Have You Forgotten? You Are Either With Us Or Against Us!

Have you ever listened to a song and felt a strong sense of patriotism? Has a song ever made you feel that you were not doing all you can for your country? Songs like Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten “ invoke these responses in listeners. This song was written after our nation suffered a tragedy in the form of a terrorist attack. Millions of people witnessed the tragic events of this day in real time when the World Trade Center and Pentagon were both struck by hi-jacked airliners. Soon after this event, the country was united in war against terrorism. . In Darryl Worley’s “Have You Forgotten, the primary characters in the song are “I,” “we,” “you,” and “they”. In Worley’s story, he shows some characters on a positive light and others in a negative light. The people he projects as being positive and supporting his message are  “I,” “We,” and “You” while the people he paints as negative(enemy) are “they” and anyone affiliated with them. A central message of the song is that we must stay strong in our war effort because of the terrorist attack committed against us and in order to vindicate the lives lost on that day.  When the negative character “they “   is mentioned they are being made to feel guilt for a lack of support for the war and are being accused of “having forgotten.” The setting of this song is an  America torn in support/opposition  for the Iraq war.  IN this song Darryl Worley seeks to unite his listeners under a rhetorical vision. The rhetorical vision in “Have You Forgotten?” unites people under shared values and emotions. These shared values and emotions can be seen as a need to continue the war and fight against the people responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and that we must not forget what happened on that day in order to keep the justification for the war alive. Another vision brought about is that we should ostracize anyone that does not agree with the war because they are not patriotic and do not care about America. Songs like these can have negative implications by increasing nationalism to a point where people do not think rationally. Do you think songs like this promote a positive or ultimately negative message?

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