This ain’t a film review nor is it a moment of praise for Trey Parker and Matt Stone (though they deserve it). This is a sad reflection on the fact that Team America: World Police has become a legit reflection of how things actually are in America right now. The problem? The people who are propagating the media and, in that sense, creating the message that so much of our country is said to believe. The film was dismissed out of hand almost immediately. The pair, responsible for South Park, paint clear images of life in our nation from a metaphorical and philosophical perspective.
Parker and Stone were interviewed back in 2004 and said a lot of things that resonate 11 years later. Among the quotes are, “Kids have to be taunt to be good people… Kids are naturally born self-centered and have to be taught by society to respect society.” So, who is teaching our society? Right now we are being educated in a way that reinforces either one narrative or the other. The divide is often painted as liberal or conservative, but the division is far more distinct than that. To me it comes down to two types of America. There’s the America that exists in the Carl’s Jr. commercials–one that seems to come from the pages of the Team America script–a black and white America who sees us all as standing together against a great evil. In short, the Fox News America that is so threatened by Obama supposedly eroding our strength. Then there is the other America, the one that is in on the joke. I feel like I’m part of that second America. I’m part of Jon Stewart’s America. I’m part of the America that sees nuance and recognizes that there are many forces and beliefs at play.
So here on the 4th of July I want to take a moment to reflect on our independence from a controlling entity by reminding myself and anyone who will listen that we don’t need to be controlled by this ever-present WWII ideal of America being the military superpower who is responsible for policing the world. Those are small-minded goals. We ought to be an America that looks to the future and thinks about understanding why we exist at all; an America that is a haven for ideas and attitudes and a place that supports freedom.