FYI. Fuck lee greenwood. Hate that mf song

[Roland99]

[kimbutgar]

1. I agree !

I cringe every time I hear it. Such a bs fascist propaganda song.

[agingdem]

5. absolutely!!

every time I hear that nauseating song I think Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and all our brave young men and women who sacrificed life and limb for a bullshit war those assholes lied us into ...

[rhiannon55]

2. That song makes me twitch

That ridiculous line "I'm proud to be an American because at least I know I'm free" is such soulless garbage that I don't know where to begin.

Suffice it to say that being proud of an accident of birth makes absolutely no sense and people who think that way are morons.

[moose65]

22. Ditto

It grates on the ears worse than nails on a chalkboard.

I’ve never really understood some people’s desire to proclaim their so-called love of America at every turn. And the whole “being proud” thing? Ugh. I’m proud of things I’ve done, things I’ve accomplished. Being American is an accident of birth for me.

On a side note: the idea that we have to constantly state that America is the greatest country in the world when we’re clearly not. Ugh. I don’t get it. Other countries don’t seem obsessed with stuff like that. Maybe I’m wrong…..

[underpants]

3. Ugh. Had to listen to it for months in the Cav early 90's

Every. Stinking. Day.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. The public elementary school plays it -- right after the Pledge.

Please note the irony: the demographic of this school is minority white and majority African-American, Hispanic, and Arab.

[Turbineguy]

6. It really is awful.

[aeromanKC]

7. Sold his soul to the Devil

[LakeArenal]

8. It's not the song. It's the ideology they used to own the song.

[Orrex]

9. Couldn't possibly agree more

And let's include all other bullshit hyper-nationalistic "country" music that follows the same empty-headed pattern.

[mountain grammy]

10. K & R

completely agree!

[FoxNewsSucks]

11. Is same here

Never liked it much anyway, and the right wing use of it makes me puke

[Initech]

12. Amen to that!

[NCDem47]

13. Sung by a white, straight male.

He and the songwriters were probably thinking, "everyone lives like we do". ---NOT!

[WarGamer]

14. the song isn't as bad as the people who push it...

[Politicub]

15. The song doesn't exist in a vacuum. It is written to appeal to

a sense of faux patriotism, so the audience is part of the experience. That’s how art works.

[WarGamer]

16. I see nothing wrong with patriotism.

But my definition of patriotism may differ from the knuckle draggers who claim to own the phrase.

[Politicub]

24. The song jumped the curve from patriotism to become a nationalist anthem.

I don’t see anything wrong with patriotism, either, and consider myself patriotic.

But nationalism rots a country from the inside out. We are witnessing its effects firsthand.

[njhoneybadger]

17. In agreement

[Polybius]

18. I like the song

I don't like him.

[rsdsharp]

19. I was working mornings on a country radio station when that song came out.

When a song gets into the hot rotation (as this POS did) it gets played A LOT. I liked country over Top 40 because the songs didn’t seem to burn out for me as fast. This took about a week to get old. And that was before we started to play it every 70 minutes. Beginning at fucking dawn for me.

God, I loathe that song. And that’s not even taking into consideration the dishonesty of the lyric “I’d gladly stand up and defend her STILL today.” The connotation of “still” is that he defended the country before. I’ve never seen any evidence that he served in the military.

[Midnight Writer]

20. My brother once filled in for a band that played at the local American Legion.

During their set, they played this song.

He said as they started, everyone in the place stood at attention and either saluted or put their hands over their hearts.

Then, a fellow picked up the American Flag there and started marching around the bar, and everyone fell into a line behind him.

This line snaked through the place, the guy in front waving the Flag back and forth and marching with a high step.

At the end of the song, a lot of the people were weeping.

At this point, the singer went backstage, and emerged moments later wearing a star-spangled jumpsuit and an Elvis wig, and they went into a medley of Elvis tunes.

Ah, life in the good old USA.

[Politicub]

25. Random acts of conga line. They can pop up most anywhere.

Sounds like it was a wild party.

[gulliver]

21. It's got Detroit, LA, and New York in it...nothing wrong with that.

Still, the people who sing it for the "God Bless the USA" and the "I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today" yet still support Trump are truly living in irony world.

[CrackityJones75]

23. It got booed at the metrodone

I used to go to a lot of twins games at the metrodome in the early 2000’s and they would play it between an in ing and at some point people got so sick of it they started booing it.

It is an awful awful song.

[Blue Owl]

26. It's like the prequel theme song for MAGA

[CrackityJones75]

27. To me it completely illustrates "patriotism" today

“Patriotism” as it is being called today is nothing more than people vomiting stars and stripes in an attempt to show off to other faux patriots. It is the monster truck rally or car show of civics where people compete to build the trucks that are lifted higher with bigger tires louder sound systems, more outrageous everything.

I don’t mean to belittle mechanics and enthusiasts at all but the meaning of patriotism is so completely lost that many people have no idea what the hell it is anymore. Patriotism has become a way to pigeonhole people into a caricature of what “American” should be instead of focusing on improving life for all Americans regardless of their background or their lifestyle. To be patriotic one should understand that there are differences among us but that we are all each other’s countrymen. That there are inalienable rights that we observe and feel obligated to protect regardless of our differences.

These ideas are so completely lost on many people here in the U.S. that it is pretty scary that symbols and propaganda and rhetoric have replaced what patriotism is all about. The irony being that we are the UNITED States yet there anything but a desire to be united in todays concept of patriotism.

It is gross and disgusting and I am growing more and more to despise 4th of July in part because of it.

[Wounded Bear]

30. I think they call that "jingoism"...

Oh, and BTW, I hate that fucking song, too.

[CrackityJones75]

31. You are 100% correct!

Jingoism.

[Ilsa]

28. What show or event was it played on today already?

A car race started early?

I dislike it, too. Too sappy. Too many untrue assumptions. People are free in many, many other places. But I bet most of those who like it are thinking about gun freedom.

[Raine]

29. I don't give it much thought. 🤔 nt