fatigues, hands over hearts, gathered around a TV in Baghdad as though to say “even though our boys are in Iraq, their hearts are in the Miami Dolphin’s stadium”.

The question of whether or not American soldiers in Baghdad watch the Super Bowl doesn’t really concern me, although I do wonder what portion of them have a better understanding of American football than of the American war that they are in Iraq to fight.

Instead, I was completely thrown by the ease with which the most commercialized event in America and an image directly related the United State’s disastrous foreign policy could be merged into one tear-jerking TV moment, set against the musical background of our national anthem.

Is the United States really no more than a bread and circus state? Are American citizens really more willing to see the American soldier as just another football fan rather than as a tool in a war we’ve been waging for almost four years now?

I would like to think that the answer is "no". But if a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" sung at an event epitomizing American culture leaves me in doubt, I am left to wonder if my trust in America is nothing more than the result of well fed, well entertained complacency.


Laibach and the ideals of a nation

You said: "But is it really worse to have ideals that are only half followed than to not have them at all?"

No, not really, but it's more of an ontological question, than a practical one. I'll be brief and say just this: with half-following ideals, you are at the verge of being a hypocrit. Even more so, when you try to make everyone share your ideals.

The bottom line is: nationalism (even patriotism) is, as Danilo Kis once said, a philosophy of banality and kitsch. American or Serbian, it makes no difference to me. Naturally, I criticize Serbian nationalism more than I do American, but it is merely a consequence of being stuck in this horrible country, while basically, equally genocidal are both forms. And this is why it appears to me particularly schizophrenic when the two countries comment on each other's foreign policies as "imperialistic", or when they talk about war crimes. It's like Hitler accusing Stalin, for being a monster. Generally I feel one should first deal with one's own problems, and then spread wisdom around to others. Be that "one" Serbia or America, it makes no difference.

And, as far as "being proud to be and American", I don't understand that either. I'm blonde, for example. Should I be proud of that?

You mentioned Laibach in the beginning. I don't understand their music, but here's a quote (I'm not sure if I agree, having in mind Roth, Updike, Tennesee Williams and William Faulkner, to name a few...):
"First of all, we know that America likes us and we shall therefore come back; nonetheless, we have seen it and we agree that it is the only nation in history which has miraculously lapsed from barbarism directly to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization. If America is the foremost nation of today, then history has come to a full stop."


gosh, beef steak

that was not too enlightening. Lucy was just critisizing the ammalgamation of national symbols, sports and the sentiment of patriotism into media spin and war propaganda. Where the heck did you wander off...


Every day I wake up, I thank

Every day I wake up, I thank God I'm a Serb. (*)

I don't see anything wrong with being proud of who you are and where you come from. This is inherent to all the world's nations and peoples. No exception. Wherever you go, you will meet people who are proud of their heritage and they will be in the majority.

The problem appears when some folks start feeling the urge to say it outloud, as if it's not a given that one should be proud of one's heritage, culture, tradition... What's the point in stating the obvious?

The analogy to blond-haired people is plain stupid. Sorry.

----------------
(*) nicked from Cerrys Matthews: "Every day when I wake up, I thank the lord I'm Welsh."


...just like the trust in

...just like the trust in Laibach's lyrics is nothing more than a result of a well-entertained complacency. They are just a band who have built a big part of their commercial sucess on lyrics and statements you have heard at the show. Don't get me wrong: I think Laibach are musically very important since they have a great influence on many bands, even outside of ex-Yugoslavian borders.

The most important thing is that you have the trust in people and you know why you trust them. Trust in Serbia, America or any other country can be very tricky because often times countries as political entities are not really symbolized by the things we support. Not to mention the statememnts such as "proud to be a Serb," which in fact is not gramatically correct because you cannot be proud of something you have not accomplished or at least helped to accomplish.

I lived in the States for 5 years and met many wonderful people whom I trust and know why. I am sure you can do the same.


Laibach's method is

Laibach's method is extremely simple, effective and horribly open to misinterpretation. They exaggerate everything to extent of parody. They are also playing with taboos, which I am finding extremly important in music, morover in any kind of art ... because playing with taboos are helping us to face/brake our own prejudieces.

I also agree with Ikan that Leibach is extremely important musicallly natonivide (Rammstein music and artisitic performance is very much influenced buy Laibach, for example).

People tend to missrepresent and undermestimate Laibach, just because they are avangarda ...


Whats wrong

with critisizing american national anthem? I kinda like it the way Laibach sings it. Relax, its only rockenroll. If you have a reason to be proud of your country, thats your problem. I am not proud of Serbia, but I still feel like Sh-t when I watch some idiotic, simplistic, ignorant hollywood movie about evil Serbs. But, as you say, what you whip is what you sawed. Sorry, my spelling is terrible.


Sorry but you lost it!

If over 500,000 dead Iraqis and Afghanis since the USA-UK lead interventions have not fundamentally altered you then nothing will. Let alone the Leibach artiste.


I never said...

I never said that the death toll itself is not shocking. My intention, however, was not to debate the foreign policy – a task requiring far more than a blog entry - but rather to object to its romanticized, commercialized packaging and the ease with which it seems to be accepted by the viewing audience.
How can the public object to the death count if citizens are so easily taken in by images that blur the realities of war with symbols of all-American culture?


all-American culture

Don't you find it interesting that American interventionism, covert or transparent, since WWII, including Vietnam, Guatemala, Chile, Tahiti, etc. etc. has not fundamentally altered the concept of "all-American culture"?
You rather still perceive that as a goody goody?
How is it that in the short space of time between the period of slavery, with continuous lingering of segregation and racism, the picture of a goody-goody all-American clean t-shirted baseball player continues. Is this a self-creating and self-pertetuating illusion of each individual?
Otherwise, what will be left for you behind this mask?
Wars must continue, world conflicts must be maintained and even created, because the war economomy of you country has not been dismantled since WW2. War economy is best economy. Who are the biggest employers in the land of the free and brave? The government and the military, in case you didn't know. So it is quite natural that realites of war and all-American culture are blurred.


yes! war economy

is the best kind of economy. that's why serbia is so prosperous! (and of course it completely explains strength of american economy)

you are an idiot.


"war economy" = technical term

fast economic growth - basic economy textbook stuff, think of nazi germany, communist russia, etc.
major inventions are used in military industry before they are sold of to private consumers.

as far as Serbian war economy is concerned it did not exist. Serbia did not prepare itself for war. and what's more you have to be on the winning side like USA.


Laibach said

Quote:„How blind can you get for your country right or wrong?”
This is a great verse, explaining the problem with every big country. Or small, for that matter. Again, if Serbs wasnt blind about their part in the past wars, then Hollywood would not made a single movie about them, a that would be great. I ask you, how can you believe, as an American, that you can insult whole world with false demokracy, with unbelieveble force and killing, that people would just stand there and say: „They are right, they are strong, I am stupid because I dont like when they push me around.” Is that the image you exepted? I hope not.


do you feel

pushed around? frustrated, perhaps?

relax, have a joint or sth....all that frustration is not good for you...


Pa,

'My country, right or wrong' is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.' (G. K. Chesterton).


D' oh !

Patriotism is for the dumb. Only those who lack vision see the world divided into countries. The challange for the modern person is to devoid every last incling of patriotism from his mind. American, Serbian, English, Indian, Angolan... Whatever. Nations, Flags, Anthems have long outlived their usefullness and make less and less sense each day.
I am sure that there is a dirrect correlation between the rise one gets from patriotic imagery and the lowness of his I.Q. - At least in this day and age.
The US will soon go through a period where all that Flag waving and 'God Bless America' will lose it's charm on Americans themselves. You think that Post-Vietnam lull was bad... wait until the Post-Iraq lull hits...


Quote:Patriotism is for the

Quote:
Patriotism is for the dumb. Only those who lack vision see the world divided into countries. The challange for the modern person is to devoid every last incling of patriotism from his mind. American, Serbian, English, Indian, Angolan... Whatever. Nations, Flags, Anthems have long outlived their usefullness and make less and less sense each day.

Riiiiight! (in my best Dr. Evil voice).

The world divided into the 200+ countries is not "a lack of vision"; it's reality - the only kind I need to see and the only kind that affects me. Really, the only kind that matters. That reality contradicts you.

Talking about the world as you would like it to be and claiming that's what the world really is like betrays a serious leak in the brains dep't as well as a tremendous amount of naiveté. But, again, it's your right - so knock yourself out.

A world without nations, cultures, flags, anthems etc is a world I wouldn't want to live in. Our differences are important. Contrary to the popular myth, they don't divide us - they bring us closer together. Respecting one's own heritage & culture is as important as respecting everyone else's.

Sure, one's nationality should play no part in interpersonal relations, but when you talk about the world and nations, you're treading very different waters.

All the best...


The version of “The

The version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, the one sung by the comedian Rossane Barr, left the strongest impact on me. She screamed the song and showed everybody the way to be heard. No one had listen so far. Maybe the scream as the most honest form of protect would serve its purpose.


.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHMVuT3Gl6g

She spits at the end.
I'd say a very strong political message.
Having humongous balls is a must here.
Right or wrong? it's a matter of views & opinions.
Brave? Certainly.


Ako

je pljuvanje ta poruka 'Skidam kapu', ali je snimak dosta isprekidan pa nisam uspio da skontam da li je josh neshto recheno?:-)))


what's it to you...

I guess it depends on what being American means to you. I think people make mistakes when they correlate what being an American is with what went on or is going on currently in the US or abroad. Being an American does not mean that you support the war in Iraq, or that your ancestors participated in slavery, or that you discriminate against minorities. A human being remains a human being, regardless of nation. American or not, the hell with the stereotypes, let's try to be the best that we can be!


USA! USA! USA!


Effective juxtaposition

Lucy, I found your contemplation on national pride, its critique and particularly the contrasting between an 'avantgarde' band and the pinnacle of Americana honest and very good.
I don't follow much Laibach (or is it Leibach?). The quasi-avantgarde of that kind has always been pathetic for my taste (I found them boring, the little that I saw of them). The thing is - if they wrote songs about Slovenia..well, 3/4 of the world don't know where in the Hell Slovenia is! Or is it a brand of cheese, or whatever else. America is an easy target. And likely to attract wider audience for what you want to say.

ALL countries look after their own interests and spare no hypocrisy (and fair bit of practices far worse than that) in order to achieve them, both domestically and abroad. The difference is that some are better at it, and others are tragically bad.

None of that should bear any influence on an individual's attempts to question the values and morals of his/her own actions, views, beliefs, and so on. You were examining your Americanism in a way that everybody could, and should, relate to. It is an individual vs. the home town, or the country, even the times. Finding your place in the world is a life-long task.


True:

Quote:
America is an easy target.

Especially now that they've spread themselves around the world so much.


you mean

we spread ourselves...


Well, yeah,

that's another way to put it. The other day General Casey said that it is not prudent to increase the number of troups in Iraq (co called "surge"), because there will be more targets for the oponent.
It never occured to him to say that we should reduce the number of troups to reduce the needless killings of innocents, to stop attracting the terrorists to Iraq, etc. Obviously, he does not see that as a problem at all.


uhm, yeah

and if we withdrew from iraq they would totally stop killing each other...

and, of course, before we came, sadam wasn't killing innocent people and they weren't dying in wars...


OK, we'll talk about that

when Yasmina writes her blog about US (she promissed she will:))


Last post

Just for the record, no hard feelings! Just kidding. Have a good life, I mean it Brooklyn.


How blind can you get for

How blind can you get for your country right or wrong?
And Re: righ or wrong


Lucy how can you tolerate this?

"Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. As a result we do not have sufficient strength to find a comprehensive solution to any one of these conflicts. Finding a political settlement also becomes impossible.

We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law. And independent legal norms are, as a matter of fact, coming increasingly closer to one state’s legal system. One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations. Well, who likes this? Who is happy about this?"
Putin, Munich 2007


Quote:

"Is the United States really no more than a bread and circus state? Are American citizens really more willing to see the American soldier as just another football fan rather than as a tool in a war we’ve been waging for almost four years now?"

Unfortunately Lucy, the answer to both questions is yes. So is Serbia, if it makes you feel any better. The only difference is there's a lot more bread in the United States.