الارض الحرة و وطن شعب الشجاع
I have most recently been intrigued by the developments relating to the national anthem that some artists recently recorded in Spanish. It seems to have generated some controversy, not least of all in the White House. President Bush agrees that the anthem ought to only be sung in English. I imagine much of America agrees.
But I don't agree. An opponent to a Spanish version anthem argued that allowing it would pave the way to a Swahili anthem; or even an Arabic one. But when I heard his e-mail read on CNN, I realized what a damn good idea it was to have a Swahili or Arabic anthem. What better way to show the world how wrong they are about America being a protectionist, "Zionist" hypocrite; what better way to champion a solidarity with diversity that symbolizes "freedom and liberty for all"?
The fact that such a thing would be blocked with furor is a symptom of the greater problem I'm at odds with in our country. I've been complaining around it for some time, and I know it has something to do with the way America appears to be resisting a trend towards globalization. That despite our nation's history and diverse citizenry, which seem to suggest the opposite should be true. We ought to be pioneers of the twenty-first century, leading the rest of the world - by the rockets' red glare - out from the darkness of ignorance and bigotry.
I know this post won't get the comments "King's Horses" used to when it had this URL, but I hope some of you leave your thoughts. (By the way, the post's title reads, "Land of the free and home of the brave"; idiomatic corrections welcome).
11 comments:
I could not agree more with you.
it does not matter what language our anthem is sung in, what matters is what it represents.
As for your comments about veterans, I have also had the feeling that some vets feel that since I have not served, I do not have the right to make a contradictory statement about Iraq and in general, U.S. foreign policy. I vehemently disagree with this. All people should be able freely agree or disagree any issue. Freedom of speech should be enjoyed by ALL people.
Lisa, thanks. In the time that it took you to comment, I've been editing this entry. I decided to remove the "veterans" bit, since I felt like it detracted from my main point.
For everyone else: my original post mentioned the CNN write-in mentioned that he was a Marine veteran. I devoted a paragraph to that, saying that I didn't think being a veteran gave you more justification to weigh-in on the subject than a Hispanic-American from, say, Los Angeles (or from Mexico City, for that matter). If you're a citizen, you're as American as you possibly can ever be. There are no caveats.
I deleted the paragraph, but I'm happy to have the chance to bring up the issue seperately from my main point.
Right on, Daniel.
BTW, have you seen Stephen Colbert's white house correspondents dinner speech? It's absolutely incredible. The video is on Salon and a few other sites. Of course, there's been little mention of it in the press, which makes sense given how he completely and utterly skewered them and the president. Colbert is my hero.
I'm so glad you're home and out of the army. Woo hoo!
Take care
I would like the national anthem sung in other languages. I have been around and there is not very much love for the USA out there. However, not to detract from your poignent point, I learned an alarming fact from CSPAN the other day during a congressional reform hearing: one billion dollars a week is being spent in Iraq. That is one billion not being spent at home in (for example) education. I totally changed the subject, and for this I apologize.
As for veteren's having a stronger voice, that is a bunch of crap! Besides, "veteren" is a title bestowed upon one for serving his or her country in the military (regardless of having been shipped off to war or not). The title Voter means more to me than veteren.
Cheers! Hi, Hol
Your point doesn't make sense to me. America is comprised of many different nationalities this is true. Why would we encourage folks to use their own language and change the words to the National Anthem of America. The fact that new Americans were always encouraged to assimilate was not by happenstance. It makes sense that diverse groups of people live together easier when they accept components of a new culture.
I don't know that globalization should require any nation to give up their national identity. Seems to me when we try to do that in other places it could be confused with colonialism. I don't know that not wanting to change our national anthem to all nations makes us anti-globilization either.
As for the rockets red glare and leading folks out of the darkness of ignorance and bigotry that is the kind of talk that makes us "ugly Americans".
Changing our National Anthem isn't going to make the world love us. Perhaps the Mexicans should spend less time rewriting our national anthem and more time fixing the problems in Mexico.
Thank you, Daniel, for picking such a poignant topic. Let me preface my thoughts with a little background information. I live in an area which contains a lot of cultural diversity. Over half of the Student population in the local High School is Hispanic. So, maybe I see problems in certain areas that others do not. For instance, any school within the City Limits requires applicants to speak Spanish. Again, not requests, REQUIRES. As a former classmate of Daniels, I am no stranger to foreign language, but I do not speak Spanish. Now, my thoughts on the National Anthem sung in Spanish walk a thin line. I do not see a problem with a foreign language version of our National Anthem, or any Nation Anthem for that matter. But, I do think it opens doors to other issues. Should the pledge be spoken in Spanish? (It is in many schools here.) Should McDonald’s include Spanish names for the menu items on the drive-thru? If they can’t fit English and Spanish, which language should be included? See, in the schools in my area, English is taught to every student. Schools even run programs to teach parents English. However, if I want to learn Spanish, I have to pay for a class. I have researched and have not found a single FREE Spanish class in my Area. If the Region and the Nation as a hole is going to such lengths to teach every none English speaking person a new, highly desirable, language, is it wrong to expect them to use it? And if it is wrong to expect non-English speaking Citizens to learn the language of the majority, isn’t it also wrong to expect English speaking citizens to learn a new one? Now that I seem to have convoluted the entire issue, let me apologize for such a long comment. When I started this, it wasn’t meant to be so wordy. I guess it’s time for me to find some Spanish tapes and learn some more phrases besides “Una cerveza, por favor”.
I personally think the whole issuse of the National Anthem is made up. It's like shark attacks (I think it was summer '01) and other fairly meaningless issues that drive people into some kind of paranoia simulatenously distracting them from real issues.
Well, like the shark attacks, this anthem thing is certainly a "made up" issue. However, this time our elected leaders are as guilty as the media. But hey, it's an election year, right? I would like to see my leaders using their time to debate and comment on pressing issues. They could be discussing poverty reduction, education reform or, for you conservatives, improving the economy and the situation in Iraq. But they're not. Instead, they're discussing a song. Sure, it is our National Anthem, and I'm damn proud of it. But there is a line where pride ends and lunacy begins. Could our elected leaders please indulge us by remaining on the "sane" side of that line? Is that really too much to ask?
It's the old `resistance to change' for the majority of citizenry, but you are right, there is a much more sinister underpinning here... I think much of it has to do with the empiricists and they're stubborness at not sharing and not relenting to the most significant changes that could ultimately benefit the world as a whole. These "neocons", if you will, are so stuck in their mode of empire that any derivation causes bombs and invasion and the whole sordid mess has been wrapped in bug-eyed patriotism like it's a big pretty box sitting under a damned Christmas tree!
We should be the pioneers of the twenty-first, yes, but as in all trailblazing comes a bit of trail-clearing...
I suggest we fire up the backhoe and graders and what have you and get to clearing a path toward hope...
Peace my friend.
What does it mean to be an American? We are still searching for an identity, and in the process many people have suffered and will suffer for our lack of a secure identity in this country. We are a country of cut-off immigrants, and Americans don't realize how psychologically vulnerable that has made them. It is very shrewd and astute for those "third world" people to try to retain their language, because in so doing they retain their community in many ways, which is a source of great power. Naturally this debate about the anthem is really a struggle for the power of a voting bloc and labor force. It can only be understood that way. Trying to understand it as a moral issue, or writing it off as a distraction is in vain...
it wasn't a true translation- that's the problem most had with it it was a spanish song with some words of the anthem, sung to the tune of the anthem- not the anthem in spanish
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