"...when I'm done suckin' down those grease ball burgers I'm gonna wipe my mouth on the American flag and then toss the Styrofoam containers right out the side, and there ain't a God-damned thing anybody can do about it. You know why? Because we got the bomb!"
I’ve always been a fan of Dennis Leary since I started Watching “Rescue Me.” He’s a solid actor, and the first few seasons of the show are golden. (The rest start to go downhill and enter the dreaded territory of melodrama. The “L Word” does the same but how am I not going to watch a show about lesbians? I mean think man.) But anyways, the criticism and controversy that surrounded Leary’s release of “Asshole” seems to surprise me. Clearly he’s playing a character, a caricature if you will, of American males. How could anyone have possibly thought that this was an actual song meant to be taken seriously? Jesus, don’t people know the difference between comedy and reality?
But “Asshole” is sort of like the “Fight Club” of comedy songs. A postmodern film previously reviewed on here, the Fincher film, “Fight Club,” the film follows the deconstruction of the male persona that was cultivated during the 20th century and then abandoned with the swift arrival of globalization. Our reviewer from this site also notes another theme when he writes, “The main theme of consumerism is tackled without mercy. It says that consumerism is the enemy.” This is true. This theme also relates to Leary’s song. Consumerism seems to dominate the American culture. One economist describes the American credit boom to be something uncharacteristically new and unprecedented in not just the history modern economics, but in the history of man period. The idea that a piece of manufactured plastic can grant you a foray into limitless consumption...that’s pretty radical. How else would you describe the principle of spending money you don’t have now for something you don’t really need at a price you can’t afford but still pay back later? And with an average of eighteen percent interest. (What’s even crazier is people pay off credit cards with credit cards but I digress.)
Simply, the theme of “Asshole” is an approach to the modern American man in a comedic critique that analyzes the ridiculous ways we structure our culture. But this isn’t a musical critique. This is a film critique. The reason that I include “Asshole” as a film is mainly because of the use of images in the music video. It opens with the image of the American flag in the background with Leary dressed up as a general. A clear reference to the WWII classic, “Patton.” Maybe postmodernists would be proud. For the rest of the video it just lays insult upon insult on American culture. Abraham Lincoln appears in the background, along with an unflattering portrayal of the church. A choir, and a Catholic priest is featured. Leary rides around in expensive luxury cars. With a Cuban cigar in hand, inserted are images of the “American Dream.” He lives it up, supposedly living the dream as he works the grill for his kids. Then we cut back to him watching television as he holds a silicon insert intended for breast implantation while he watches television, with cigar in hand.
The song is a funny song without the music video but the images included in the music video add more context and meaning to the song. American culture deserves to be poked at. Every culture should deconstruct and critique itself. And that’s exactly what the music video does. It adds a layer to the song that perhaps should have sent those who had a problem with the lyrical content in the first place to take a second look and have a second thought. The inclusion of war heroes, wiping his nose with the American flag, and the arrogance and pride attained by holding nuclear weapons is almost certainly a direct reference to this theory we have called “American exceptionalism.” It’s essentially a theory that states that the United States of America is basically superior to all nations because of it’s distinct fabric and historical backdrop.
To a certain extent there is some basis for this but to greater point this isn’t patriotism. In another way it’s arrogance. We are a great nation but the idea that we’re simply superior to all of mankind because we’re Americans? That’s an indirect insult to the rest of the world. Every nation has it’s strengths, and every nation has it’s faults, but no nation is the de facto superior nation because we say so. Maybe by an objective scale you can appreciate one more than the other but to call to just say “the rest are inferior” is ridiculous. It reminds me of rappers being called the best simply because of how many times they trumpet themselves as such. It’s one thing to be a great nation but it’s almost as if when this perception is not reinforced, then the shit hits the fan and you’re un-American!
Leary’s video is that. It’s the American “exceptional” male that misrepresents national pride and patriotism with arrogance. “We’re better than everyone else simply because we have a great army!” Having a great army to defend yourself is great, but an unhealthy love affair with military might almost teeters on the brink of glorification. It’s this, “we got the bomb!” mentality. We can do what we want in the world cause that’s right, “we got the bomb!” I’m pretty much getting into politics I guess. Conservatives do generally believe in a more confrontational image of foreign policy though I can’t say they all advocate military bombasticism. (Libertarians tend to side with liberals when it comes to anti-war policy. I can’t generalize.) But conservatives also, in my opinion, sometimes misrepresent what patriotism is. It’s ridiculous to me that presidential candidates get criticized for not being “patriotic” enough. Criticisms like “he didn’t wear a flag pin.” The arrogance is not in wearing the pin, but it’s that this notion that if you don’t wear a pin I clearly love my country better than you do and you don’t deserve to be called American! Presidential candidates in both of the last two elections were confronted on their choices to wear a flag pin.
Yeah I tend to be more centre-left in my politics though I’ve had some affinity for recent Republican presidents (I’m a big fan of Bush Sr. for example), though this modern accusational attitude of being the absolute most patriotic American is essential to national identity is ridiculous. George Bernard Shaw once said that, “patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” I disagree. I think there is a lot more to patriotism and the bond of citizens to their nation. If you look back and truly appreciate your nation’s anthem, it’s history, it’s industrial achievements, what it’s stated ideals are and the implications of them, you’ll experience a certain connection to your country. You don’t just come to understand the idea of a nation, one large community, but you’ll also learn and appreciate your personal identity and how it’s marked by your national identity. But when we trivialize it with an arrogance that drips into our cultural behaviors, from our politics to our consumerism, you then begin to dismiss the significance of true national pride and trivialize it. Alright asshole?
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An example of an asshole remark by Mike Huckabee. Here’s the context.
So President Obama says in an interview in London when asked about American exceptionalism: “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. I'm enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world....Now, the fact that I am very proud of my country and I think that we've got a whole lot to offer the world does not lessen my interest in recognizing the value and wonderful qualities of other countries...I see no contradiction between believing that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity and recognizing that...depends on, our ability to create partnerships.”
I’m proud of my country but I’m also appreciative of you guys too. Mike Huckabee’s response?
"[Obama’]s worldview is dramatically different than any president, Republican or Democrat, we've had. He grew up more as a globalist than an American.To deny American exceptionalism is in essence to deny the heart and soul of this nation."
Essentially, “by saying you appreciate other nations and don’t think they’re inferior, you deny the heart of America you cold communist bastard!”
Isn’t it Kennedy that went to Germany to state he was a Berliner? If anything, Kennedy would be the globalist and the radical, yet apparently Kennedy’s still cool. Huckabee’s statement is ridiculous.
Or to put it more poetically: what an asshoooooooole.
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