Born in the the U.S.A

Bruce Springsteen wrote the now famous song, "Born in the U.S.A." in 1984. The song is widely considered a patriotic song about American pride, especially after Ronald Reagan made it so in a campaign speech. But how many know, or remember, that Springsteen's song was really about the shame of how veterans of the Vietnam war were treated after they returned from the first war the US had lost.

How can a song about men sent to kill "the yellow man,"  become a symbol of national pride? Is American patriotism about killing "the yellow man," or the "brown man," or the "red man"? Or do people only hear the words they want to hear; about being "a cool rocking daddy" in the U.S.A? Rock and roll, as long as it isn't our heads that are rolling.

We are told we need to kill our enemies.

A black man born in the USA, whose enemy is he?
A Muslim born in the USA, whose enemy is he?
An Arab born in the USA, whose enemy is he?

Is it enough to say that someone is born in the USA for someone to be a friend instead of an enemy? For most people such a question isn't even an issue. But for some even being born in the USA isn't enough, for in their worldview friends were created in those few magical decades after the Mayflower sailed across the Atlantic. The descendants of the "white natives" who came to the New World share a special bond that cannot be shared with anyone else, regardless of the place of their birth. My ancestors weren't part of it, wherefore I have no right to voice my opinions about public policy. But neither does anyone else, born in the USA, or not. Hence it's not really a white issue, it is a pride issue. And because it is a pride issue, people can sing, "Born in the U.S.A" with patriotic fervor, although it is really about national shame.

As it was then, it is now: few seem to know the difference.