I thought the way in which this story was portrayed was fascinating. In the first sentence of the description of this story, found on the Rock Center website, it is called an "American dream story". You'll also notice if you watch the beginning of the video above that Brian Williams uses the word "American" twice in the first three seconds. Later in the same sentence however, he admits that it "runs counter to just about every message our society sends out". Personally, I found this juxtaposition very confusing. How can something be American if it goes against the messages of our society? In my opinion, it can't. Isn't American defined by the messages of our society and what we believe? I would argue that what these brothers did was very un-American. They were on the path of an American dream and chose to step off of it.
Why then would would Rock Center be so adamant about portraying this as an American story? My guess is that is was an attempt to make sure the brothers were seen as heroes by the audience. I would absolutely agree that they are heroes and great role models, but I don't see any reason why they can't be heroes and role models supporting un-American values in the US. I am not at all questioning these brothers' loyalty to their country. In fact, if you start watching the video at 5:30 you will see that they call themselves patriots. All I am saying is that their actions, leaving professional football to make the Hajj, are not American, and show that un-American heroes can exist in the US.
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