This weekend marks the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, one of the most tragic events that forever changed our country. Unfortunately, this also means that American soldiers have been fighting terrorism in the Middle East for almost ten years. As an American, I don’t necessarily agree with all of the reasons why we are over there, nor do I believe that too much will change even if we do stay over there for another decade. Despite my personal views on our government and their decisions, I will always respect our troops, because I know I could never do what they do.
Americans are very opinionated and are privileged enough to have the freedom of speech to voice those opinions, but is there a point where people cross the line? Our military seems to think so. Last weekend, famous rapper Soulja Boy wrote a new song called “Let’s Be Real.” In the song the rapper blatantly disrespects the military by telling the “army troops” to “be [their] own man,” because they are not fighting for anything worth fighting for. Needless to say this did not set well with the military and their families.
His ignorance came back and bit him in the derrière within days of releasing his new song. Not only is this a touchy subject for Americans, but it is also a very sensitive time for our country as a whole. To say that our men and women in uniform are not fighting for anything is ignorant in itself – they are fighting for all of us and our freedoms. Without our men and women in uniform (both past and present), we would not have the freedom of speech that the rapper ignorantly exercised in his latest song.
This song pushed army personnel, veterans, military family members and proud Americans to petition to have Soulja Boy’s music banned from Army and Air Force bases across the country. The online petition has gained over 3,000 signatures within the first four days of being active. According to a spokesperson for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), Soulja Boy’s upcoming album, which features his anti-soldier tune, will not be carried in over 1,100 AAFES stores on military bases across the country.
A couple days after releasing this controversial song online, Soulja Boy issued a “heartfelt” apology insisting that he did not mean to disrespect our military, and that he was wrong to express his frustrations about the ongoing war in his bad choice of words. Then, he went on to discuss how Americans need to help the struggling Americans first. One journalist from E! News pointed out the fact that he spent $55 million on his own personal jet, but does not seem to have helped too many Americans other than himself.
If publicity from releasing his song was what the 21-year-old rapper wanted, he got it. It is too bad that his publicist did not inform him that there is such thing as bad publicity.
No comments:
Post a Comment