In response to Cullen Roche’s complaints about the national anthem being sung before ballgames, I think he’s misreading history and events. The custom took hold in 1941-1942. Circumstances were very different then. The United States was facing attack from east and west and there was genuine concern and doubt about whether we would survive. Singing the national anthem wasn’t enforced by the government or promoted by politicians. It was adopted by the people as a way of showing determination and promoting solidarity during a shared near-death experience.
If we’re having a near-death experience today, it’s being provoked by internal forces and it does not seems to me that singing the national anthem shows determination or promotes solidarity any longer. Is it time for professional sports teams to end the custom of singing the national anthem before games?
Said another way I think we’re divided and our politics merely reflects how divided we are. Yes, politicians are promoting division for personal gain. What’s the solution for that?
How about we replace the Anthem with Don Mcleans’ American Pie?
I don’t really care one way or another if the anthem stays or goes, but as a practical matter, the anthem will stay because the NFL wants to make money and they know if they stopped it would cost them dearly.
And I don’t care one way or other if the NFL stays or goes. The “no contact” rules make the games boring.
As always the best answer to refuse to play the divisors game and focus on what is important, e.g when are we leaving Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing home ec/shop back to high school, and maybe bringing back the UUCP mapping project.
Anthems, oaths, pledges, genuflecting, rosary fiddling and moments of silence are all religious exercises, offensive to us thinking people when performed in public, and even more so when we are forced to endure them.
They are all polluted with “God.” Even handling Amerikan currency is a god-polluted exercise.