Nearly one billion -- that's with a "B" -- people have watched Childish Gambino's "This is America" video.
When I first saw it I was a bit shocked. But also loved the rock. The music. But still shocked by the violence.
And yet I think: you can do something like this in America. Something that makes vicious fun of and at the same time vicious criticism of America itself.
If anyone did the same thing in China, they'd be jailed. Goodness. If they did the same in today's England, they'd be jailed! Even, likely, in my very own Australia.
In America, being able to say anything you want, even if it's offensive, is the basis of the First Amendment. It's been under fire in recent years, but then came back to centre stage with the purchase of Twitter (now "X") specifically because Elon Musk worried that it had been infiltrated by government agents who wanted to stifle free speech via the platform. Which we learned it had.
And to some great extent, the latest election was about Free Speech. People didn't like what the Democrats were trying to do about shutting down people's free speech.
So now we have Trump and he's all about Free Speech.
So, hate Childish Gambino and his "This is America" as much as we want, the fact is that allowing such works, being able to view them freely, being able openly, proudly, to fight for free speech and to have free speech is what gives America its edge.
Gives American its edge to excel in Art, in Science, in High Tech, in AI, in movies, in books, in music, in sport. To excel.
Free Speech -- its installation as the very First Amendment of the Constitution -- is what gives America its huge edge over the rest of the world. Because people can say what they like, no matter what. And that's an advantage.
To excel. To prevail. To be better. To achieve higher. 3 cheers for the 1A.
