Love-Hounds-request@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (10/03/90)
Really-From: carl@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Carl Hansen) Vickie wrote: | * IMHO * the national anthem is stinky and stupid. IMHO too. Another wrote: | > You owe some big-time apologies on this one! Perhaps we should | > take a cue from your heroine Sinnead, and have a Vickie boycott on this | > newsgroup until you do.... Exactly what's offensive about Vickie's remark? She finds an officially sanctioned (since 1931) symbol stupid & stinky, just how is that connected to her feelings about _anything_else_, or yours? Maybe she won't sing along with you at the next ball game -- which might be kind of offensive I guess, but it's not clear to me what's at stake here. Myself, I think the song's stupid & stinky precisely because it's an officially sanctioned symbol, and a completely inappropriate one -- come on , TSSB's so irrelevent it's weird. The narsty imperialist Brits lobbed bombs into Fort McHenry, missing the flagpole; next morning F. Scott Key beholds Old Glory (which is actually a mutilation of the English war ensign... hmmm ... ) still fluttering... what's the point? Our native soil hasn't been threatened by foreign invaders for some time -- kind of the reverse in fact. Wiat, maybe the song's "really" about foreign _investors_ threatening native soil-- or about a U.S. air base getting booted out of Manilla, or those darned flag-burners or anthem-haters, or something. Actually "The rocket's red glare / the bombs bursting in air" always reminded me of ICBMs & 50-megaton airbursts. Point is, I don't think TSSB reflects the concerns, desires etc. of most people in the US. Hope not anyway. Vickie proclaimed: | I've always liked America The Beautiful better (even with the | reference to God and the "fruited plains"). Our National Anthem | should glorify America's beauty. Sounds good. How about "This Land is Your Land"? (Easy to sing, & would really stand out at the Olympics) -- or maybe Janice Joplin's "Mercedes Benz". Hey, how about "Song of the Workers' United Front", or... or... Anyway count me out of the boycott. Heck, I might even start reading her postings. Carl Hansen carl@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu | Vickie (one of Vickie'n'Chris) | katefans@world.std.com
kaufman@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (Michael L. Kaufman) (10/03/90)
In article <1990Oct2.212128.28722@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Love-Hounds@gaffa.MIT.EDU writes: >Really-From: carl@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Carl Hansen) >Vickie wrote: >| * IMHO * the national anthem is stinky and stupid. >IMHO too. Another wrote: >| > You owe some big-time apologies on this one! Perhaps we should >| > take a cue from your heroine Sinnead, and have a Vickie boycott on this >| > newsgroup until you do.... I have to get involved here. I completely disagree with Vickie. I think the national anthem is a very moving song. I don't think its about war, I think its about not giving up no matter how hard things get. Remember that the fighting that was going on, was fighting for freedom from tyrany. I really feel that Vickie and Carl are missing the point of the song. So what? In this country, you are alowed to have your own opinion. Vickie was not saying that she didn't think anyone should be allowed to play the song, she said she did not like it. What are you (person proposing boycott) saying? Is it your idea that we should boycott all the people who have ideas and feelings we do not agree with? I have to tell you, if we start doing that, noone will ever read anyone elses posts. And before you tell me that this is what Sinnead did, I am telling you she didn't. She didn't say noone should play the national anthem, just that she didn't want it played at her show. If I wanted to come to your house and play _Twisted Sister_ you could tell me no, too. Thats what makes this country great. Everyone gets to have their own opinion. As long as we don't try to make other people live by our opinions, what's the problem. Michael Michael L. Kaufman || So weave a circle round him thirce, kaufman@eecs.nwu.edu || And close your eyes with holy dread. || For he on honey-dew hath fed || And drank the milk of paradise. "Kubla Khan"