Coca-Cola aired a Super Bowl ad with “America the Beautiful” sung in numerous languages. It was sweet and forgettable—there are many things to not to like about Coke, but their harmless pandering to the idea that America is, among other things, a polyglot nation is not among them—except to dumb, intolerant people who were mad about non-English languages being used in combination with America. They were angry, and used the hashtag #fuckcoke so that everyone would know just how angry they were.
I learned something about America during yesterday’s Super Bowl. Well, no, I suppose I already knew, but I was certainly reminded of it again. America is a country home to some really, truly disgusting racists…and these “Real Americans” have no problem with the idea of displaying their racism on the forum where fools go to advertise- Twitter.
We should probably settle one thing before we get too far along: America is neither the property nor the purview of White English speakers. America is a country built by immigrants, and most of you who think American is by Divine right a White playground are descended from people who at some point arrived in American on a boat. America is a melting pot, a conglomeration of language, culture, race, and religion unlike any other country. Funny how so many have conveniently chosen to forget their heritage so that they may might claim ownership of the American experience.
Knowing full well that I was engaging on a fool’s errand, I chose to engage a number of the racist trolls on Twitter. Perhaps I thought I could get them to see their ignorance and racism (Yeah, I know; I really can be astonishingly naive at times). What I discovered, of course, is that the beautiful thing about aggressive ignorance is that you never feel the need to question the correctness and/or validity of your beliefs.
@amber_finney04 Really? Sorry for soiling your White Paradise, but America is not the property of White English speakers. Pathetic.
— Jack Cluth (@yuppieskum) February 3, 2014
After the jump, you can see the commercial for yourself- if you haven’t already. Perhaps you’ll be able to understand why so many were so incensed that “America the Beautiful” was sung in several different languages. I thought the commercial was a truly beautiful take on the fact that America is far more than White English speakers and how we’re far more than the sum of our parts.
Then again, if you believe White Makes Right…you’re beyond help and I should probably leave you to stew in your racism and arrogance.
As you might imagine, my several simultaneously ongoing Twitter wars didn’t proceed nearly as well as I hoped. One genius summed up his (not so very) brilliant argument by referring to me as a crude four-letter euphemism for “vagina.” Classy, eh? You know you’re dealing with a true mental giant when he brings an insult involve female genitalia to the party.
I should have followed Winston Churchill’s and declined to engage in a battle of wits with unarmed opponents….
No one seemed willing to recognize that they were embarrassing themselves with their intolerance and racism. Of course, I also failed to recognize something- that I had no realistic hope of doing anything but generating copious amounts of vitriol directed at me.
Yeah, I know; who’s the real fool here, right?
@NickGwinn Believe it or not, America is not populated solely by White English speakers. Shocking, ain't it?
— Jack Cluth (@yuppieskum) February 3, 2014
I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised at the degree to which xenophobia seems to be a dominant Twitter meme, but I was stunned by the depth of anger and racism I encountered, especially over something designed to spotlight and celebrate America’s diversity. That so many took such offense over something so innocent and so…well, American…is as disturbing as it is indicative that no matter how much we might delude ourselves to the contrary, racism and racial arrogance is still very much alive and well in America.
ThanksObama?? Really, you’re going to blame the President for a Coke commercial? What’s next, holding him responsible for the Bay of Pigs invasion or the Lindbergh kidnapping??
Sometimes people really suck.
