There seems to be this unwritten rule in the blogosphere that you’re only supposed to write about positive things.

Never about controversial things.

There are a few who violate the rule consistently…like James Altucher.

But the majority hold steadfast to it.

After all, controversy doesn’t win converts (or, in blog-speak, subscribers)…

or, does it?

As for me…I have around 7 years of blogging history behind me and I have always sort of gravitated towards it…

controversy, that is.

This morning is going to be one of those moments.

I missed the Superbowl. I normally do miss it, especially for the last 13 years.

And unless you are a sadistic Seahawks fan, the most recent one was indeed highly “miss-able.”

But I did catch wind of the controversy surrounding the now “infamous” Coke commercial.

The one in which a rendition of America the Beautiful is presented in various languages (English being one of them).

The fact that many folks were angered by this commercial makes me sad, but it really comes as no surprise.

Remember, this idea for impact mindfulness has as one of its three principles, embracing the Big Us.

And getting huffy about that song being sung in more than a single unified tongue is precisely what “embracing the Big Us” is dead-set against.

It’s called “small us” thinking.

We all too often want to re-write history to our liking, to fit our current ideology, or ism.

Since the controversy erupted some facts about the author of the original poem on which the song is based, Katharine Lee Bates, have surfaced. I’m not going to revisit those here.

But one thing that does stand out to me is Bates’ change in political affiliation. She had been a lifelong Republican until 1924 when she endorsed the Democratic candidate for President due to Republican opposition to the League of Nations…an organization that Bates called “our one hope for peace on earth.”

As you might know, the League of Nations was the forerunner to the current United Nations.

Now, doesn’t it seem a bit odd that we would be railing against the Coca-Cola multicultural inspired version of the song when the author herself tended to embrace a unifying worldview, i.e., the Big US?

What’s really behind this anger? Why would it bother some folks so much to hear the song sung in another language?

Because that’s OUR SONG! And we speak English, for god’s sake…

But wait a minute, who exactly are WE?

More than likely, if you look back not too terribly far into your genealogical history, there might just have been a non-English speaker.

In fact, that would be true for every one, save the only true natives of this land called “America.”

So, actually, it would be a truer expression of your heritage to embrace a multicultural rendition of the song…maybe to even learn how to sing it in the language that your ancestors would have sung it when they arrived at Ellis Island, or wherever their ship might have come in.

Where did these seeds of hate get sown?

Hatred for anything that is not a culturally homogenized version of the small us?

It borders on, no it is, xenophobic.

Which is kinda strange behavior coming from the “nation of immigrants.”

Why should we embrace multiculturalism?

Here’s a reason for ya…

Because “we” are!

image credit: love and peace 22 via Compfight cc