(((
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.