• ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]
        ·
        8 months ago

        I can see how, but it was a contemporaneous response to Kate Smith's "God Bless America", refuting the idea of manifest destiny - there's a verse about private property that is rarely included in recordings that makes it a lot more clear.

      • Smeagolicious [they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        The original Woody Guthrie version is a bit better, the one with the verses that are usually removed because they’re too critical of that manifest destiny myth. Pete Seeger was known for performing this one too

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          8 months ago

          Yeah, they took the private property line out of the version they taught kids in schools.