This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land.
Makes me want to sing a long. Funny stuff. 🙂
Thanks to rachel for pointing it out.
edit: Changed rachel’s name to lowercase. Now that I know, ya know. 🙂
This Land is Your Land
21 responses to “This Land is Your Land”
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Too funny. Hope you don’t mind that I stole it.
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The original version of the Woody Guthire song. Does it bother you that one of your most patriotic songs is really about socialism?
[God Blessed America]
This Land Was Made For You And Me
This land is your land, this land is my land
From [the] California to the [Staten] New York Island,
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
[God blessed America for me.]As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And saw above me that endless skyway,
And saw below me the golden valley, I said:
[God blessed America for me.]I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,
And all around me , a voice was sounding:
[God blessed America for me.]Was a high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property,
But on the back side it didn’t say nothing —
[God blessed America for me.]When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling;
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting:
[God blessed America for me.]One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people —
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
[God blessed America for me.]And now the official version. You may note that as schoolchildren we were only taught the first verse. But that kinda misses the point. Actually, editing songs to build a strong nationalist patriotism reminds me of Stalin, what do you think?
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and meAs I was walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and meI roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
O’er the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me, a voice was saying
This land was made for you and meWhen the sun came shining and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
As the fog was lifting, a voice was chanting
This land was made for you and meAs I went walking, I saw a sign there
On the sign it said NO TRESPASSING
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing
That side was made for you and me!In the squares of the city, in the shadow of the steeple
In the relief office, I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking that freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land was made for you and meHas anyone ever seen that wonderful picture of Woody Guthrie where he has painted on his guitar, “This machine kills fascists” ? I wonder what he would sing about today…
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How you manage to take a mildy amusing post and use it to broadly swipe all patriotic Americans as Stalinists is beyond me.
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Talent, pure and simple talent. Like how I can take interupt your harem swooning with a simple three letter word 🙂
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“Harem swooning?” “HAREM SWOONING?”
Well, ok. I like that. Harem swooning it is. I can’t help it if my blog is a chick magnet; it’s inate.
But I am *not* a rat. I’m adorable. So there, neener neener.
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Are you implying that rats are not adorable? They might be offended.
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I’m not trying to say that patriots are Stalinists (inversely, Stalinists were patriots). All I am saying is that there is a similarity between the two countries and the censoring of art for nationalist purposes.
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I don’t believe that. There’s no censoring of art going on in this country, and I don’t believe US Patriotism bears any similarities to Stalinism except through the most convoluted of exercises. If there was any censorship in the country, Michael Moore would never have been able to show his movie, and MoveOn.org wouldn’t have a picture of Bush morphing into Hitler.
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But they did try to censor the movie, didn’t they? And isn’t editing out whole verses of songs (verses that are important to the real meaning of the song) considered censorship? So you must agree that Michael Moore has a right to make a movie. He has an American right. It is American to exercise free speech, correct? So you claim the movie is anti-American, but isn’t exercising free speech American? Hmmm, could being anti-American really be “being American”? To be anti-American, you have to personally object to something that most people would consider to be truly American. So we cherish our freedom, equality, democracy, and liberty. These are “American values” we hold dear to our hearts, values we should be willing to die for. If someone were to try to take away our freedoms, we should fight them.
Why weren’t black slaves who fought for their freedom called “anti-American”? They disagreed with the government and decided to do something about it. They only wanted the same freedom everyone else was granted. Why weren’t union workers and women called anti-American when they fought for their rights? They disagreed with the government. Actually, many of them were called anti-American. They were labeled as communists and socialists. People said women weren’t supposed to have rights because they interpreted the Bible as fact and decided women were “less than” men. But because these people stood up for their rights we now live in a better country. We cherish our jobs and benefits and the protection we receive. Why wasn’t Martin Luther King called anti-American? Why wasn’t he censored? Oh wait, he was censored, he was assassinated. Could it be possible that Michael Moore is actually being more American than the rest of us? He sees that people are trying to take away the basic rights, freedoms, equality, and pursuit of happiness that is supposedly guaranteed to all Americans, and he is fighting these people. He is doing something about it. So why do we label him as being “anti-American”? Is this not a form of censorship?
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Nobody attempted to censor his movie.
Giving a patriotic verse to children without all the baggage is not censorship. You found the rest of the words, so can they.
Yes, Michael Moore is anti-American. He’s using his American freedoms to bash America. I never said he didn’t have the right to show it – I said he was dishonest, partisan, and anti-American. Just because one uses American freedoms doesn’t mean they’re good for America.
And calling him anti-America is not censorship. Only the government can do that. I’m using my free speech in a pro-American way.
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“Move America Forward” put up a website and handed out flyers at showings of F9/11. Hardly censorship. Asking people not to go and handing out flyers is free speech. The government arresting people who show F9/11 would be censorship. That hasn’t happened.
Michael Moore does bash America. I’ve seen excerpts and read enough passages to know that. You know it, too.
Is he dishonest in how he goes about making movies? Yes. By omitting key information and using tricky editing, he is being dishonest.
I also removed your rant because it was 3 pages long. This wasn’t even a controversial post and you’re ranting about Moore, the CIA, patriotism, Stalinism, censorship, partisanship, Arlo Guthrie, propoganda, the poor and the hungry, Fox News, George Orwell, and more. Go get your own blog if you want to be that verbose.
My blog is conservative and obviously isn’t to your liking. You would be happier elsewhere.
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I never mentioned Arlo Guthrie. I mentioned his father Woody Guthrie. You can’t seem to get anything straight.
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By the time I got to page 3 of your post, my vision was blurry. So you only ranted about Moore, the CIA, patriotism, Stalinism, censorship, partisanship, propoganda, the poor and the hungry, Fox News, George Orwell.
*zzzzz*
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Thats funny because I mentioned Woody Guthrie in the very first line of the first comment on this page.
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Just a comment about censorship. Speaking out against something is not censorship. A group of citizens attempting to influence businesses is not censorship. Maybe you should spend some time in a country that actually has censorship. You’d catch on to the difference pretty quick.
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That’s a very good point. If you’re able to speak out about censorship, then you’re probably not being censored. 🙂
China blocks all access to livejournal.com and blogger.com. *That* is censorship.
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Hmmm, sending death threats to theatre owners…I guess thats not censorship. You guys got me there. And the CIA doesn’t censor anything that may make the US or capitalism look bad. Nope, there’s absolutely no censorship whatsoever in America. Freedom of speech rings throughout the land.
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Incorrect application of the word “censorship;” death threats from fringe lunatics does not equal government censorship. And there are a gazillion examples across the internet of people saying derogatory things about the US and capitalism and the CIA does nothing. And even when “freedom of speech” is ugly, as in the case of Michael Moore, he’s free to say it and nobody has stopped him.
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The original version of the Woody Guthire song. Does it bother you that one of your most patriotic songs is really about socialism?[God Blessed America]This Land Was Made For You And MeThis land is your land, this land is my landFrom [the] California to the [Staten] New York Island,From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,[God blessed America for me.]As I went walking that ribbon of highwayAnd saw above me that endless skyway,And saw below me the golden valley, I said:[God blessed America for me.]I roamed and rambled and followed my footstepsTo the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts,And all around me , a voice was sounding:[God blessed America for me.]Was a high wall there that tried to stop meA sign was painted said: Private Property,But on the back side it didn't say nothing –[God blessed America for me.]When the sun come shining, then I was strollingIn wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling;The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting:[God blessed America for me.]One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steepleBy the Relief Office I saw my people –As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if[God blessed America for me.]And now the official version. You may note that as schoolchildren we were only taught the first verse. But that kinda misses the point. Actually, editing songs to build a strong nationalist patriotism reminds me of Stalin, what do you think?This land is your land, this land is my landFrom California to the New York islandFrom the Redwood forest to the Gulf Stream watersThis land was made for you and meAs I was walking that ribbon of highwayI saw above me that endless skywayI saw below me that golden valleyThis land was made for you and meI roamed and rambled and followed my footstepsO’er the sparkling sands of her diamond desertsWhile all around me, a voice was sayingThis land was made for you and meWhen the sun came shining and I was strollingAnd the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rollingAs the fog was lifting, a voice was chantingThis land was made for you and meAs I went walking, I saw a sign thereOn the sign it said NO TRESPASSINGBut on the other side it didn’t say nothingThat side was made for you and me!In the squares of the city, in the shadow of the steepleIn the relief office, I seen my people;As they stood there hungry I stood there asking,Is this land made for you and me?Nobody living can ever stop meAs I go walking that freedom highwayNobody living can make me turn backThis land was made for you and meHas anyone ever seen that wonderful picture of Woody Guthrie where he has painted on his guitar, “This machine kills fascists” ? I wonder what he would sing about today…
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About Me
Michael, a sinner saved by grace, sharing what the good Lord has shared with me.
Solomon, in the book of Ecclesiastes, said, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
If you’re not living for the glory of God, then what you’re doing is meaningless, no matter what it is. Living for God gives life meaning, and enjoying a “chasing after the wind” is a gift from God. I’m doing what I can to enjoy this gift daily.
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