Aren't You Lucky

Since I've been sick I've spent some of my more mindless minutes doing what any good middle-class American teenager of today would do: watching lots of YouTube videos. On Friday I came across this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgAU5XQ2HnY

Maybe it's a bit thin for a blog post, and the sentiment certainly isn't an original one, but I enjoyed the simplicity of the satire. The message is worded into a children's song of few words, each of the first three lines beginning with a rhetorical "Aren't you lucky." It is a phrase we're all used to hearing, and it is delivered with the kind of assured earnestness every child hears from at least one or two adults along the way.

I remember hearing these specific words from a long line of family members and teachers, and I think I believed all of them to some extent. The bizarre thing is that now I'm also used to hearing people my age repeat it back to me.

So what do we think of it now? There are lots of ways to take it. You would think that certainly in those awful countries where everyone is being treated so poorly they don't feel lucky, and it does "suck" to be born over there, but those people also have their own cultures and ideals that seem like the only right ones to them. And you can argue that there are people who are really, truly dissatisfied with their situations and find them unjust, but we have those people here in the U.S. too.

Of course I can't help but think that my version of Western culture is generally right, and therefore that other cultures must be wrong where they contradict my own beliefs. At least I don't take it for granted anymore that the U.S. is always infallible, though, or assume that it's the only place where anyone can be happy.

I apologize for this weakish post; I didn't really know where I was going with it, but I'm hoping that at least it might get you thinking. Also, you should know that WKUK, or "Whitest Kids U Know," has produced several more sketches which include irreverent criticisms of European and American history. You can find them on YouTube if you are feeling dispatriotic, but many, though hilarious, are inappropriate for incorporation in a school assignment. I just want to give you some context.