'Born in the USA' Is ANTI Patriotic!

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THE TEAM

[sungraz]

It’s a song about how Americans disrespected Vietnam war veterans and how the government turned there backs on them after the war

[amirkhalid]

It's not anti-patriotic to criticise one's country.

[zacharybedair]

you'd think the lyric "sent over to a foreign land and told, son, go kill the yellow man" might have tipped off Ronald Reagan or anyone on his team

[mptykaral]

It's kind of disheartening to see how badly your lyrics can be misinterpreted. And even if you come right out and say what you meant, people can STILL get it wrong. Ugh.
Great analysis, as always!

[paxtropicae]

Born in the USA isn't an unpatriotic song, one of Springsteen's remarkable abilities is to criticize the policies of the American government while at the same time positively affirming the nation and its people.

[justin]

It honestly depends on how you interpret patriotism. Someone here said they always thought the song was saying “America can be better than this” when referring to the Vietnam War. I personally view it as a song condemning the government actions (especially the draft) and the harsh treatment of the soldiers who came home. It’s anti-patriotic in the sense that it destroys the delusions such as that our government most flawless in the world, and it is patriotic when it instead speaks to We The People, as if saying, “This is what it means to be born an American right now. Does this really have to be the status quo, though?”

That’s just how I view it, though.

[orestzarowsky]

the song "Born In the USA" is about as patriotic as it gets. It's a call to arms to fix what's wrong. A call to actually achieve the claims of what America claims to stand for. To be what America claims to be.

[mirandabee]

I have a soft spot for "patriotic" American songs that are actually more complicated than that, if not outright the opposite.

[lolalo]

0:15 "the most politically controversial songs" in the US. The rest of the world has no problem criticizing politics of their own country or america

[mikebigbeard]

Is it unpatriotic?? What's the meaning of patriotism?? I always thought Bruce is saying "we are better than this." That we should do better. Oddly while Bruce wasn't a Reagan supporter Reagan was running on the idea that We can do better. So it never seemed so surprising to me Reagan said what he did. Most people at that time agreed we could do better. Just like today. The disagreement comes in the HOW

[megaascension]

What’s up with Presidential campaigns misusing these songs? I heard a radio ad for Trump the other day and it was playing “Radioactive” which is about a nuclear fallout

[alexanderhuezo]

Anti patriotic? No. Nothing more patriotic than protest.

[sajidkhanmahmood]

It was quite obvious to me since the first time i heard this song in the late 80s that it was not i any way patriotic but rather a protest song against american aggression overseas and the treatment of veterans of Vietnam on their return to the U.S

[chasingperfect]

I disagree. I think it's a great patriotic song. It's a protest song. It calls out the injustices that Vietnam soldiers faced.

[tallex.carafeli]

Americans don't understand even their own songs :0

[dylanpittsley]

I love my country but I gotta say this song is kinda accurate, because when soldiers came back from Vietnam they were hated and weren't able to get jobs. Many veterans also became homeless. So this song is kinda accurate.

[Rob-eoql]

The most patriotic Americans are Vietnam vets.

[chrisblair]

Singing songs about hard times isn't unpatriotic. Calling attention to things that need our attention is quire patriotic. You can't even pronounce "Khe Sanh" correctly.

[alexamerling]

I would argue its even more patriotic to criticize how we have treated our veterans.

[johnkaplun]

Born in the USA is not antipatriotic. It's a fundamentally patriotic song, being critical of how fucked up everything is and bring attention to it. It's a warning about how important it is not to repeat these same mistakes. Which we did.