StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Contestant #1: Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rnf7DS5YlQ

Contestant #2: Dennis Madalone's "America We Stand As One"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsm6PD-kiRE

Can you stand to watch either of them all the way through?

EDIT. Poll added.

#2, no question.

No matter how much the songwriter and the video maker ignore the fact that America has failed to live up to its ideals, the first song is about the ideals. The second one is just... meaningless.

Inserting the singer into the video is another point against it, and Greenwood has better music.

2. More sap than an entire forest. Ick.
The first one makes me giggle because it was parodied in The Simpsons ("If you don't buy my record... then Al Qaeda wins!").

No 2 is the worse offender, I like when he toutch stuff and his hand glows.

Is he the new Jesus or?

Thanks Mike. I was looking for a good sleep aid.

Number 1 is worse. I could actually watch about half-way through number two because it seemed almost satirical. Number one was just flaccid.

Both get a lot of play on the jukebox at my local watering hole. They kinda grow on you. Like Toby Keith.

I like this kind of patriotism better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNzZzsvOClc

That's the better part of seven minutes I'll never get back again.

I managed to get through both, I know not how. I voted for (or against, depending on how you look at it) #2, since #1 at least seemed to have some artistic merit, however small. The second video looked as though someone tried to make it tug at the heart strings, and it failed miserably. The first one could, I suppose, make someone of "patriotic" leanings get a lump in their throat with its images, and in that sense I suppose it's slightly more dangerous. They're both dreck, but #2 is harmless dreck.

Say, is it just me or does #2's singer look like Richard Gere's younger hippy brother?

Soviet Propaganda is better. Orchestras, Chiors, the Hammer and Sycle AND Soviet coat of arms, feilds of grain, killing nazis and factories are better than bad Rock/country songs, shots of the Statue of Liberty, US Flags, New york with and sans world trade center and nature shots.

I am going to the second one, as i despised the song and that godawfully lame video with the images of aproaching firemen and angels far more.

Zor

Born down in a dead man's town
first kick I took was when I hit the ground
living like a dog that's been beat too much
till you spend all your life just covering up
-Bruce Springsteen

tell my friends don't go to no washington d.c.
it's a boo-waaah town. -leadbelly

God Bless America is the United States seen through rosy glasses. I think I'm bookmarking this one, as a rule I find excessive patriotism irksome, but I like this song.

America We Stand as One has points off immediately because the singer sucks. Then I get annoyed because, unlike the first one, this one seems to me to be pure wankage. This is the type of excessive patriotism that annoys me. The guy has a USA shirt, and appears hugging a flag, then been swept by the sea with the flag superimposed on it, then he sits singing with a flag behind him, etc. If there was suddenly a shot of the guy ejaculating on the flag I wouldn't be surprised (though I'd be rather grossed out). I don't mind displaying your country's flag, see my AV, but come the fuck on, there is no need to make it into jingoistic porn.

See, the difference here is that #1 goes "I love this country because it stands for this, and it allows me to do that, and it has these great features." Whereas #2 is basically "I LOVE THE USA BECAUSE IT'S AMERICA! AND AMERICA ROCKS!"

The first one was worse, because country music is pureed dog shit. At least the second one had largely inoffensive music.

As much as I dislike Country Music, I'd say that #2 is far more objectionable. As much as some might abuse the song in the first video, it still represents and promotes ideals I find fundamentally good. The second is, quite frankly, just stupid. Indeed, I have a hard time believing its not satire.

I've always hated God Bless the USA, and my disgust for it is now matched by my disgust for the other song, which I hadn't had the extreme displeasure of hearing until now.

Well, I watched both of them. Sort of. I couldn't watch through the second one, but only because the singer annoyed me. Just one look at him and there was something off putting about him. What he was singing about wasn't really a factor.

Anyhow...

Could someone please explain why artistic endeavors aimed at expressing one's devotion and love for one's country is a bad thing?

I mean, I can point out the shitty faults of the United States like anyone else...there sure is a fuckload of them to go around. But so fucking what? Does a country have to be fucking perfect before anyone can say a single peep about liking it?

Perhaps someone could explain to me how this thread is anything other than a United States bashing get together based solely upon a couple of videos that expressed admiration for that country?

I find it ridiculasly apparent that it seems to be accepted form to shit all over any country (not just the US but it's a favorite), but one peep trying to highlight it's good aspects and it's attacked like the fucking plague.

In the first video, I thought the song was good and the scenery beautiful and pleasant. Only a fucking uneducated idiot would believe that's all there is to it though, or that the video in any way portrays the USA as a blissful paradise.

I've seen similar themed videos portraying Canada in a similar light and quite enjoyed them. They highlighted Canada's wonderful landscapes, accomplishments and people. If someone pronounced those as "garbage", I'd take great offense and I'd expect any other Canadian to do the same. Canada isn't perfect either by a long shot, but I'll be fucking damned if I'm going to let someone tell me I have no right to be proud of my country or it's accomplishments.

I'll say this: The USA has many areas it badly needs improvement in and it has many faults. But I'd be a bald faced liar if I said Americans don't have a right to be proud of their country and their accomplishments. So I say fuck all the assholes who have a problem with free people having a say about the good aspects of their country.

Bubble Boy wrote:Well, I watched both of them. Sort of. I couldn't watch through the second one, but only because the singer annoyed me. Just one look at him and there was something off putting about him. What he was singing about wasn't really a factor.

Anyhow...

Could someone please explain why artistic endeavors aimed at expressing one's devotion and love for one's country is a bad thing?

I mean, I can point out the shitty faults of the United States like anyone else...there sure is a fuckload of them to go around. But so fucking what? Does a country have to be fucking perfect before anyone can say a single peep about liking it?

Perhaps someone could explain to me how this thread is anything other than a United States bashing get together based solely upon a couple of videos that expressed admiration for that country?

I find it ridiculasly apparent that it seems to be accepted form to shit all over any country (not just the US but it's a favorite), but one peep trying to highlight it's good aspects and it's attacked like the fucking plague.

In the first video, I thought the song was good and the scenery beautiful and pleasant. Only a fucking uneducated idiot would believe that's all there is to it though, or that the video in any way portrays the USA as a blissful paradise.

I've seen similar themed videos portraying Canada in a similar light and quite enjoyed them. They highlighted Canada's wonderful landscapes, accomplishments and people. If someone pronounced those as "garbage", I'd take great offense and I'd expect any other Canadian to do the same. Canada isn't perfect either by a long shot, but I'll be fucking damned if I'm going to let someone tell me I have no right to be proud of my country or it's accomplishments.

I'll say this: The USA has many areas it badly needs improvement in and it has many faults. But I'd be a bald faced liar if I said Americans don't have a right to be proud of their country and their accomplishments. So I say fuck all the assholes who have a problem with free people having a say about the good aspects of their country.

There's liking a country and then there's blindly lavishing all kinds of devotion to a country as if there's nothing wrong with it. Take a wild guess as to which one the videos portray.

Bubble Boy wrote:Could someone please explain why artistic endeavors aimed at expressing one's devotion and love for one's country is a bad thing?

As many have pointed out, there's a difference between "expressing devotion" and wanking.

I mean, I can point out the shitty faults of the United States like anyone else...there sure is a fuckload of them to go around. But so fucking what? Does a country have to be fucking perfect before anyone can say a single peep about liking it?

If someone says "I'm glad to be an American", that doesn't bother me. But when people literally drape themselves in the flag, it's sickening. Let's get something straight here: the kind of people who drape themselves in the flag are not merely "devoted" to their country; they are the kind of people who pretend that it is always right, no matter what it does.

I find it ridiculasly apparent that it seems to be accepted form to shit all over any country (not just the US but it's a favorite), but one peep trying to highlight it's good aspects and it's attacked like the fucking plague.

What are you, fucking retarded? These videos are not "one peep"; they are interminable wankfests.

One may be worse than the other, but they both make me want to vomit. It's like right before the climactic battle in Spiderman 3 where for no reason he swings in front of a giant American flag just as the big musical crescendo hits. Pointless jingoism.

I'm so accustomed to the first one it doesn't even bother me. Though I always seem to associate it with airshows. The second one? Gah. I couldn't take more than a minute of that. Holy hell, what a piece of shit.

I think I'm about to throw up. Listening the phrases about how great it is to be free when there are many such as myself that are less "free" than others is just sickening and as offensive as it gets.

Yeah, I have to say I'd rather be free in Canada or GB than here in the US. At least there I'd be able to get some decent healthcare.

They both suck equally. God bless America sucks like watching The Postman. The second sucks like reading The Postman.

Haha, I've seen that second one before, oh God the cloud thing was just killing me ...wait he's serious? ...Oh