Comedian Sarah Silverman called patriotism “perverted” in an interview published Monday in Vice.
“The right has perverted the meaning of being liberal, or being feminist. Even ‘social justice warrior’ is an insult. We pervert language so much,” the 47-year-old comedian shared in her discussion of her Hulu series “I Love You, America.” For the show, she spoke to people who have different political views to find where they stand on things like patriotism, nationalism, and immigration. (RELATED: Sarah Silverman Spent Some Time With Trump Voters. Now She’s Singing A Different Tune)
HOLLYWOOD, CA – NOVEMBER 19: Actor Sarah Silverman speaks onstage during the ‘State of the Union’ event, part of Vulture Festival LA presented by AT&T at Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on November 19, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Vulture Festival)
“Patriotism has always been a bit owned by the right,” Silverman added. “The last delusion on all of our parts is that there are two parties, and they’re made up of two very different kinds of people. I have to think that oligarchs and billionaire wealth addicts aside, for the most part, people are more alike than we think. We’re just getting our news from outlets that are telling us different types of stories.”
“Patriotism is perverted,” she continued. “We’re not on the same page of what it means. To me, being patriotic is loving your country — being a citizen, having a voice, being e pluribus unum. How perverted it is to go from ‘We are one’ to ‘We are number one,’ which is such a childish idea.”
“There’s a difference between childlike and childish. The president is childish,” Silverman explained. “He [Trump] was stunted around eight years old –– maybe something traumatic happened –– but he stopped growing emotionally. And yet, he got all the way to the presidency. There are a lot of pathologies that are not healthy but can bring great success, if that’s how you measure success. The deepest people look at the world with wide-open eyes — which is childlike, not childish.”