OT: NFL-Lift Every Voice and Sing
To watch half of the stadium stand and sing the 'Black National Anthem" and then half the stadium kneel for the actual National Anthem, I can't watch that. Can you?
Most of my internet travels indicate that this is a terrible idea. Black folks, brown folks, white folks are thinking this idea is asinine.
We might need a National Anthem for every race now in order for everyone to feel included.
:-( ) Ahhhhhh.....
We are in hell ladies and gentlemen.
This will end well!
The mods are asleep...because it's 1:30 AM. Deleted or locked by morning.
It’s 8am. All clear
My powers of prognostication are waning as I age.
I hope that is the only thing.
If my life was a musical, it would be Dear Evan Hansen.
I don’t care.
I just hope there’s games.
So you’ve been a member here for over ten years. You know exactly what you’re doing creating this thread.
No real answers yet? Why are you afraid to have an opinion on the subject?
Just go for it.
Free speech is free.
weird how people who use that never seem to fully grasp the concept.
Wow. parse much?
How about a 'brave' opinion on the subject?
Naw, it might affect your 'virtue' score.
Are you talking to me?
If so, there's a scroll button. Use it.
If not, making fun of people isn't dialogue and it's not a conversation starter.
Give your opinion or go to another thread. Not sure why it is so hard.
SCROLL DOWN.
Are you drunk? I'm being serious.
I literally just suggested that you scroll down. I've answered damn near every thing you've said.
I'm happy to have a civil conversation with you or anyone else on this topic. It's the only way we'll grow.
But shit, SCROLL DOWN.
I could see this every day and twice on Sunday. Our official National Anthem is a combination of weak and inappropriate.
I'm curious... Why do you say it's a "combination of weak and inappropriate"? Please elaborate - I'm open to an opinion shift, but will be honest that I've never thought about it in such a way.
Well... it's kind of a crappy song ("To Anacreon in Heaven") that most people can't sing, and the lyrics are from a poem that has some racist tones in the later verses.
You are entitled to your opinion about the song being "crappy", but just because it is more technically challenging to sing (19 semi-tones) than some other patriotic songs doesn't mean it is inappropriate.
There really aren't "racist tones" later in the song either. The only truly controversial word (for this discussion) is the single occurrence of the word "slave" in the third stanza, most likely in reference to former slaves that had joined the British forces (along with "hirelings", which were likely paid mercenaries)... although there is speculation this could also be in reference to Americans impressed into British service (which was one of the reasons for the War of 1812... and why we also nearly went to war with France around the same time - they were doing it too). Either way, these were the facts on the ground... nothing really racist about it (the poem isn't attacking or disparaging PoC, just acknowledging that slaves were part of the British forces). It is not a pleasant fact (and the poem doesn't try to romanticize it), just the reality of that day.
It is difficult to sing. And you may just wish to take a look at the other verses and do a little history check on its author...for starters.
The verse that references hireling (mercenaries who fought beside the revolutionaries) and slave (the revolutionaries themselves, as they were slaves to British rule), have nothing to do with slavery in the historical context you believe it to be.
"But..but..but ..he said slave! That makes it bad!"
" slave (the revolutionaries themselves, as they were slaves to British rule) "
No - "Slave" did not refer to the revolutionaries, because the poem was not even written about the Revolution.
It was written during the war of 1812, when the US had been a separate country for 30 years.
It also talks very specifically about how they "couldn't be saved from the gloom of the grave" brought on by the "free" and the "brave".
The slave reference is to American owned escaped slaves who fought for the British in an attempt to gain their freedom.
Correct.
One, I've no clue if you're referencing something or what.
Two...what exactly can't you watch and why? Is this one of those instances where one gets all pissy and up in arms over things that don't matter (statues, nationalism mistaken for patriotism, slogans, etc.) than the reasons why some of the outrage in this country is occurring?
Man you need to catch up.
Why would you watch and cheer for a bunch of millionaires who hate your country?
How can you do that?
NBA is planning on putting BLM on the courts!!
btw, BLM is promoting...
Dismantle/Defund the police
Reparations
Marxist Socialism
And general hatred of white people
Read their list of demands. Stop kneeling like fools.
I LOVE football and basketball but this shit is over the ledge.
These positions by NBA and NFL will change the sports for good.
I also love NHL so as long as they keep it real.
Lol...you think that people who protest against racial injustice in this country hate this country and you want to tell someone ELSE to catch up?
People who are fighting for equality and building a better America, hate America?
Off to bed you go.
Again for the slow people...
BLM is promoting...
Dismantle/Defund the police
Reparations
Marxist Socialism
And general hatred of white people
DO YOU SUPPORT THOSE THINGS?
These things do not build a better America.
I didn't say anything about BLM.
I said PEOPLE.
Calm down and read before you respond.
OK.
"people who protest against racial injustice"
Hmmm. crazy thought you were talking about BLM.
please man, everyone who is not a racist hates racial injustice but the 'movement' has gone off the rails. I think you know that.
It has no place in a sports forum and the fact that they are promoting socialism, reparations, defund police etc. They are losing steam with thinking non-partisans and moderate Repubs are gonna be supportive.
You'll get blasted because this board leans predominately left, but it's not false.
https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-co-founder-describes-herself-as-trained-marxist/
Read the BLM charter - it's right there on their site. "We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. "
So it's two parts, the 1st I can get behind - which is the fair treatment of blacks with the police & trying to end systemic racism. The 2nd part of their goal is a massive increase in government power. Yeah, that always ends well!
WHERE MY COUNTRY GONE?!?!?!
huh?
As a black Mgoblogger who often gets frustrated by the dearth of black voices when we discuss race (esp. vis-a-vis sports), I’d like to point out three things.
1) Lift Every Voice and Sing is popularly known as the black national anthem, but there’s nothing official about that; it’s just part of our cultural fabric. We grew up singing it at school or church. It occupies a similar space as “God Bless America” — which, by the way, is often played in tandem with national anthem, and no one seems to have a problem with that.
2) You may be right that it’s an activist move. But history shows that activism creates empathy, not vice versa. Change the policy, and people eventually come around.
3) But it also may be a placating move. I often tear up with pride when I hear Lift Every Voice and Sing, as I do with the Star Spangled Banner. They’re stirring songs, and I see nothing wrong with playing them both. That said, I’m far more concerned that we create just and fair policy around police brutality, sentencing, health care access and mortgage lending than I am with whether or not both songs are sung in NFL pregames.
+1 for a reasoned and rational response - which probably wasn't what the OP was looking for. (After all, it's no fun starting a shit-throwing contest if nobody throws it back.)
And every time the question of "Lift Every Voice" being the Black national anthem comes up and so many people start clutching their pearls and screaming in outrage, I have to wonder: have you people ever actually listened to the song? It's a beautiful piece of music - but more than that, it's a prayer of hope and determination. There is no hatred or hostility in it, and it is not a message of division. To try to use it as such is to completely (and probably purposely) miss the point
Oh, and that's coming from a 60-year-old middle class white man.
THANK YOU.
I agree with everything you stated re 1 and 3. #1 in particular as music often moves me as well. #2 with those who currently have the mic is what is unsettling. Choosing chaos over law enforcement is disturbing to independent Americans. Wanting to end law enforcement as it stands currently with no real plan that can be implemented any time in the near future makes those preaching it seem straight up crazy. Im disappointed that my family now insists that I carry when we leave our home because of the violence that has been glorified by the media in recent weeks. I fear unstable people pushing change...those being given air time at present... will either make positive change slower than it should be or cause change that may ultimately impact the population they claim to be fighting for negatively.
Just curious, what do you carry? Mine is a 1911 with a 3.18" barrel. It's still somewhat bulky, but I'm comfortable with it and it's fine in a shoulder holster under a jacket.
I do hear you. It sucks that this climate elicits fear, and I know that you aren’t alone. My focus is on policy change; the rest is extraneous and potentially counterproductive. Issues like this, the Confederate flag and removing problematic imagery may be important with respect to representation — and don’t get me wrong, those things are important — but they are ultimately distractions to what’s crucial to me: ending policies that limit progress toward equal opportunity.
The caveat is that messy and destructive uprising has quite an impressive track record for creating policy change, and today’s protest is tomorrow’s truism. It’s a concept that works as well for just causes (e.g., the Boston Tea Party) as it does for unjust causes (e.g., the Wilmington race coup that enshrined Jim Crow laws).
If you’re interested, I wrote about it here:
It’s the South Park rallying cry fro DonaldTrump
BLM has dismantle the nuclear family as a goal. They want to end capitalism. Amazing to me how many people haven't looked into this.
(edited because my original comment was snarky and unproductive - mea culpa)
Saying that Black Lives Matter wants to end the nuclear family is a fairly hyperbolic statement and you're going to have to bring a lot of receipts to back that up. If anything, I would argue that they are doing important work to *preserve* nuclear families by protesting police overreach that disproportionately targets Black men and is one of the main causes behind African Americans being more likely to have single-parent households.
Well, it is right on the BLM charter...
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.
There is a huge difference between disrupting the "Western-prescribed nuclear family" and the "Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement". One is disrupting families. The other is disrupting that you must be family to care about you.
If y'all can't understand the difference between the two then not sure what to do.
Consider the source - written by a self-proclaimed Marxist. Sorry, mate - you gotta read between the lines here a bit.
If by "read between the lines" you mean "make up talking points for something I don't like" then sure.
I read this and this made a lot of sense to me. Worth the quick 5 minute read. As I mentioned in my comment above, the 1st part (ensuring all Americans are treated equally) I can 100% get behind. The extreme leftist aspect of this, certainly not.
https://fee.org/articles/is-black-lives-matter-marxist-no-and-yes/