“America We Stand As One”

As has been the case for about six years now (and even that is lowballing it for a variety of reasons), the world finds itself on the edge of chaos once more. The rise of autocracy, a global pandemic, Nazi resurgences, supply chain disruptions, civil unrest, wealth disparity, climate change, and more have only pumped the gas as the we zoom ever faster towards the cliff. And now we can add NATO’s growing tensions with Russia as the Eastern European power seeks to invade/annex Ukraine (at the very least, part of Ukraine).

Given the fact that one political party has essentially thrown their lot (and souls) in with autocrats and undermining democracy at every turn, there is less unity on this foreign incursion than in previous years. The craven politicos are figuring out how to use this for the midterms and doing the math to determine the attacks they can use no matter the outcome.

But there was a time when the dulcet tones of a stunt man turned singer dared to bring this splintered country together. Following September 11, 2001, Dennis Madalone (who was part of stunt teams for Star Treks The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager) felt moved by the sacrifices of the first responders at Ground Zero and wanted to issue a call that, truly, out of many comes one. So in 2002 he made a video for his “America We Stand As One”.

Madalone’s sincerity is unquestionable. Also he’s not a bad singer. He looks and sounds like an opening act for Journey in 1988, but that adds to the kitsch. The epic song is really bolstered by some odd computer graphics and stylistic choices that made it go viral in the “so bad its good” way that can only come from someone completely committed to their work without having the self-awareness to see how it might not be landing as they foresaw.

And so as we stand once more on a new precipice of danger and destruction, maybe Madalone’s words can offer some measure of consolation.