Anthemed at Point-Blank Range

[madamesilverspurs]

It’s not required by any law, but you’d never know that, seeing as how its performance has become a demanded thing. Our national anthem seems to have become the newest cheap lapel pin, its use zealously monitored by the jingoism police; not only will it be sung, it will be sung in a certain way while maintaining a specified posture, subject to the approval of those for whom symbol too often takes precedence over substance. It’s now treated like some arcane incantation, recitation of which while holding hand over heart is sufficient to show the world that you’re American enough, or else.

Since when? And says who? Seriously, I remember going to school games and events where the anthem wasn't played, and the world didn’t end. Maybe they thought it was sufficient that we began every school day with the Pledge of Allegiance (another thing committed to memory by the time we were in second grade even though we weren’t old enough to have any idea of what many of the words mean, much less any cognitive awareness of our country’s place in the world, but that’s for another discussion). And there were many public events where the anthem’s use had not become ritualized; again, the world did not end. To be sure, there are those memorable occasions wherein the presentation of that star spangled banner for which the attendant anthem is named brought me to tears; but how in the world does that impact maintain when you go to a bingo hall that requires players to stand and sing the national anthem before those games begin, or when its overly scrutinized observance turns it into a cudgel meant to shame and punish those citizens whose history does not mirror our own?

Somewhere, somehow, we’ve jettisoned our own meaning; we’ve traded being an American for being Americanized, and that’s a problem.


There’s a verse in the New Testament that advises against the use of “vain repetitions”. Maybe we can borrow that advice and return “The Star Spangled Banner” to its intended status. After all, a nation’s anthem does merit a certain honor, perhaps it’s time we give it back.




.

[brush]

1. And try reading the third stanza. It glorifies the killing of slaves.

Francis Scott Key was a slaveholder (slaveholder by definition = racist) wrote it referring to the formerly enslaved black runaways who joined the British Army in the war of 1812.

IMO it's time to move to "American the Beautiful", "God Bless America", or "This Land is Your Land" as a new national anthem.

After all, we're getting rid of confederate flag displays, confederate building names and statues honoring confederate figures, maybe it's also time to get rid of another cultural touchstone that it turns out the war-glorifying and racist "The Star-Spangled Banner" is.

[madamesilverspurs]

4. The piece isn't about the anthem.

It's about those who "weaponize" it in an effort to control their neighbors.

Personally, I don't care if it's the Star Spangled Banner or Mairzy Doats.


.

[former9thward]

6. Totally false and showing an incredibe ignorance of history.

The verse doesn't refer to runaway American slaves fleeing from their former masters. It means slaves who were fighting with the British against the United States during the War of 1812.

These would be slaves who were "impressed" (forced or employed into military services) by the British and hence enemies of the United States (for any cause), but not simply "runaway slaves." Alternatively, the verse may even be referring to British mercenaries themselves.

The verse in question, in context:

And where are the foes that so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war & the battle's confusion

A home and a Country should leave us no more?

Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.

No refuge could save—the hireling & slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free & the home of the brave.

The Star Spangled Banner lyrics "the hireling " refers to the British use of Mercenaries (German Hessians) in the American War of Independence

The Star Spangled Banner lyrics "...and slave" is a direct reference to the British practice of Impressment (kidnapping American seamen and forcing them into service on British man-of war ships). This was a Important cause of the War of 1812

Francis Scott Key then describes the Star Spangled Banner as a symbol of triumph over all adversity

Snopes also debunked your view:

In fairness, it has also been argued that Key may have intended the phrase as a reference to the British Navy's practice of impressment (kidnapping sailors and forcing them to fight in defense of the crown), or as a semi-metaphorical slap at the British invading force as a whole (which included a large number of mercenaries), though the latter line of thinking suggests an even stronger alternative theory — namely, that the word "hirelings" refers literally to mercenaries and "slaves" refers literally to slaves. It doesn't appear that Francis Scott Key ever specified what he did mean by the phrase, nor does its context point to a single, definitive interpretation.

http://www.snopes.com/2016/08/29/star-spangled-banner-and-slavery/

[brush]

8. Are you not aware that a British tactic of the time was to encourage enslaved black Americans . . .

to runaway and join the British army to gain their freedom? They fought in a unit called the "Colonial Marines". American slaves were accepted into the units. And I see you didn't acknowledge that Key was a slaveholder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corps_of_Colonial_Marines

Cochrane, by now a Vice Admiral, assumed his position as Commander-in-Chief of British forces on the North Atlantic station in April 1814 and ordered the recruitment of a body of Colonial Marines as he had done six years earlier on Marie Galante.[21] Rear Admiral George Cockburn, Cochrane's second-in-command on the Atlantic coast, implemented Cochrane's order recruiting the second Corps of Colonial Marines.[22][23][24] It served as part of the British forces on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States during the War of 1812.[25]

On 2 April 1814, Cochrane issued a proclamation to all persons wishing to emigrate. Any persons would be received by the British, either at a military outpost or aboard British ships; those seeking sanctuary could enter His Majesty's forces, or go "as free settlers to the British possessions in North America or the West Indies".[26][27] (An historical precedent was Dunmore's Proclamation of 7 November 1775, although this offered freedom only to those who bore arms with British forces.)[28]

[struggle4progress]

2. .

[CentralMass]

3. The American Flag Code, that has been public law since June 22, 1942

The laws relating to the flag of the United States of America are found in detail in the United States Code. Title 4, Chapter 1 pertains to the flag; Title 18, Chapter 33, Section 700 regards criminal penalties for flag desecration; Title 36, Chapter 3 pertains to patriotic customs and observances. These laws were supplemented by Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations.
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagcode.htm

Conduct During the playing of the national anthem (including placing the hand over the heart) is detailed in:

United States Code Title 36
§301. National anthem
Designation. — The composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem.
Conduct During Playing — During rendition of the national anthem —
when the flag is displayed —
individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note;
members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform; and
all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and
when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed."

[madamesilverspurs]

5. And its enforcement

is apparently in the hands of some self-anointed guardians of the patriotic good, who are very selective when it comes to those they target.


.

[CentralMass]

7. It is, IMO, up to tbe individual. I just thought I'd point out the origin

of the proper code of conduct during the playing of the National anthem. It dates back to nearly 75 years ago. It is not a new phenomenon.