Failed Patriotism
The Ugly Truth About America
Americans can’t stand criticism
I recently watched Red River. I love John Wayne, and I love Walter Brennan even more. I grew up just outside Washington DC, and one year my Mom got tickets to a series of classic westerns shown at the Smithsonian. This was before readily available VHS, much less Netflix, so I got to see Red River on a big screen.
I remember the two top guns squaring off early in the movie. I remember the build up to the scene at the end, where a vengeful father pursues the adopted son he thought had betrayed him. It was great theater.
What I didn’t remember was the very beginning. John Wayne arrives on the land he fancies and up and kills the Mexican who informed him it belongs to his employer, who’s also Mexican. And then he buries the unfortunate vaquero, gets his bible and reads over him.
The white man shows up and kills the native; this is the America a certain demographic wants to either ignore or celebrate, they can’t seem to make up their mind. And they don’t much like it when this history is questioned, or when our inhumanity is exposed. They don’t like America being less than what they’ve been led to believe.
Despite all the things that I like about America, it has an ugly side; it’s deep and…
