Elbow Room

Like most boomers who grew up with Saturday morning cartoons, I remember Schoolhouse Rock -- primarily the one about how a bill becomes a law and Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function?

I guess I didn't watch as much television as I thought I did, though, because there are dozens of them I don't remember at all (you can see the full list at www.school-house-rock.com).

During WisCon (which I wrote about in an earlier post), a panelist in the vegan session mentioned a Schoolhouse Rock song that I had never heard of: Elbow Room.

The lyrics are a fine example of the ahistorical nature of American culture... basically, it's about the move westward by European-descended Americans. It doesn't mention the fact that other people already lived on the continent, and were in fact killed to give us this elbow room. It also is totally unconscious of the fact that "elbow room" sounds an awful lot like the German lebensraum (living room or living space) that Hitler used as an excuse for his expansionist plans in Europe. Basically, the lyrics read like a page from a history text written by Bill O'Reilly. Or maybe Ann Coulter.

And to top it off, the song ends by cheerfully reporting that when we've filled up our country, we'll have to find more elbow room by going to the moon. Trash one country, move on to the next, I guess. It's just how it's meant to be. Or, as the song says, "It's the moon or bust, in God we trust."

Sheesh. Makes you wonder what other gems await in the Schoolhouse Rock treasure trove.