“Come to the USA!?”
With the 4th of July coming up, and now with Melania checking in with the immigrant kids in the detention centers in Texas ...and with all the flap about illegal immigration, American patriotism, homeland security, border walls, and our newly ordained (but not by popular vote) controversial to say the least president, Donald J. Trump, and not to mention the ripping of immigrant children from the bosoms of their fleeing parents and throwing them in cadges, I think it’s time to look at the lighter side of this. Satirically, of course.
The news media is having a field day pumping us full of sorrow and pity for these poor immigrants who just want to come to the USA and be free. Like us. Free to make their own bed (and our beds), seek their own fortunes ...and free to dig their own graves, lost in the fantastical, euphoric mist of freedom.
I watched a cable news reporter broadcasting from either El Paso or Brownsville, Texas the other day. She was in front of one of the “camps” where the immigrant children were being held after being separated from their parents. She couldn’t get inside, she didn’t know what the conditions were inside, but she was “showboating” in my opinion, crying into her microphone, barely being able to talk. She made a fool of herself trying to pull for a Pulitzer, and trying to boost ratings. Or, she was just a very unprofessional, and I use the term loosely ...journalist.
But the dream of freedom persists. I guess crying is a form of free speech and we all know about our First Amendment rights. The right to make a fool of yourself.
My grandfather came to America thinking, dreaming, foolishly perhaps, that the streets were paved with gold. When he got here, however, his dreams were shattered as he quickly realized the streets were not made of gold and that he would be paving those streets.
Yes, let’s get satirical, because we as Americans view satire as entertainment, a competitive sport of wits and charm, a clever religion, a drug to help us consume and digest our fantasies turned to reality.
So, let’s use satire as a reality check.
It’s easy to have an opinion on all this and opine ‘til the cows come home in the comfort of our living rooms or coffee shops, but the reality of the southern border situation is not only an issue of legality, but a massive logistical issue. To make it even more crazy-complicated, it’s a political issue.
Welcome to America. Give us your tired, your poor, huddled masses, etc. Well, what about the tired masses huddled around their television sets trying to figure out what the hell is gong on in the minds of congress and in that wasteland of a mind occupying the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
Congressional and presidential policies and laws aside, put yourself on the ground at the border in El Paso or Brownsville, Texas as a person-in-charge, looking those immigrating, frightened, confused folks in the eye, face to face, by the thousands! What do you do with them? Their kids? ...feeding them, handling them ..diapers! You’re not supposed to touch them, the kids, to comfort them. How do you separate and “process” the sketchy illegals from the sincere illegals. It would be like trying to plug a leak in the dam with your finger. An impossible, untenable situation.
All while waiting from orders from the top policy and law makers as they watch things unfold on their television screens trying to figure out what to do, and what is politically correct ...and what the “public” wants ...for votes.
So, here’s the humor and satire for your entertainment enjoyment while this American crisis is in full swing ...
Ray Stevens is a song writer/singer/musician. He made a bunch of wacky, satirical, songs in the ’70’s like ‘Guitarzan’, ‘Ahab the Arab‘, ‘The Streak‘ and ‘Too Drunk to Fish’. They were dumb, funny, nutty songs and he made zany videos to go along with them. But Stevens also made some legitimate hit records like ‘Everything is Beautiful’, and a bunch of gospel songs like ‘This Ole House‘ and ‘Do You Heat Somebody Knockin’?‘ He is a very talented guy.
Stevens is kind of a right wing humorist. He gets carried away sometimes with his satire and bleeding red, white and blue, mom ‘n apple pie patriotism, but he’s funny and fun to watch and listen to.
So, if that bleeding heart television hostess can foolishly cry on camera at an untenable dilemma for her ratings and awards, and maybe she was sincere ...who knows? ... we can laugh a little with Ray Stevens as he pokes fun at our collective American dilemma. All in good fun, to relieve the stress ...or to create more stress and controversy.
I think these two videos are funny and make a point from whatever your point of view. Check ‘em out.
“Illegal Immigration!!!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm3VSq9ZKxE
“Dear America”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDvhbRJdLnw
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
