You don’t need to remove your fucking hat. You don’t need to put your hand over your heart. You don’t need to stand still. You are allowed to move through the stands and through the aisles, head for the beer stand, head for the restroom. (Not necessarily in that order.)
For crying out loud, I never thought there would be anything that would make me nostalgic for “Thank God I’m a Country Boy”, but this stupid and idiotic obsession with treating “God Bless America” as if it means anything has just about done it.
Can the OP clarify, as a furry foragna, I have lost touch with which things Americans are supposed to turn off their brains for and stand touching their nipples.
The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem, and it is generally accepted by even those like me that one should follow ettiquette. Stand, face the flag, place your hand (or hat) over your heart, sing the words if you know them and just move your lips if you don’t.
Since 9-11, there has become a tradition of playing God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch of baseball games. This evening, I heard the public address announcer instructing the audience to stand up and remove their hats. I would hope the bulk of them ignored him.
What do the French do during the performance of your national anthem?
I have never heard of this phenomenon, but for the announcer to actually ask the audience to stand up/be silent/remove hats or whatever is so ridiculous it’s not even funny. God Bless America is one of my favorite patriotic songs… but please. PLEASE. Having just one song where we are socially required to act like patriotic zombies is enough, do we need another?
I have actually been to ballgames where there are some guys who half throw their arms around their buds (or hold up a beer) and remove their hat as well!
I usually tell him I’m not remaining seated because I don’t respect my country, I’m remaining seated because I don’t respect God. It gives him a nice story to tell back at the home.
This has bugged me for years. I go to Cardinals and Blues games. I one time ignored the song and my friends started to harrass me about not taking part. Like Frank, I explained it isn’t the fucking national anthem. Fortunately they agreed after a brief debate.
Don’t give us any ideas: there might soon be a fifth inning stretch with that song.
And a sixth inning stretch where the crowd has to march around in circles to a J.P. Sousa march. And then there will be a first inning stretch in which mandatory prayer is offered; and a eighth inning stretch were the crowd all says bad things about illegal immigrants and checks everyone else’s ID to see if they’re in the ballpark legally.