Someone cared enough to ask why I didn't like the Coke Super Bowl commercial, which featured AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL, sung in many languages over video of scenes from many countries. (Unlike someone else, who called me being offended a "hate parade". ) This is my reply, with some editing:
America, The Beautiful is a song that was written for this country in English by an American who was inspired by a train trip and seeing many of our landmarks on the journey. While America, The Beautiful is not our offical national anthem, (The Star-Spangled Banner is) it is unofficially, our national hymn. And, in fact, it came very close to replacing The Star-Spangled Banner several times since it was written a little over 100 years ago. I would feel the same way if they had chosen our national anthem or one other song, America (My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing). They used many languages and scenes from around the world in that commercial. It's an American song, for Americans and should be sung in English. To do what they did with a song that is part of our national identity, shows a huge lack of respect for this country!
To give an opposite example: I learned the national anthem of France, La Marseillaise. I learned it in French, and while I know the English translation, I would not sing it in English, as that would be disrespectful to France and her people.
If the argument is that this country is a melting pot of people from many nations, that is true. However, if people come here to stay, they should embrace our culture and language, while keeping some of their own. If they don't want to be citizens, why are they here? My children's great-grandparents came here from Mexico to make a better life for themselves and their children. Some of their children were born in Mexico and some here in the States. My children's' grandmother (my mother-in-law) was born in Colorado. They became citizens and tried to learn English, though they didn't speak it well, they could make themselves understood. They made sure all seven of their children learned English.
Now, if Coke had made a slightly different commercial, I would have LOVED it. If they had used a different song, such as We Are The World, for example, and shown all the same scenes and each line in a different language, that would have been amazing! I would have embraced it as a wonderful illustration of the things that make us different, also show us how we are all the same. We are all part of humanity! I would have even loved itif they had used It's A Small World! (Which I haven't much liked since I got stuck on that ride years ago and the volume was very loud!)
