Monday, February 17, 2014

Diversity Makes America Beautiful - a response to the "It's Beautiful" coke ad

((( This is the argumentative essay i wrote regarding the coke commercial (from the super bowl) and the responses on twitter and other social media sites, for my English class. It may have terms in brackets and parenthesis, please disregard that i just didn't really want to change it. this is MY work and i would very much appreciate it if no one copies what i worked hard on. I put this online solely for those that asked to read it. Thank you!- )))
Throughout its existence, the United States has been a beacon of opportunity and of fresh starts to hundreds of different ethnicities looking to live the “American dream”.  We take pride in our history and how our forefathers fought to preserve our freedom and liberty. The Coca Cola Company tried capturing that beauty in their Super Bowl ad, while America the Beautiful was playing in the background. It only took but a few seconds to receive hate on social media sites such as twitter because not only was the song in English, but in seven other languages. {(deduction) America the Beautiful was written by an American in English, and some viewers became angry that Coca Cola altered the patriotic song, therefore they thought it was “un-American”}, some going so far as to boycotting Coke products. {(Thesis) We as the big melting pot should learn to be more accepting of our cultures; the “It’s Beautiful” ad by Coca Cola and the #speakAmerican hashtag that was created in response to the ad demonstrates that. In this paper I will argue that many Americans were wrong to bash on the commercial, and why the Coca Cola commercial was an accurate portrayal to our country.}
            Looking at the reactions of the commercial I was saddened in regards to all the ignorance I saw and read on social media sites, especially twitter. #SpeakAmerican and #FucCola were trending topics on the site with thousands of responses speaking ill of the Coca Cola commercial that actually portrayed our country in a beautiful way. Americans must not forget the history of this nation, and that different ethnicities and different people helped make this country what it is today. {(Example) The United States did not solely consist of English speakers or English speaking cultures. For example the Indigenous peoples (or Native Americans) were here before any European. The French, Spaniards, and the Dutch also settled even before the British, and after The United States became a country hundreds of different ethnicities came to seek refuge soon after}.  Is it wrong to show different ethnicities of people when, besides Native Americans, we are all descendants of immigrants and foreigners? {(Analogy) Ignorance is like a weed, growing in between the crevices, confiscating the openness of the mind}. We must recognize who we are and where we have been as a nation. {(induction) We fought for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We also killed Native Americans by disease and murder, and pushed them off their lands. We attempted to create a country run by the voices of the people instead of tyranny, and oppression by kings and queens and we succeeded. However our very first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, limited the powers of the executive (the president) so much it failed and we had to write a new one. The good and the bad make up who we are now as a country}. History is not meant to be warped, only what one person may want to acknowledge. Native Americans existed here before the “whites”/the Europeans, most of us (if not Native American descent) are descendants of foreigners, and that is factual information that cannot be changed. When people do not realize this, and only understand what they want to (having a lack of understanding at that), that is the basis of ignorance, and that is what was seen in those responses.

            Now many people are knowledgeable of the fact that the USA has been known as the big melting pot, a nation full of immigrants, but God forbid they change an anthem that exemplifies American patriotism into different languages. Those that watched this ignorantly were unable to see the beauty of the commercial, and were unable to understand and appreciate the beauty of diversity that we Americans should be grateful to have. “Dear Coke commercial....” writes @devvMitchell11 (twitter account), “DO NOT sing my Country's song of Freedom in a different language.” Is this person aware English is not the official language, better yet the fact that we do not HAVE an official language? English however may be our national language but our government recognizes we are so different linguistically we do not have an official one. What should be a problem is the fact that many Americans are monolingual, and the expectation some have that everyone should speak English, when in actuality our leaders that helped create this country spoke in different languages, some learning Native American languages, and even Latin.  The world is becoming more interconnected, and more globalized. {(sign) Instead of bashing on a beautiful campaign for not singing a patriotic song in English, maybe this is a sign that we should learn a different language}. The USA is known as one of the biggest multicultural and most ethnically diverse countries but sadly we are also known for having a lower bilingual rate, compared to much of the other developed countries. Maybe we should put learning new languages and not cutting foreign language education budgets on our list of priorities instead of criticizing how linguistically different we are, making it seem more like a burden. 

            What we need to value is that we are one of many. We must not have this one language, one skin tone, or one culture mentality. Despite the fact that the commercial spurred controversy and hatred, I am thankful and I hope it serves as a wake-up call for the American people. The Coca Cola commercial reminds us that we are a country built on diversity, and acceptance. If we do not embrace that we do not really see the beauty this amazing and spectacularly diverse country has to offer. We should all be thankful because our country is truly unique, and American culture is not a single culture, nor can it be easily expressed, because it involves many cultures from all over the world in one single nation. This is the beauty portrayed in the Coca Cola ad, and most importantly, this is the beauty of the United States of America.