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Bling-Bang-Bling
for release 07-04-08
Dallas, Texas
by Lightning Rod
It's July 4th. Everybody is in the mood for patriotism. The flags are flapping wherever you look. As a rule, the more right-wing the owner of the house is, the more flags you see flying. To The Poet's Eye, this looks like patriotic insecurity or jingoism or praying in public. The flag is a potent symbol and also a symbol of potency.
But it's Independence Day, a day for symbols. The flag represents our national identity. The fireworks represent the artillery fire that has secured our freedom. I never have figured out what the 1812 Overture (which was written about the battle between the French and Russians for Moscow) had to do with the American Revolution but I love it when the Boston Pops plays it with the fireworks and the cannon fire.
I'm all for waving the flag for one day a year. It's a day of patriotic orgy.
But I really don't want to see it every day. I don't want to see it on the lapel of every businessman and politician that I meet, as if otherwise I wouldn't know that he was an American.
It's all about Bling-Bling.
Bling is bling. It doesn't matter if it's a crystal or a skull and crossbones or a dangling earring or a diamond ring, bling is bling. Even if it's an American flag that you wear on your lapel much as you would wear your heart on your sleeve to remind yourself of your own sensitivity or patriotism.
The recent dust-up about Barak Obama's bling illustrates how much fashion is involved in politics. When it became a talking point among the comedians on the radical right to make fun of the fact that Obama didn't wear an American flag on his lapel, which seems to be part of the requisite uniform if you want to be a bona fide politician, Barack donned one, which has been in evidence ever since.
This is my first major disappointment with Obama. He caved in on the bling thing. At first he didn't wear the American flag on his lapel. I think he called it jingoistic or a hollow symbol. But when he was criticized for not wearing this meaningless piece of bling, he started wearing one. I think he's a pussy for that.
I'm sorry Barack, but you know what a major thing bling represents in the hood (fist bump.) It's part of your cred, I know. If the boys in Chicago wanted you to wear a gold chain or a pinky ring, would you do it? If Rush Limbaugh wants you to wear an American flag on your lapel, would you do it? Evidently so. Do you feel like a dancing monkey yet?
Now, I really don't wanna get up unna yo grill about this, Barack. Maybe you see this as a small concession to some of your potential fans. So what, you wear a little pin on your lapel. I guess it could be worse. It could be a yellow star.
Have a happy 4th.
You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'neath the Red, White and Blue,
--George M. Cohan
