We're Americans, what can we say? We like our whiskey straight and our politicians crooked.
I don't want to talk about what American culture isn't. There's enough of that tripe already. If there is an American culture it can be found in popular culture. Rock n Roll. Jazz. Rap. Heavy metal. It's found in a free people that have thrown themselves to the wind and let come what may.
It isn't going to be found at work. It's not found in our buildings. It's found in our people. People who have found freedom in doing what they want with their lives. It isn't doing what you think other people want or what other people think you should be doing with your life. It's found in people who have thrown all that shit out the window, slammed the sill and drawn the curtains for good. We find freedom where we can in our lives. And we fight for it.
American culture is found in people who do what they want with their lives. Fucking the consequences, and damning torpedoes along the way. It starts with a few colonists giving King George III the finger and, by the way, here's what you can do with your tea! It's found in people like James Hetfield, Jackson Pollock, Jim Morrison, Peter Marino. People going big, going bold. People who are what they are, naturally. Throwing convention out the window and to hell with the consequences. And if that means going hungry sometimes then so be it. Maintain dignity. You won't have nice clothes. No Harley Davidson. No Cadillac, no Camero or Corvette. All that stuff is cool but its not worth trading your life in for.
Baseball is kinda cool. That's a part of American culture. Football too I suppose. Basketball. Hockey. I guess hockey is more of a Canuck thing but it's big here in Minnesota. And the east coast. But baseball is a game. It doesn't mean anything. You can be a fan all your life and it doesn't mean a thing. You aren't doing anything with your life by watching someone else play. That's not a life. That's playing spectator to other people's lives. People like Morrison, Pollock, Poe, Inness, Ray Charles, Lady Gaga, Perry Farrell, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Madonna, James Brown. Hell, throw Marilyn Manson in there if you want. Whoever your hero might be. All Americans. Individuals all. Doing, or did, what they want or wanted. Freedom is the only meaningful export we have to offer the rest of the world. But it comes in so many cool variations.
I'm naming a lot of stars of pop culture. But that's part of the American identity. Don't get me wrong, I love listening to a string ensemble, symphony or an orchestra too. But its more of a European thing. The Japanese have their taiko drums! That's big and bold. But those don't have that American flare. That American bravado. That gunslinger strut that says "I don't give a fuck." What matters is being free. Being yourself and tolerating others muddling their own way through life.
Americans are having a hard time getting along with the Muslim fundamentalists. They're just such fucking prudes. They want to take away everything we're willing to die for. They want the planet to knuckle under and say their prayers with them. They want conformity. We'll give them bullets. They want to suppress. We'll give them bombs.
Thank you to all those past and current veterans who put their lives on the line so I can scribble a line to share. Keep the swagger.
Happy Memorial Day!
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