At the height of my China involvement I subjected my daughter, then in middle-school, to more than one viewing of the opening, above, and the ending, The Internationale, of "The East is Red." She paid attention, I can still see her sitting with me on the bed intently watching it. And it sunk in. Today a college sophomore my daughter sent me a text this morning,
"What was the Chinese musical thing that you showed me, to glorify Mao
Talking about how great China is and everything?
"The East is Red?"
Yes.
She then sent me a link to a video under the text,
"Is it me or is this terrifyingly similar?"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/three-little-girls-sing-bizarre-donald-trump-anthem-about-crushi/
I watched it and responded, "It IS!" It is and that is not good. Trump is unlike any major candidate for the presidency that America has ever seen and there is in his nationalistic message a whiff of fascism and the message appeals to Americans who have fascistic tendencies themselves. It is scary, "bizarre," as The Telegraph says.
I thought one of my daughter's professors, she's a political science major as was her father, had screened "The East is Red" for a class, I imagined in political propaganda or the like, and texted her back that that was very impressive of the prof. But my daughter corrected me:
He didn't...
I just remembered from what you showed me and saw this and was like OMG
ITS FROM MY OWN BRAIN DAD
I purred like six kittens.
*UPDATED. Here are the lyrics:
Cowardice, are you serious?
Apologies for freedom, I can't handle this!
When freedom rings, answer the call!
On your feet, stand up tall!
Freedom's on our shoulders, USA!
Enemies of freedom
Face the music, come on boys, take 'em down!
President Donald Trump knows how to make America great
Deal from strength or get crushed every time
[Chorus]
Over here, USA!
Over there, USA!
Freedom and liberty everywhere
Oh say can you see
It's not so easy
But we have to stand up tall and answer freedom's call
[Verse 2]
USA, USA!
USA, USA
We're the land of the free and the home of the brave, USA!
The stars and stripes are flying
Let's celebrate our freedom
Inspire proudly freedom to the world
Ameritude, USA!
American pride, USA!
It's attitude, it's who we are, stand up tall
We're the red, white and blue
Fiercely free, that's who!
Our colors don't run, no sir-e
[Chorus]
Over here, USA!
Over there, USA!
Freedom and liberty everywhere
Oh say can you see
It's not so easy
But we have to stand up tall and answer freedom's call.
