Argumentative Essay: Green Day Never Gives Up

“There’s a flag wrapped around a score of men (hey!)/ a gag, a plastic bag on a monument.”The statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down in Baghdad and the American flag was draped over it. The United States was literally and metaphorically suffocating Iraq and its people, like a plastic bag. “Bombs away here’s your punishment,” refers to the idea of Bush bombing anyone who disagreed with him or didn’t give him what he wanted. When John McCain was asked in 2008 what were his plans for Iran he just responded with “bomb, bomb, bomb.”
However, the band refused to “cower in the face of the scoundrels and hucksters who wrapped themselves in the American flag and resorted to cheap and hackneyed dismissal that anyone who criticized or challenged Bush’s policies was
‘anti-American’ or ‘helping the terrorists’” (D'Ambrosio, “Green Day Never Gives Up”). In fact, it could be argued that by standing up to Bush they were protecting the fundamental notions America was built upon. Green Day wrote music protesting who they believed to be a tyrant who was abusing his power. In “Holiday” Green Day likens Bush to Hitler. “Sieg Heil” is a German salute, specifically used to greet Hitler; “President Gasman” refers to how Hitler gassed all the Jews in the concentration camps. In WWII, Hitler occupied France and terrorized the people. Anyone who fought or spoke out against the Nazis were immediately silenced and punished; ergo the lyrics “pulverize the Eiffel towers/who criticize your government.” They wanted to protect Americans from something that was infringing the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Despite their failure in stopping the reelection of Bush they band continued to “soldier on” where Armstrong claims that “I’m just going to keep singing and writing songs...And, hopefully, someday Bush will be put on trial for war crimes” (Reighley, “Green Day Dawns Anew”).
Green Day became the voice of the new generation.
They sold out stadiums nationwide and as they continued to create and perform their music, the people flocked to them. Zach Schonfeld describes his own experience as an, “angsty teenager flailing through the demoralizing 2004 election;” Green Day was able to “articulate people’s frustration and anger while bringing people together” (D'Ambrosio, “Green Day Never Gives Up”). American Idiot was able to (Schonfeld, “Does Bush-Era Protest Music Still Hold Up? Remember ‘When the President Talks To God’? ‘American Idiot’? ‘Son of a Bush’? We Do!”). Jesse Malin witnessed this during the concerts and states “it was incredibly powerful to see 20,000 youth screaming these lyrics and singing along to these songs....It was a powerful democratic experience that was sorely lacking in a fearful, paranoid historical moment” (D'Ambrosio, “Green Day Never Gives Up”).Ten years earlier, “Green Day captured one generation’s apolitical disillusionment on Dookie and an altogether different generation’s Bush-bashing fury on American Idiot” (Schonfeld, “Does Bush-Era Protest Music Still Hold Up? Remember ‘When the President Talks To God’? ‘American Idiot’? ‘Son of a Bush’? We
Do!”).