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| How important is your national anthem? |
| I don't give a toss about it. |
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38% |
[ 15 ] |
| I feel a certain pride when I hear (even though I don't know all the lyrics). |
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17% |
[ 7 ] |
| I don't think much about it, but if I ever heard any knavish foreigners mocking it I'd do my nut! |
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15% |
[ 6 ] |
| It has a very important place in my heart, and it brings me to tears whenever it's played. |
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28% |
[ 11 ] |
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| Total Votes : 39 |
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Message |
Leslie Cheswyck
Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile
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 Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:36 am Post subject: |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Leslie Cheswyck wrote: |
I generally hold in contempt folks who badmouth their own country too much. I understand what they're getting at, but I think they overdo it. I don't want to hear how much you hate Charles and Diana, Tony Blair and and 'God Save The King'. Give me Waterloo, bulldogs, and the Battle of Britain.
In left-wing circles it is always always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true, that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during 'God save the King' than of stealing from a poor box.
-George Orwell |
Perhaps you need to brush up your reading comprehension? |
Nope, but you do. No mention of Big Bird anywhere in what I wrote. |
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Funkdafied
Joined: 04 Nov 2007
Location: In Da House
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:43 am Post subject: |
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| You wouldn't really need to give a toss about your own national anthem to still be offended by the intentionally implied insult when a group of people were to boo said anthem. It's about the intention, not the song. |
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sojourner1
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Location: Where meggi swim and 2 wheeled tractors go sput put chug alugg pug pug
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:00 am Post subject: |
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Sure I give a toss about my anthem. Here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzWVK5KA-IQ
When I took a look at England's national anthem, I realized I had been singing it too during my years of growing up. It sounds just like, "My Country Tis' Thee." I believe it was rewrote by immigrants from England many years ago to keep their old anthem and fit into their new American system without singing about God saving the queen since America was not to be a monarchy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFXW1fbst28
Last edited by sojourner1 on Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Vicissitude
Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: Chef School
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:00 am Post subject: Re: Do you give a toss about your national anthem? |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
Well, Americans posting the lyrics to their national anthem on that other thread got me thinking. Thinking, hell, the only part of my national anthem I know is the part that goes "God Save Our Gracious Queen" so I decided to google it up and this is the first time I've ever checked out the words:
I have never sung it in my life, nor been asked (say at school) to sing it. In fact I've rarely heard it all - a good thing really as it has such a boring tune. I don't imagine that many other Brits know the words either, and plenty of Aussies admit that the only line of their anthem that they know is "Advance Australia Fair!" The rest is just white noise.
So, though I must say that I rather like the line in there about frustrating those ghastly foreigners' knavish tricks, I think the Sex Pistols did a much better version of our anthem:'
Some countries seem to get more excited about this kind of stuff than others. I remember having to stand to attention at kids summer camps in Korea when they played their bloody anthem.  Why on earth do you need to play the national anthem at a kid's camp? And in China once a week we all had to troop outside while the played music and raised the flag. As a Brit, this was all a bit over the top for my liking. Flags and anthems, why do you need them at school or at sporting events? Seems a load of bollocks to me.
So, do you give a toss about your anthem? |
Just because your national anthem is "such a boring tune" and you feel nothing but obvious disgust by it, doesn't give you the right to judge and put down other people who happen to love their national anthem. And the Star Spangled Banner is an excellent tune indeed. I'm sorry that a loser like you will never be able to relate with others who are different from yourself. I can only pity people who have no ability to be emotionally moved by a song.
BB, learn to have a little respect for other cultures instead of being so insensitive, arrogant and above all jealous. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:14 am Post subject: |
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deleted
Last edited by Ya-ta Boy on Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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The_Eyeball_Kid
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:36 am Post subject: Re: Do you give a toss about your national anthem? |
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| Vicissitude wrote: |
| Big_Bird wrote: |
Well, Americans posting the lyrics to their national anthem on that other thread got me thinking. Thinking, hell, the only part of my national anthem I know is the part that goes "God Save Our Gracious Queen" so I decided to google it up and this is the first time I've ever checked out the words:
I have never sung it in my life, nor been asked (say at school) to sing it. In fact I've rarely heard it all - a good thing really as it has such a boring tune. I don't imagine that many other Brits know the words either, and plenty of Aussies admit that the only line of their anthem that they know is "Advance Australia Fair!" The rest is just white noise.
So, though I must say that I rather like the line in there about frustrating those ghastly foreigners' knavish tricks, I think the Sex Pistols did a much better version of our anthem:'
Some countries seem to get more excited about this kind of stuff than others. I remember having to stand to attention at kids summer camps in Korea when they played their bloody anthem. Why on earth do you need to play the national anthem at a kid's camp? And in China once a week we all had to troop outside while the played music and raised the flag. As a Brit, this was all a bit over the top for my liking. Flags and anthems, why do you need them at school or at sporting events? Seems a load of bollocks to me.
So, do you give a toss about your anthem? |
Just because your national anthem is "such a boring tune" and you feel nothing but obvious disgust by it, doesn't give you the right to judge and put down other people who happen to love their national anthem. And the Star Spangled Banner is an excellent tune indeed. I'm sorry that a loser like you will never be able to relate with others who are different from yourself. I can only pity people who have no ability to be emotionally moved by a song.
BB, learn to have a little respect for other cultures instead of being so insensitive, arrogant and above all jealous. |
Emotionally moved by a national anthem?!
You T W A T. |
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Pluto
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:37 am Post subject: |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Justin Hale wrote: |
| Not being ruled by the British was (I don't believe it is anymore) central to the American identity, but not being ruled by Napoleon or any continental Catholic despot is (or was) central to the British identity and, like I say, Americans tend to overemphasize the importance of American independence to Britishness and British patriotism. It's hardly discussed and not simply because the outcome was the opposite of what the British fought for. It's not discussed because it's simply not that central. Winning wars against Johnny Foreigners make up Britishness - not losing wars to British or former British subjects. That's why it's always surprising to see it claimed to be the source of a national inferiority complex. |
This is very true. Several Americans I've met in real life, and scores more of the internet-warrior variety, have brought this up like it's some kind of really big deal and we Brits must still be reeling from it. Because it's such a huge part of their national identity, it doesn't seem to occur to many of them that many Brits are hardly even aware of this bit of history. We've got loads of history to cover in the classroom, from before the Roman invasion even, and this is really just a footnote in our history. |
Actually, all American high school students, as well as many university students, are required to take two history courses. They must take both Continental History(US History) and History of Western Civilization. So we've got to take loads of history, too. Western History starts at around the time of Hammurabi which is way before the Roman Invasion. I don't know why you'd think American students don't study history before 1776? |
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Vicissitude
Joined: 27 Feb 2007
Location: Chef School
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:26 am Post subject: Re: Do you give a toss about your national anthem? |
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| The_Eyeball_Kid wrote: |
| Vicissitude wrote: |
| Big_Bird wrote: |
Well, Americans posting the lyrics to their national anthem on that other thread got me thinking. Thinking, hell, the only part of my national anthem I know is the part that goes "God Save Our Gracious Queen" so I decided to google it up and this is the first time I've ever checked out the words:
I have never sung it in my life, nor been asked (say at school) to sing it. In fact I've rarely heard it all - a good thing really as it has such a boring tune. I don't imagine that many other Brits know the words either, and plenty of Aussies admit that the only line of their anthem that they know is "Advance Australia Fair!" The rest is just white noise.
So, though I must say that I rather like the line in there about frustrating those ghastly foreigners' knavish tricks, I think the Sex Pistols did a much better version of our anthem:'
Some countries seem to get more excited about this kind of stuff than others. I remember having to stand to attention at kids summer camps in Korea when they played their bloody anthem. Why on earth do you need to play the national anthem at a kid's camp? And in China once a week we all had to troop outside while the played music and raised the flag. As a Brit, this was all a bit over the top for my liking. Flags and anthems, why do you need them at school or at sporting events? Seems a load of bollocks to me.
So, do you give a toss about your anthem? |
Just because your national anthem is "such a boring tune" and you feel nothing but obvious disgust by it, doesn't give you the right to judge and put down other people who happen to love their national anthem. And the Star Spangled Banner is an excellent tune indeed. I'm sorry that a loser like you will never be able to relate with others who are different from yourself. I can only pity people who have no ability to be emotionally moved by a song.
BB, learn to have a little respect for other cultures instead of being so insensitive, arrogant and above all jealous. |
Emotionally moved by a national anthem?!
You T W A T. |
Yeah, as a matter of fact I do. And you wanna know why? Because when I hear the anthem, it makes me think of my father who died in a war, my two grandfathers who faught in WW2 and all the men who lost their lives fighting for America, my freedom and my life. So go to HELL! |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:35 am Post subject: |
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| That was a tad emotional. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:19 am Post subject: Re: Do you give a toss about your national anthem? |
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| Vicissitude wrote: |
| Big_Bird wrote: |
Well, Americans posting the lyrics to their national anthem on that other thread got me thinking. Thinking, hell, the only part of my national anthem I know is the part that goes "God Save Our Gracious Queen" so I decided to google it up and this is the first time I've ever checked out the words:
I have never sung it in my life, nor been asked (say at school) to sing it. In fact I've rarely heard it all - a good thing really as it has such a boring tune. I don't imagine that many other Brits know the words either, and plenty of Aussies admit that the only line of their anthem that they know is "Advance Australia Fair!" The rest is just white noise.
So, though I must say that I rather like the line in there about frustrating those ghastly foreigners' knavish tricks, I think the Sex Pistols did a much better version of our anthem:'
Some countries seem to get more excited about this kind of stuff than others. I remember having to stand to attention at kids summer camps in Korea when they played their bloody anthem. Why on earth do you need to play the national anthem at a kid's camp? And in China once a week we all had to troop outside while the played music and raised the flag. As a Brit, this was all a bit over the top for my liking. Flags and anthems, why do you need them at school or at sporting events? Seems a load of bollocks to me.
So, do you give a toss about your anthem? |
Just because your national anthem is "such a boring tune" and you feel nothing but obvious disgust by it, doesn't give you the right to judge and put down other people who happen to love their national anthem. And the Star Spangled Banner is an excellent tune indeed. |
I thought that "The Star Spangled Banner" was actually just new words written to an old British drinking song.
"America the Beautiful" is a much better choice for an anthem. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:29 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
I thought that "The Star Spangled Banner" was actually just new words written to an old British drinking song.
America the Beautiful is a much better choice. |
Just a personal preference, obviously, but I disagree. I really like the beery, almost-falling-off-the-barstool quality of TSSB, much better than the slightly overdone earnestness of ATB.
Don't much like Oh Canada. It's never struck me as a great tune, and the words(at least in English) have a really generic quality about them. Apart from "the true North", almost every phrase could be put into another country's anthem and make as much sense.
I absolutely love the Israeli national anthem, but it has to be performed right. Do a google on on Hatikva. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:55 am Post subject: |
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Personally, if I have to choose between:
A) Being portrayed as overly sentimental about a national anthem that non-Americans recognize as a good song
or
B) Making a huge deal (and thats what the OP is doing) and being defensive about individuals with no class
I'll pick A anyday. Oh, and yeah, the Americans are really making *such* a big deal about this incident. Especially the American who started this thread! |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:49 am Post subject: |
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| Pluto wrote: |
| Actually, all American high school students, as well as many university students, are required to take two history courses. They must take both Continental History (US History) and History of Western Civilization. |
It thought it was one year of world history and one year of American history? Western civ. survives in some undergrad curricula. The question is this, however: why should we not better contextualize the latter within the former? (All nations suffer this, in my experience; high schools tend to present world history as one thing, and then the national story as another.)
Also, all American high-school students must take one year of government, which studies the American govt from the Articles of Confederation and the Federalist-Antifederalist debate to present-day issues in the Supreme Court and elsewhere. |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Vicissitude wrote: |
So, the Brits don't care about their national anthem? |
It's not really a big deal. The buzz of hearing it before a major soccer match - World Cup or something - seems about the extent of it.
I'm all for patriotism. It lies at the very core of morality in my opinion. A child who despises his mother (assuming the mother loves the child and has done all she can, and more, to raise the child well) is a revolting child and this is how I view the unpatriotic. But I still see no real reason to play a national anthem in much else but international sport.
Also, because the British national anthem is inextricably tied up with monarchy, many republicans dislike it. I too think it'd be more fun to have 'Land of Hope and Glory' or 'Rule Britannia'. If the Germans can have 'Deutschland uber alles' with their terrible history, and because the British Monarchy has no political power whatsoever, I suggest the Brits change their national anthem to one celebrating expansion, discovery and overseas influence rather than monarchy. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:35 pm Post subject: Re: Do you give a toss about your national anthem? |
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| Vicissitude wrote: |
| Big_Bird wrote: |
Well, Americans posting the lyrics to their national anthem on that other thread got me thinking. Thinking, hell, the only part of my national anthem I know is the part that goes "God Save Our Gracious Queen" so I decided to google it up and this is the first time I've ever checked out the words:
I have never sung it in my life, nor been asked (say at school) to sing it. In fact I've rarely heard it all - a good thing really as it has such a boring tune. I don't imagine that many other Brits know the words either, and plenty of Aussies admit that the only line of their anthem that they know is "Advance Australia Fair!" The rest is just white noise.
So, though I must say that I rather like the line in there about frustrating those ghastly foreigners' knavish tricks, I think the Sex Pistols did a much better version of our anthem:'
Some countries seem to get more excited about this kind of stuff than others. I remember having to stand to attention at kids summer camps in Korea when they played their bloody anthem. Why on earth do you need to play the national anthem at a kid's camp? And in China once a week we all had to troop outside while the played music and raised the flag. As a Brit, this was all a bit over the top for my liking. Flags and anthems, why do you need them at school or at sporting events? Seems a load of bollocks to me.
So, do you give a toss about your anthem? |
Just because your national anthem is "such a boring tune" and you feel nothing but obvious disgust by it, doesn't give you the right to judge and put down other people who happen to love their national anthem. And the Star Spangled Banner is an excellent tune indeed. I'm sorry that a loser like you will never be able to relate with others who are different from yourself. I can only pity people who have no ability to be emotionally moved by a song.
BB, learn to have a little respect for other cultures instead of being so insensitive, arrogant and above all jealous. |
Perhaps you like to believe that other women are jealous of your country, because you know they'll certainly never be jealous of you personally, darling. A little compensatory fantasy you like to indulge yourself in, eh?  Also, I've always found the Star Spanged Banner equally dull, and feel no envy there. Sorry. The only national anthem I've ever heard that I thought was really cool is the South African national anthem. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8iZ8jIqrQo&feature=related
Unfortunately I couldn't find on of the fast upbeat choir versions I've heard so that will have to do. Here's some gospel singers doing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBC3U-ytkw&feature=related
I don't feel ''obvious disgust' for my anthem. I just don't understand the big fuss.
As for you telling others to have respect, are you having a laugh?  |
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