American Trash

This song reminds me of upper middle-class teenagers complaining about how awful America is even though they've never left the country. If you talk to anyone beyond the USA, it becomes pretty obvious the rest of the world deals with all of these same issues on a different financial scale, but I suppose myopia is part of the song. "I've got this planet in my hands" I don't know how you think wealth is distributed in this country, but I'm among the ~99% of people to whom this does not fucking apply. I can't even hold my own life in my hands without it slipping through my fingers, so speak for yourself. "It's such an ignorant bliss When the whole fucking world wants to be like me." Yeah, I'd say it's pretty ignorant to think the whole world wants to be like America. The internet will gleefully remind you that all Americans are stupid, fat, and lazy, and everyone looks down on them. "I'm satisfied with myself . . . I'm just American Trash" This song somehow manages to reinforce the tired stereotypes it criticizes even through obvious satire. What's the point of encouraging someone to accept that they're garbage? How empowering. Are they calling us trash without offering us any productive options because that's how America usually works? I might find that poetic if it didn't seem to suggest we're responsible for the institutions that block upwards mobility in this country. That was my father's generation, thanks. We're too busy drowning in student loans and hoping this teetering house of credit cards we live in doesn't crush us when it finally crashes down.

I actually rather liked the music video, but it doesn't match the lyrics. The video seems to focus on the transience of value and cheap materialism, which really isn't in the lyrics, so they had to use a lot of on-screen text to make that point. It's unfortunate that adding a cool video doesn't make the actual song any easier to listen to.