I stand, but I don’t put my hand over my heart. I like my country. I’m not proud to be American because I didn’t do anything to become one, but I am happy to be one, and it’s our national anthem, sure, I stand up.
I think I was the only person in my class who didn’t stand for the school fight song at my graduation, though. (We weren’t on a stage and I was in the middle, so no one could see me.) I HATE school spirit, or at least the way it plays out at Big Ten schools, by belittling other schools and even entire states. It’s pointless aggression.
Um, whoa. That rant came out of nowhere. Sorry. Anyway, if our national anthem was all about how we kick everyone else’s ass, like my university’s fight song is, I probably wouldn’t like it as much. (Sadly, our fight song is much catchier and earwormier than the national anthem and now it’s going to be stuck in my head all day.)
As it was once explained to me by a seatmate at a sporting event, “When ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ plays, Americans stand and put their hands over their hearts. When ‘O Canada’ plays, Canadians stand and keep their hands on their beer.”
I know the pledge is something different, I don’t believe I included the pledge in the poll because I figured more SDMBers would have a problem with it, strictly because of the “under God” ref. (I’m a Christian and even I’m offended that that got added in there, and how.)
I think most Americans pretend to sing it.
"Whose broad stripes and bright stars! Through th-mumbly-mumbly-mumbly-ight! O’er the ramparts we watched! What so mumbly-mumbly-mumbly-eeming … "
(Of course, to accurately picture the above, picture it sung as off-key as possible.)
I specifically remember going to a hockey game as a teenager (further proof of my Canadian-ness) and asking if we had to stand for the American anthem too since we weren’t Americans. (I didn’t have anything against the US, it was simply an honest, innocent question.)
My wang has had a bigger influence on me than most things and yes I do put my hand on my wang when I am singing praises to it.
To actually answer I voted for option one. I view it more as tradition than a ritual. I’ve been doing since I was little and most people do it so I keep doing it.
I dislike both patriotism and the anthem, but I stand, and remove my cap if I’m wearing one. To make a scene at (for instance) a baseball game by refusing to do so is … I don’t know, maybe “selfish” is the right word. “Narcissistic”? I don’t know, it’s the same reason I don’t cross my arms and try my hardest to look bored during a prayer.
ETA: (Voted option 3; I don’t sing or do the hand-on-heart thing, so not the whole nine yards.)
Put me down for the whole nine yards. It’s a symbol of respect for my country, and I still believe it’s the best one going, despite its many flaws.
We attend quite a few baseball games every year (AAA, Sacramento RiverCats)…every once in a while I’ll be standing in line at the concession stand when it’s time for the national anthem. It never ceases to amaze me how everyone stops what they are doing for those 2-3 minutes. Your beer is only halfway poured? Sorry, bud, you can wait a minute…and by the way, take your hat off and turn around. This is literally what happens, right down to someone behind the counter yelling out to the workers, “Hats off, everyone!”.
Is it a ‘meaningless ritual’? All rituals are meaningless, except to the people who perform them. And frankly, I don’t care if you stand or sit, if you take off your hat or not, or whatever, as long as you are respectful. Not out of respect for ‘my country’, or for ‘the flag’, but for the people around you who are participating in their ‘meaningless ritual’. If someone doesn’t want to participate, that’s fine, as long as their behavior isn’t a distraction. Which generally means nothing more than keeping still and quiet for a couple of minutes.
Oh, and if I never hear God Bless America sung ever again at a sporting event, it will be too soon.
From my (British) perspective, the whole idea of “patriotism” is quite odd. Why be proud of the country you happen to have been born in? It seems as meaningless as being proud of the year you were born in.
If I were to say “I love my country” or “I’m proud to be British”, people would think me strange, or worse a nationalist. But from what I understand, it’s perfectly normal for an American to say that he loves his country or is proud to be American.
Regarding the national anthem, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it in real life, only on TV. I wouldn’t know what to do if it were played, and I certainly wouldn’t know any of the words after the first line.
Buncha guys fought and died to protect the freedoms we enjoy in this country. Maybe you could put your hand over your heart and think about that during the anthem sometime.
It is. To the point that I once had a long, drawn-out and circular argument with someone on this very point. Whoever it was couldn’t grasp that I only feel pride in my actual accomplishments. Having not done anything to be American other than being born, I don’t feel particularly proud of it. (I do feel extremely lucky to be American, though.)
However, my viewpoint appears to be in the minority. Either way, people saying they’re proud to be American doesn’t carry the same nationalistic overtones that it would for Europeans to make the equivalent statement. Just a cultural difference.
He certainly seems to be implying as much in this thread. Why the confusion?
Myself, I don’t have to stand and salute the flag; I do it because I want to. I’m not sure the US is the greatest country in the world, but it’s certainly a pretty good one. And if I were visiting another country that I respect and their national anthem were played, I would stand for that, too, and observe the folks around me, or preferably ask if I had a chance, what the proper protocol for that were, too.
Oh, because he was chiding ivan astikov, who is British. Although maybe Oakminster thinks British people aren’t patriotic enough, I don’t know. I won’t presume to speak for him, just a little confused.
I grew up a Jehovah’s Witness, so I didn’t stand for the anthem or say the pledge. Luckily, I grew up during the seventies when patriotism was less of a big deal than now.
I never got any grief over it, but I did feel uncomfortably conspicuous sitting while everyone else stood.
Now, I’m a Witness no longer, and I stand for the anthem, but not out of patriotism. I just do it because everyone else does. And guess what, I still feel uncomfortable. And I’d feel just as uncomfortable sitting through the damn song.
Maybe I should just break out into a loud chorus of “To Anacreon in Heaven”.
I never had any objection to the Pledge of Allegiance or the things, but I was casual about them and usually didn’t do them.
I lived near San Francisco for a few years in the 80s. The Presidio was still an active Army base at that time. Once in a while I’d go there to watch the flag-lowering ceremony at 5 PM. The (8? 10?) soldiers went through the whole ritual: they assemble in the adjacent parking lot, march in formation up to the flag, one fires a howitzer blank, a recording of the bugle call begins playing over the base PA, they lower the flag and fold it, and finally they march away from the flagpole.
On one occasion I was just standing watching it, and there was a group of older Asian people standing respectfully a ways away from me with their hands over their hearts, and the men had taken off their hats. (I wasn’t wearing my glasses, so I couldn’t tell if they were of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino descent or whatever.) I thought, “If these people (who have experienced racism and perhaps even internment) are doing this, what fucking excuse could I, a white guy, possibly have?”
I stand for the anthem because I’m not a jerk. I’ll take my hat off too. But I never sing or put my hand on my heart, because I don’t like America “in that way.”
I’d stand for anyone else’s anthem, too.
In my senior year of high school one of the kids in band (I’m in band) didn’t stand for the anthem during a pep rally. A bunch of what we called “mechanics” decided this action deserved a beat-down and there was a big band/mechanics fight after the pep rally. Whee!
Me, too. I also like meaningless rituals. Plus, as stated above, to some people it isn’t meaningless, and I want to respect those people. And I don’t want to stand out.