Inventing outrage

More on Katt Williams’ comedy bit where he actually takes the insanely outrageous position that this is, in fact, the United States:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/03/idUS376383229020110903

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant…”

At various points in the outburst, Williams began chants of “USA! USA! USA!,” which some activists perceived as insulting but Williams defended as patriotism.

“I don’t think I need to apologize for being pro-American,” Williams said.

The CNN interview:

[youtube uZ8mIEJSFZU]

As may be obvious, I’m really not seeing the problem here. The man is proud of the US, and believes that people who love other countries more than they love the US should not be *in* the US. This makes sense to me… I can hardly imagine that the British or the French or the Japanese or, in fact, the Mexicans would be overly thrilled if I went to *their* country and started waving the US flag and talking smack about their country. But clearly my opinion here is not universal. Note in the above snippet, Reuters claimed that chanting “USA! USA!” while actually *in* the USA is seen as insulting by some activists. A look at other commentaries can be depressingly enlightening:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110903/OPINION04/109030314

During a stand-up act last weekend, the popular comedian/actor went on a seven-minute rant insulting people of Mexican descent.

Where did he actually insult people of Mexican descent?

And YouTube is loaded with “video responses” to the original Katt Williams video that claim that what he said was racist and wrong, and that, as a black guy, he really shouldn’t be proud of the US since the US enslaved his ancestors.

Well, a few things:

1) Still looking for the “racism.” Can’t find it.

2) Should a modern American black guy be proud of his country? Well, clearly the US has a whole lot of shameful crap in its past that would irritate black people. Slavery. Jim Crow laws. The Klan. The Great Society programs. But while the US has had its share of problems… these are largely problems that the US as a whole *chose* to correct. Slavery in the US was not wiped out by a massive slave rebellion, or by the UN sending in an army of bluehelmets to put it down. It was ended by the people of the US. Some of the people of the US decided they weren’t having any of that, and launched a war of aggression against the rest of the US, but America in the end put down that criminal enterprise and ended slavery. The Democrat Party, defenders of the institution of slavery before the War of Southern Aggression, became the defenders of Jim Crow laws, the Klan and gun control regulations to keep blacks defenseless against Klan and white supremacist terror; but even these have all been largely wiped out. Admittedly, the Great Society programs that have done so much damage to the black family are still there, but I suspect a forthcoming economic collapse will bring those programs to a  rather sudden end.

So after all that, we have a nation where a native-born black person has full and equal rights (and thanks to affirmative action, in some ways *preferred* rights), and can achieve whatever is in their talents and ambitions to achieve. Katt Williams is a scrawny, goofy-lookin’ little dude who has done time in jail for having broken a number of laws, and yet he can make a pretty damned good living using his talents in a legal way: stand-up comedy. He can go on stage and make fun of celebrities. He can make fun of audience members. He can make fun of society. He can even poke fun at political “leaders,” and there ain’t jack that anybody can do about it other than not paying to see him. What’s for him *not* to be proud of the USA for?

As for the other side: I am of European descent, largely Scandinavian, with Brit, Germans and a bunch of the rest thrown in. You’ll not see me waving the Swedish flag. You won’t see me at the DMV demanding that the diverse license tests be in culturally-sensitive Swedish. I’m not demanding that the US FedGuv or the state of Utah recognize Sveriges nationaldag as a holiday . My ancestors may have been from there, but I have no allegiance to Sweden, Norway, the UK or anywhere else. Hell, I probably rant more about European political/cultural dumbassery than anywhere other than the US. And so I see “Italian-Americans” or “Irish-Americans” as being a rather odd notion… unless you hold dual citizenship… pick an identity and stick with it. But even here, on St. Patty’s Day, the “Irish Americans” get together and have their parade… and *don’t* talk about conquering whole regions of the USA to turn into an Irish homeland. The “Italian Americans” don’t yammer on about reconquista of the southwest and re-unifying it with, say, Sicily (there may be some in Jersey who dream of such, but I gather that the actual Italians don’t want ’em).

Now, you want to be proud of your Mexican/Swedish/Italian/Russian/Klingon heritage, you go right ahead. You go ahead and wave your little flag; you have the right. But if you think the US sucks in comparison to your “homeland,” then, well, why are you in fact here?