Many far-right conservatives' negative reactions to the Coca-Cola Super Bowl commercial have received a great deal of attention from the media. After these conservatives have been painted as racist and/or xenophobic, Kyle Becker of the ultra right-wing site Independent Journal Review decided to write a piece defending such individuals.
In his article, titled, "Coca Cola Airs Controversial Multi-Cultural Version of 'America the Beautiful' During the Super Bowl," he wrote the following bits:
- "While people expect fairly universal messages when it comes to corporate advertising, they don't expect nationally significant songs like 'America the Beautiful' to be chopped up into multiple languages."
- "The sentiment behind the ad might be laudable: people of different nationalities living side by side without the divisive viewpoint that everyone who is different is the 'other.' But some people might rightly take offense that their national tradition is being sliced up and repackaged to sell a soft drink."
- "Multiculturalism shouldn't be offensive to any particular culture - and that's the hypocrisy many 'conservatives' see about it."
- "Shock - they (conservatives) love their country as it is and don't want it to be more like China or Russia or any other nation on earth. They love freedom, and civil society, and yes, they respect if not admire immigrants who come to the nation to pursue the American Dream."
- "The nation is enriched by contributions from immigrants from multiple backgrounds and languages, but how can there be cultural harmony with everyone speaking their own languages and unable to grasp a common culture that unites people?"
From reading this article, it appears as if Mr. Becker may be in denial and may not be the deepest thinker this side of a caveman named Simpleton. So, according to him, conservatives are just upset because multiculturalism shouldn't be offensive to any particular culture and it's this unknown "hypocrisy" which has infuriated so many. What is this "hypocrisy" exactly? That the commercial depicts Americans of several different ethnicities, whom all possess different native languages, so that none of them are showcased as the "other," and this makes white conservatives feel like the "other"? How does that work exactly? Is that hypocrisy or more along the lines of xenophobia and an inferiority complex? I think I'll go with the latter.
Also, if Mr. Becker truly believes that unreal reason is the actual reason, I have to ask him, "Did you read some of these tweets regarding the commercial?"
Here are a few, in case he missed them:
- "F you coke the national anthem wasn't made for your g**k and Mexican talking.. STFU!!! Speak English."
- "Coca Cola is the official soft drink of illegals crossing the border. #americaisbeautiful"
- "Coke combined Amnesty & Gay Agenda into 1 commercial, I'm sure they would have added gun control in if they could have figured a way."
- "Nice to see that coke likes to sing an AMERICAN song in the terrorist's language. Way to go coke. You can leave America."
- "That coke commercial sucked. Mexicans, terrorists, jews, and n***ers are not 'American'."
Still think those comments were more about hypocrisy than racism and xenophobia, Mr. Becker? I don't think so...
Lastly, where Mr. Becker and many of his ilk see division, there's unity, so they completely miss the point of the commercial.
Becker wrote: "The nation is enriched by contributions from immigrants from multiple backgrounds and languages, but how can there be cultural harmony with everyone speaking their own languages and unable to grasp a common culture that unites people?"
The uniting force in this commercial is this country. It's not the English language. In all likelihood, most of Mr. Becker's ancestors didn't speak English when arriving in this country. From this country's inception, we've seen people of all different languages and ethnicities step foot inside this country with the same dream. That is what unites the people in this country and what the commercial was attempting to depict. No matter where we resided before coming to this country or what language we spoke, we all stepped foot on this land with the same dream - of bettering the lives of ourselves and/or our families. That dream is transcendent beyond language or race. It's what has united this country upon its inception and what will unite us throughout its existence. Where Mr. Becker and like-minded individuals see the differing languages depicted in the commercial as offensive and unrepresentative of this country, I see them as beautiful and fully representative of what this country has stood for from the very beginning. If Mr. Becker and his like truly believe America to be beautiful, perhaps they should think about this country's history, their own history, how they got here, what languages their ancestors spoke, and then watch the commercial again - this time with more of an open mind. If, after viewing it again, they continue to say negative things about the commercial, perhaps Kyle Becker should revisit that "hypocrisy" theory of his and apply it to the very conservatives he said were offended due to it.
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/02/112490-coca-cola-airs-controversial-multi-cultural-version-america-beautiful-super-bowl/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/03/coke-commercial-angers-twitter-racists-speak-american-because-your-in-america/
In his article, titled, "Coca Cola Airs Controversial Multi-Cultural Version of 'America the Beautiful' During the Super Bowl," he wrote the following bits:
- "While people expect fairly universal messages when it comes to corporate advertising, they don't expect nationally significant songs like 'America the Beautiful' to be chopped up into multiple languages."
- "The sentiment behind the ad might be laudable: people of different nationalities living side by side without the divisive viewpoint that everyone who is different is the 'other.' But some people might rightly take offense that their national tradition is being sliced up and repackaged to sell a soft drink."
- "Multiculturalism shouldn't be offensive to any particular culture - and that's the hypocrisy many 'conservatives' see about it."
- "Shock - they (conservatives) love their country as it is and don't want it to be more like China or Russia or any other nation on earth. They love freedom, and civil society, and yes, they respect if not admire immigrants who come to the nation to pursue the American Dream."
- "The nation is enriched by contributions from immigrants from multiple backgrounds and languages, but how can there be cultural harmony with everyone speaking their own languages and unable to grasp a common culture that unites people?"
From reading this article, it appears as if Mr. Becker may be in denial and may not be the deepest thinker this side of a caveman named Simpleton. So, according to him, conservatives are just upset because multiculturalism shouldn't be offensive to any particular culture and it's this unknown "hypocrisy" which has infuriated so many. What is this "hypocrisy" exactly? That the commercial depicts Americans of several different ethnicities, whom all possess different native languages, so that none of them are showcased as the "other," and this makes white conservatives feel like the "other"? How does that work exactly? Is that hypocrisy or more along the lines of xenophobia and an inferiority complex? I think I'll go with the latter.
Also, if Mr. Becker truly believes that unreal reason is the actual reason, I have to ask him, "Did you read some of these tweets regarding the commercial?"
Here are a few, in case he missed them:
- "F you coke the national anthem wasn't made for your g**k and Mexican talking.. STFU!!! Speak English."
- "Coca Cola is the official soft drink of illegals crossing the border. #americaisbeautiful"
- "Coke combined Amnesty & Gay Agenda into 1 commercial, I'm sure they would have added gun control in if they could have figured a way."
- "Nice to see that coke likes to sing an AMERICAN song in the terrorist's language. Way to go coke. You can leave America."
- "That coke commercial sucked. Mexicans, terrorists, jews, and n***ers are not 'American'."
Still think those comments were more about hypocrisy than racism and xenophobia, Mr. Becker? I don't think so...
Lastly, where Mr. Becker and many of his ilk see division, there's unity, so they completely miss the point of the commercial.
Becker wrote: "The nation is enriched by contributions from immigrants from multiple backgrounds and languages, but how can there be cultural harmony with everyone speaking their own languages and unable to grasp a common culture that unites people?"
The uniting force in this commercial is this country. It's not the English language. In all likelihood, most of Mr. Becker's ancestors didn't speak English when arriving in this country. From this country's inception, we've seen people of all different languages and ethnicities step foot inside this country with the same dream. That is what unites the people in this country and what the commercial was attempting to depict. No matter where we resided before coming to this country or what language we spoke, we all stepped foot on this land with the same dream - of bettering the lives of ourselves and/or our families. That dream is transcendent beyond language or race. It's what has united this country upon its inception and what will unite us throughout its existence. Where Mr. Becker and like-minded individuals see the differing languages depicted in the commercial as offensive and unrepresentative of this country, I see them as beautiful and fully representative of what this country has stood for from the very beginning. If Mr. Becker and his like truly believe America to be beautiful, perhaps they should think about this country's history, their own history, how they got here, what languages their ancestors spoke, and then watch the commercial again - this time with more of an open mind. If, after viewing it again, they continue to say negative things about the commercial, perhaps Kyle Becker should revisit that "hypocrisy" theory of his and apply it to the very conservatives he said were offended due to it.
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/02/112490-coca-cola-airs-controversial-multi-cultural-version-america-beautiful-super-bowl/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/03/coke-commercial-angers-twitter-racists-speak-american-because-your-in-america/
Comments
Post a Comment