Regardless of which team viewers backed in Monday Night Footballs showdown between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Bears, the evening proved significant for reasons that went far beyond the scoreboard.
For Chicago supporters, veteran backup quarterback Case Keenum delivered a performance that bordered on storybook. The 38-year-old signal-caller reminded fans that age is just a number, guiding the Bears to a dominant 27-7 victory and, as some put it, helping Chicago stomp a mudhole into Philadelphia in a 27-7 romp.
For Eagles fans, the night was far less uplifting, as they watched what can only be described as an unmitigated disaster of a game in a season already marred by inconsistency and frustration. Yet for many neutral observers, tuning in to see what was billed as a clash of two NFC heavyweights, the real surprise arrived before the opening kickoff.
As reported by Western Journal, the National Football League chose to open its flagship Monday night broadcast with an unconventional rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner. Instead of the usual solo vocalist or military band, viewers were greeted by a Mexican mariachi ensemble performing the American national anthem.
The league featured Mariachi Herencia de Mxico, which offered an instrumental version of the anthem to the Chicago crowd. The Mariachi Herencia de Mxico helped serenade the Chicago audience with its instrumental rendition of the U.S. national anthem and it was largely fine.
Online, however, the reaction was anything but uniform. Yes, two points for you if you noticed that the U.S. national anthem was played by a Mexican mariachi band, one observer quipped, as social media lit up with commentary, criticism, and confusion.
Many viewers expressed irritation that a non-American band had been selected for such a quintessentially American moment in a major U.S. city. Yes, there were quite a few social media users and viewers who were miffed that a non-American band was playing in Chicago, and Many users even connected the stunt to Chicagos hyper-progressive mayor, Brandon Johnson.
Those frustrations, whether fully justified or not, reflect a broader cultural unease that has been building for years. And look, people are obviously entitled to be upset by this.
From a purely musical and symbolic standpoint, the performance itself was hardly objectionable. But if I could dare to offer my two cents: In a vacuum, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this little demonstration in and of itself.
The deeper concern, as many critics attempted to articulate, lies not in the act but in the context. The actual issue, and one that I think many angry internet commentators are trying to articulate, is that this was a harmless message delivered during deeply harmful times.
In other words, the question is not whether a Mexican mariachi band playing the American anthem is inherently offensive, anti-American, or even particularly noteworthy. The point, then, isnt that a Mexican mariachi band playing the American national anthem is inherently offensive, anti-American, or even particularly noteworthy. Quite the opposite.
In a nation confident in its identity and secure in its cultural foundations, such a performance would likely be seen as a charming flourish rather than a provocation. In a healthy, confident national culture, this is exactly the sort of thing that can be celebrated without anyone having to think twice about it.
The problem, critics argue, is that America no longer enjoys that kind of cultural confidence. The problem is that our culture is not operating in a vacuum.
For decades, Americans have been nudged away from thinking in terms of a shared national culture and toward an ever-fragmenting mosaic of identity groups. For decades, Americans have been encouraged to think less in terms of a shared national culture and more in terms of an ever-expanding collection of competing identities (thank you, leftists!).
The old motto e pluribus unum out of many, one has been steadily hollowed out by progressive ideologues who seem more interested in multiplying divisions than fostering unity. The old ideal of e pluribus unum out of many, one is increasingly getting inverted into something closer to out of many, many more, thanks to the far left.
To be clear, the issue is not diversity itself, which has long been a strength when anchored in a common civic culture. And to be perfectly clear: Diversity itself isnt the problem. The problem arises when diversity is treated as something that must replace the common cultural foundation that allowed all those different people to become Americans in the first place.
The irony is that a strong, self-assured America has nothing to fear from cultural variety. A confident and cohesive America doesnt need to be afraid of cultural diversity because its underlying identity is strong enough to absorb it. You can have Mexican food, Korean churches, Irish pubs, Italian neighborhoods, Caribbean festivals, and mariachi bands playing the national anthem without any of those things threatening the existence of an American culture.
But when the shared culture itself is constantly undermined, mocked, or portrayed as suspect, even small gestures begin to feel like part of a larger pattern of erosion. But when the shared culture itself is constantly questioned, diluted, or treated as something vaguely embarrassing, Americans understandably become more sensitive to signals that might once have seemed completely innocuous.
The remedy, from a conservative vantage point, is not to retreat from cultural exchange but to restore the common ground that makes such exchange possible. The answer is to rebuild the common ground that makes diversity work.
That is why some on the right resist framing this particular anthem performance as a catastrophe, even as they recognize the symbolism it has taken on. So no, Im not going to pretend that a mariachi band playing The Star-Spangled Banner at a football game is some kind of national crisis. It just isnt. In isolation, its harmless and frankly, it was a pretty cool performance.
The unease surrounding moments like this did not materialize overnight; it is the product of years of cultural and political messaging that treats American identity as something to be deconstructed rather than cherished. The larger cultural anxiety surrounding moments like this didnt emerge from nowhere. If Americans want a country where different cultures can confidently coexist without every cultural gesture becoming a referendum on national identity, then the solution isnt less diversity. Its a stronger sense of the one in e pluribus unum.
That stronger sense of unity will not come from the lefts obsession with grievance and group politics, but from a renewed emphasis on the shared values, history, and institutions that bind citizens together. Because when the common culture is strong, Americans can celebrate what makes them different without ever forgetting what makes them Americans. And were losing that, thanks to the left.
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