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[Kisaya]

Yes, I always do. Haven't had someone bother me yet about it.

Anyone who has the nerve to will look like an idiot.

 

[rpg_fan]

Oddly enough, I've never stood for the anthem. People in the stands usually don't. I don't remember us reciting the pledge of allegiance in grade school much either.

 

[Brewmont]

As a Canadian that travelled to the US, I was rather baffled at how seriously the nation took its nationalism. We went to a theme park and before the opening, they played the national anthem. Just about everyone took off their hats and placed their hand on their chest, singing along. Except for my friend and I who were just like "yeah whatever" and talking as if nothing was going on. We could feel the sting in the eyes of all the people there, looking at us in sheer disbelief. I seriously felt hated for that moment. It was very weird.

Huh? I used to live in Orlando and have been to both Universal and Disney parks hundreds of times at this point (annual pass), and I've never heard the US anthem played there at least. For real, most Americans in this thread are telling the truth in that it is really only played at sporting events, and before political tv events like debates. The pledge, however, is just done in schools as a holdover from the 1950's when everyone was afraid of communism and added 'In God We Trust" to money, etc. as our national motto.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

Misread the title.

Yes, without question, especially now.

 

[Rest]

I was raised a JW so I never pledged the flag or stood for the anthem as a kid.

But what kind of nonsense did the Witnesses have you doing?

 

[Shadow Broker]

God forbid you show pride in the country that grants you the freedom to disrespect it.

America has an almost innumerable list of flaws; no doubt. We to this day struggle with giving our neighbors a welcoming smile and fair treatment. We've made mistakes, and still make mistakes. And sometimes we're slow to show growth. It's absolutely harder for an inner-city black kid to have appreciation for the flag than a white kid in middle-class suburbia.

But man, the edge in this thread is something else. I know I'm the minority here, and that's fine. But... I just don't understand the harm in singing the anthem. Have pride in your country. The USA, for all its issues, is also a damn good place to be and is a country worth being prideful in living in.

And I say this as someone who has no problem with Kaepernick's demonstration - I applaud him for peacefully showing his disdain for a problem that needs attention.

I read threw the thread and my blood was boiling until a reread your post. I agree with what you said and thanks for your post.

I'm a minority that has had to deal with a couple acts of racism in my life because of my race and because I'm an a American. Hell I had someone spit on me and call me a baby killer when I was going on my mid deployment leave. I'm also someone who joined the military after 9/11 and I'm now a disable veteran after sustaining injuries from my one deployment.

One thing I learned/believe is that every American or immigrants who are on American soil has the right of freedom of speech and expression as long as it doesn't violate any laws.

I hate the let me shit on the nation who allows these rights I have because lol I can.


American Soldiers/Marines are regular people you would find in any neighborhood. Many different religions, races and culture.

I stand for my nations National Anthem because I'm proud of it, because I've sacrifice parts of myself and my health for it, and because I knew men far better than I could hope to be who paid the ultimate.

I need to stop and stay out of these tyes of threads.

 

[atr0cious]

I stand for my nations National Anthem because I'm proud of it, because I've sacrifice parts of myself and my health for it, and because I knew men far better than I could hope to be who paid the ultimate.

Thanks for your sacrifice, but know this isn't about you. The fact the the military has a terrible history in regards to its treatment of ethnic servicemen, in particular its African American members, even when dealing with simple QoL issues like hair, should be something you shouldn't be proud of. We talk about men and women who died for us in the past, but our country couldn't even sign off on its own soldiers being in other countries because of racism. And then after blacks had as many casualties as any racial group relative to their enlistment in both world wars, they were denied access to the GI bill and housing and education loans. The flag has waived over all of this, and some simply won't stand for that.

 

[Yekshemesh]

As an immigrant, I love America. I would never sit during the national anthem. A lot of immigrants share the same sentiment as me.

Immigrant here also and I too love America and I don't 2 shits if you stand or sit and I've personally sat during many national anthems during sporting events, not because I was protesting anything, but because I didn't feel like standing. If you've ever been to a sporting event you would notice many people don't stand during the national anthem either.

 

[Moaradin]

I always felt super uncomfortable having the stand up and sing the anthem when I was a kid.

 

[neverknowsbest]

I don't understand why people who want to stand for the national anthem (or pledge of allegiance, that little fascist ditty) get angry when other people choose not to. Some people respect their country in other ways. Some people don't respect their country at all. But that's the most American thing of all, to have the freedom to choose. Not everyone is in the same place, mentally. Let them come to it on their own lest you frighten them away by force.

 

[andythinkpad]

That depends on how hobo I dress on that day.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

I dont even sing.

Edit: Completely missed the part where OP was baffled that germans have a problem with nationalism *lol*

 

[Magni]

I'm pretty sure I've said it before here, the national anthem has no place at a club sports event.

If the US is playing Mexico, then you play both anthem. If two NFL franchises are playing each other, then play the NFL anthem if you want (à la Champions League).

It's ridiculous when two US NHL teams play each other, where the majority of players are Canadians, Russians, Swedes, Finns...

Nationalism is out of control in the US, and people are completely oblivious to it.

 

[Citizen_Insane]

I'm middle eastern. If I sat for the anthem during a sport's game, I'd probably be killed.

 

[Forerunner]

I just kind of stand out of habit now. When I was a kid I went to DoDDS, so you had the PoA every morning and you’d have to stand for the anthem. When I was in the military of course you had to stand and salute. So it’s really just a habit for me now.

 

[Spenny]

I've done it since seventh grade after listening to Porpagandhi. My veteran gym teacher looked like he wanted to beat my ass. I've also burned flags and participated in black bloc marches.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

I'm not important enough for my sitting by itself to really make a statement that matters. But if enough people are also sitting then I probably would.

I never sing the anthem though. Just like I never say 'amen' even though I still bow my head among believers.

 

[televator]

I do it all the time. Free country, right? It's in the goddamn song...

 

[Gattsu25]

A verse about being happy to see your enemies, the people who were just trying to kill you, driven before you doesn't make a song a celebration of slavery. It's a war song, it's not meant to be very friendly towards the villains of the story especially if the narrator views some of the involved as traitors. The fact that freed slaves were part of the British army is as irrelevant as the idea that the Spanish-American War was a triumph for integration in the U.S. armed forces because there were black regiments. It was a means to an end, not the end itself.

If you want to ignore any American history that had an unspoken, tacit approval of slavery then you are going to be ignoring an awful lot of it from 1776 till the Civil War.

It has nothing to do with ignoring that history. The opposite, in fact. It's all about acknowledging that history.

 

[Dahbomb]

Here are the lyrics to the US anthem:

O! say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and 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 and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!​

The third verse is referring to the killing of slaves that sought freedom, you see, one of the tactics that the British used (in the war of 1812, two years before the anthem was penned) against America was to liberate American slaves. Can't be having any of that.

I feel dumb that there's more to the national anthem than that first verse.

 

[sqwarlock]

Even when I was in grade school 20-odd years ago no one cared if you said the pledge or not. And if you did say it was total "in one ear out the other" habit that none of the kids understood or took seriously. By high school I remember it stopping more or less entirely in favor of "moments of silence".

Jesus, really? I got threatened with detention for not reciting the pledge when I was in grade school in the 90s. Even in high school I was pressured by my peers and my teachers to at least stand for it.

 

[Abstrusity]

Jesus, really? I got threatened with detention for not reciting the pledge when I was in grade school in the 90s. Even in high school I was pressured by my peers and my teachers to at least stand for it.

I was suspended for refusing to stand or recite the pledge in 6th grade.

They spanked me over 20 times to get me to apologize, and when I wouldn't, they suspended me.

Florida was still backward in 2001.

When 9/11 happened, I was given ISS for explaining that maybe we were attacked because of what we did in Afghanistan in the 80s.

 

[LucidMomentum]

I was suspended for refusing to stand or recite the pledge in 6th grade.

They spanked me over 20 times to get me to apologize, and when I wouldn't, they suspended me.

Florida was still backward in 2001.

When 9/11 happened, I was given ISS for explaining that maybe we were attacked because of what we did in Afghanistan in the 80s.

You're supposed to be LEARNING in class, not ASKING QUESTIONS.

AMERICA.

 

[Laevateinn]

I don't really go to events where the national anthem is played but when I have in the past I usually sat through it because I don't really support that kind of nationalism.