Angry American

Do you know that song by Toby Keith once called "Angry American", now called "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue"? I heard it this weekend, loud and clear enough to hear all the lyrics. You ought to read them before continuing on. Anyways, I wrote this to Toby Keith:

I just heard your song, "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" at an event and I was very disturbed by what I heard. I had heard the song before, but not well enough to hear the lyrics. I believe you have the right to have a different opinion, and that you can't always make everyone happy. However, I don't respect the way you have expressed your opinion and you invite disagreement as you speak for all Americans with those lyrics. As an American, I want to tell you how and why I feel misrepresented by that song. This is a supposedly a patriotic song, but I don't see anything in there that I want America to represent. The intolerance and ignorance you are promoting in this song is exactly what fuels wars, and leads to more happenings like September 11. You declaring that we will "light them up like the fourth of July" and tragically, that is exactly what we have done. The bloodshed didn’t end with September 11, it began. A very conservative estimate from a statistic from the Associated Press is 110,600 civilian Iraqis killed in the War on Terror. That is 39 for every American who died in the Twin Towers. That is just Iraqis and doesn't include Afghanistan, or Pakistan. Your song promotes blind retaliation, macho-ism, and ineffective ways of resolving conflict under the guise of patriotism. Does being patriotic mean that I must also be arrogant bully? Teaching someone a lesson actually just breeds more resentment, and more 9/11’s. It actually invites the very conflict we are currently fighting against. Is this really patriotism or is it simply asinine?  

The World Trade Center was a terrible tragedy that happened on a terrible day 10 years ago. I know that many Americans have lost loved ones. But aren’t we repeating history by making the mistake of thinking that our suffering is more important, more intense, and more real than the suffering of others? Is the suffering of an American man any different from the suffering of Pakistani man?  

I am assuming a lot by sending you this- that you have not changed, that you for some reason need to hear this, that this is not ten years too late. I am even going to assume that I am not even telling you anything that you have not heard of before. But reminders are always nice (I guess not always), and your song is still out there, doing its damage. Why did I pick your ten-year-old song? It resonated with me. It is a powerful song and you are in a powerful situation. Your circle of influence far exceeds mine. Please consider what you are doing. I am not sure that I really expect this to reach you. As I conclude this message, I realize that perhaps that I learned more from writing this than you probably will from reading it. Thank you for your time.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand I didn't send it. I really meant to, but his email address was no where to be found. Kidding, but really, I think that maybe I just needed to write it, more than I really needed to know that he read it.