Wednesday, February 05, 2014

That Commercial

I've heard about the commercial.

I didn't watch the Super Bowl so I haven't seen Coca-Cola's now infamous ad featuring America the Beautiful sung in different languages.  From what I've heard, though, the ad is an ode to multiculturalism, and the political right is quite riled up about it.  I understand their anger.  However, with all due respect to my friends on the right, I think they're overreacting just a bit.

There's a saying, taken from the title of a popular book, that is appropriate for this controversy:  don't sweat the small stuff.  And that commercial is small stuff.  Yes, I understand the implications of Coca-Cola pandering to multiculturalism and political correctness, and if the company had done that with The Star-Spangled Banner I'd be as upset as most conservatives.  Why?  Because The Star-Spangled Banner is our national anthem, the official hymn of our American identity.  America the Beautiful, while a poignantly patriotic song, is not. 

We have epic problems facing our country today.  We are 17 trillion dollars in debt.  We have an imperial president who ignores the Constitution.  We still have terrorists who want to kill us.  In the name of fighting "discrimination", gay activists are undermining our freedoms of association, speech, religion, and conscience.  Millions of Americans have lost their health insurance due to Obamacare and millions more will likely lose theirs in the near future.  Like I said, epic problems.  We can't afford to waste energy on small stuff.  We must stay focused on the real threats to America and a multi-lingual rendition of America the Beautiful isn't one of them.