# Proud to be an American? (the song) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837 "2004-10-12T16:53:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beltbuckle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@beltbuckle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beltbuckle)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/21 "2004-10-12T19:48:41Z")
So let me get this straight… you are asking a forum on the internet if you should be bothered by this? Isn’t that a choice you are supposed to make… yourself? This song has been sung in elementary schools around the nation for at least 10 years. If you are bothered by it I suggest you get some thicker skin. ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/22 "2004-10-12T19:56:33Z")
I guess I could understand saying “I’m proud of my country”. And I spend a lot of time being thankful I was born where I was. But proud to be an American? My nationality is an accident of birth - I had nothing to do with it. I can no more be proud to be an American than I can be proud to be five-foot-six (and a half). It’s the undercurrent of cheap pride, of taking credit for something that I had nothing to do with, that turns me off about the song. The only people who should be allowed to sing that song are Naturalized Americans. Sing it, brothers and sisters! ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/23 "2004-10-12T19:58:17Z")
Gotta side with **igloorex** hever. The song’s a smarmy, ham-fised, cheesy piece of over-the-top jingoism. Never liked it anywhere I heard it. Not that there’s anything wrong with teaching patriotic songs to kids, in itself, but we should be teaching them the _good_ stuff. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/24 "2004-10-12T20:01:15Z")
> [@beltbuckle](#): > > So let me get this straight… you are asking a forum on the internet if you should be bothered by this? Isn’t that a choice you are supposed to make… yourself? My question was more of why would this bother me, does it bother anyone else? It’s certainly not obnoxious enough yet to me to be Pit worthy, but it might be if anyone actually suggested it might be a National Anthem candidate (I’d prefer _Cool Jerk_ or any number of other songs). > [@](#): > > This song has been sung in elementary schools around the nation for at least 10 years. If you are bothered by it I suggest you get some thicker skin. [/quote] I’d not been aware of this trend until recently, perhaps because we just relocated this year from Ohio to Florida. This song would _not_ have gone over well in our school district in Ohio, which was a lot less “country” than the one we’re in now. But thank you for your kind suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/25 "2004-10-12T20:03:59Z")
I like the song. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/26 "2004-10-12T20:18:17Z")
- - - I never ever heard this song until after 9/11, when the music service where I work started playing it about once every hour. Now they’re down to about once per 8-hours. I find it fairly overdone and cliche’–if they had to play a pro-American song to prove something, I’d have preferred one of the older more-traditional ones instead. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/27 "2004-10-12T21:08:29Z")
> [@Genghis Bob](#): > > I guess I could understand saying “I’m proud of my country”. And I spend a lot of time being thankful I was born where I was. > > But proud to be an American? > > My nationality is an accident of birth - I had nothing to do with it. I can no more be proud to be an American than I can be proud to be five-foot-six (and a half). > > It’s the undercurrent of cheap pride, of taking credit for something that I had nothing to do with, that turns me off about the song. > > The only people who should be allowed to sing that song are Naturalized Americans. Sing it, brothers and sisters! One can be proud to be an American not because they were born here but because they continue to stay. I have met many a immigrant that was very proud to now be an American. More power to 'em to wave the flag and sing all the patriotic songs they like. One day I’ll get around to that “I think we should change the National Anthem to America the Beautiful” thread… ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/28 "2004-10-12T21:11:47Z")
Maybe you feel that a school having kids sing a nationalistic song is a form of brainwashing. That it encourages a sort of “my country, right or wrong” mentality. Maybe that the “nationalistic brainwashing” is done with you may feel is a tedious song may be just adding insult to injury. As a parent, you should consider talking to your child and figure out what (s)he thinks of singing it. Maybe all you need is to encourage your child to think critically. As far as all those other kids… well, you’re not their parent. I think it is a rather harmless thing and you should devote your outrage to more important things (I’m sure you can think of a few pretty easily.) Don’t sweat the small stuff. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/29 "2004-10-12T21:40:37Z")
The song is crap…ranks up there with Ballad of The Green Beret, though I doubt many reading this can remember that jingoistic popfart of a song. I think if it were me, I would find out what yokel teacher selected this song and suggest they stick to more standard melodies (America The Beautiful, etc.). And regarding comments about getting thicker skin when listening to this - how would you same people think if the teacher had them singing John Lennon’s, “Happy X’mas, War Is Over”? Far better melody, and certainly a better message. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/30 "2004-10-12T22:24:59Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > The song is crap…ranks up there with Ballad of The Green Beret, though I doubt many reading this can remember that jingoistic popfart of a song. > > I think if it were me, I would find out what yokel teacher selected this song and suggest they stick to more standard melodies (America The Beautiful, etc.). > > And regarding comments about getting thicker skin when listening to this - how would you same people think if the teacher had them singing John Lennon’s, “Happy X’mas, War Is Over”? Far better melody, and certainly a better message. _Silver wings upon their chest These are men, America’s best 100 men will try today…_ Is that about right? That’s another problem, once inserted into memory they’re hard to remove. 🙂 Maybe I’ll start a campaign to have them sing Lennon’s _Imagine_ as a counterbalance. ---
**Author:** ![citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/citrus_x_paradisi)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/31 "2004-10-12T22:34:36Z")
Pride is for accomplishments. This song inspires the same sort of ‘Divine Right’ thinking that I see in our current presidential administration. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/32 "2004-10-13T01:20:19Z")
I’m not bothered by it, but that’s mostly because we sang it in school every Flag Day (do people still celebrate this?) from kindergarten on up. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/33 "2004-10-13T02:00:12Z")
The song’s a frickin’ fascist anthem. As art it’s garbage. As pop, it doesn’t make the grade. And I _love_ country music. The real stuff: Moe Bandy and the Kendalls singing about cheating and barrooms. It’s crap like “God Bless” that gives country a bad name. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/34 "2004-10-13T02:59:47Z")
That song makes me ill, but it’s mostly because I believe there is a special circle of hell waiting for Lee Greenwood. Every child in my school can sing that song. My children can sing that song. Last year, in the movie theater, they played that song before the movie and everyone sang. It has now surpassed “The Song that Never Ends” on my all-time list of ferociously irritating songs. I don’t like it. At all. But I don’t think I am _offended_ by it. FB ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/35 "2004-10-13T03:05:31Z")
My in-laws are from Europe, and when they were visiting, we took them to a “concert” where the schoolkids sang this song. They were stunned that such a jingoistic song would be sung in school. At that point, I was so used to the song saturating popular culture that it didn’t even make much of an impression on me. Sidenote: The kids sang an edited version: “and I won’t forget the **ones** who died” – not “the **men** who died”. ---
**Author:** ![kalex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dfb087/32.png) [@kalex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kalex)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/36 "2004-10-13T03:18:39Z")
I HATE that song - and the part I truly despise is right up front: And I had to start again With just my children and my wife Well, how fortunate for you that the imaginary disaster spared your family! then: Where AT LEAST I know I’m free Shouldn’t it be ‘ABOVE ALL I know etc’? ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/37 "2004-10-13T05:11:04Z")
I always thought one thing public schools at least touched on was citizenship. In that context, I could see the value of such a song. (Not necessarily _that_ particular song, but something of that type) For quite a while it seems like many people on this board have a knee-jerk reaction to anything they find overly patriotic. I know one reason is because some people have patriotism shoved in their face, and get viewed as being ‘un-patriotic’ if they don’t buy into it. I can understand this feeling- its not unlike prostelytizing (sp?). However, quite a few of you have kind of gone so far that I can’t help but imagine that you rupture one capillary every time you see an American flag, or hear anything remotely in praise of something about the United States. Being proud to be an American doesn’t infer some veiled threat to anyone that doesn’t follow that creed. If you don’t dig it, fine, but if you cast the same level of bias as the people you hate, then you’re no better than they are. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/38 "2004-10-13T05:26:19Z")
The part that steams my ankles is, “…at least I know I’m free.” That sets a sheepish tone. “Hey, we’re not so bad, at least I know I’m free.” ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/39 "2004-10-13T05:55:27Z")
I hate the song. I heard it an awful lot during the ‘first’ Gulf War, and I hated it then. (I was living in the USA at the time.) It was the ‘at least I know I’m free’ bit–which was fine, but I had the strong impression you sure were _not_ free to criticize the president or the administration’s policies. Criticism was unpatriotic; and that’s a concept I’ve always disagreed with. The song struck me as smug and hypocritical, and cynically written to cash in on the patriotic fervour of the Kuwait/Iraq conflict. But to be honest, what I really, _really_ hate about it is the way the chorus gets stuck in my head. Like it is now. It’s going to take something just as insidious to replace that melody circling around and around in my brain… There must be better songs for kids to sing in school that celebrate your country without having to sing musical pablum. It’s not the feeling of pride and protectiveness I find offensive; it’s that song itself. It’s not a good song. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837/40 "2004-10-13T05:58:15Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > The song struck me as smug and hypocritical, and cynically written to cash in on the patriotic fervour of the Kuwait/Iraq conflict. And a quick trip to Google tells me I’m wrong about the song being written in reaction to the Gulf War. You get that point, Mr. Greenwood. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proud-to-be-an-american-the-song/268837.md?page=3)