America F%$& Yeah!

I wrote yesterday that I understand how silly it is to feel pride in something you have no control over yourself, like being born in Brooklyn, and that could also apply to other random forms of pride. Just like being proud of being Italian, or Chinese or, especially, being a patriotic American. The majority of people who are flag waving, love it or leave it, Republican voting patriots have no real right to be that way. They just got lucky enough to have their mother give birth to them within the U.S. borders. They (and this group includes myself) didn't have to work especially hard to stay Americans. You'd have to work harder to not be an American,in fact, seeing as how it is much more difficult to get up and go somewhere than it is to just stay where you are. This is a scientifically proven fact. And let's face it, for most people, being an American is really God damn easy. The ironic thing is the people who should really be blindly patriotic are the ones who that aforementioned group of REAL AMERICANS want to keep out, the immigrants. It makes more sense that you would feel a true sense of pride in actually doing something, like working really hard to get into another country and starting a new life there. If you risked everything just to have a new place to keep your stuff (as George Carlin would say) then you should really be like "FUCK yes, I'm an American! Kiss my ass, other countries!". But the weird thing about patriotism as well as any type of civic pride (such as being a proud Brooklynite like myself) is that most people believe the opposite: unless you were born here you're not truly an American/Brooklynite/whatever. It's not where you're at, it's where you're from. Being an "American" or whatever other country you represent is more about identity and searching for a sense of community than anything rational, and it's definitely not about remembering that we freed ourselves of the British. "Hey, we've been here long enough. Might as well feel something. And you've been here for a while too. Let's eat some wieners!"

That being said, I love the 4th of July and all that comes with it. Stuff your face full of barbecued meats, drink a ton of beer and set off some illegal firecrackers in your backyard. Take some pride in knowing that there's a few million other people doing the exact same thing. AMERICA!