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  1. #1
    Banned Orlong's Avatar
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    Star Spangled Banner Usage Offensive

    I have to say Im offended every time the Star Spangled Banner is played at an event, and only the first verse in sung. its disrespectful to the flag and our nation to shorten it to one verse. In my opinion all 4 verses should be sung every time its played. Does anyone else feel this way? or is just the first verse OK with you.

    Since Im sure many of the youngsters and people not from the US didnt even know there was 4 verses. Here are the lyrics for the all verses.

    Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
    What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
    Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
    O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
    And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
    Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
    Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
    O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

    On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
    Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
    What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
    As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
    Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
    In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
    'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
    O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

    And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
    That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
    A home and a country should leave us no more!
    Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
    No refuge could save the hireling and slave
    From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
    And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
    O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

    Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
    Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
    Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
    Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
    Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
    And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
    And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
    O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

  2. #2
    The Lightbringer Tzalix's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Orlong View Post
    I have to say Im offended every time the Star Spangled Banner is played at an event, and only the first verse in sung. its disrespectful to the flag and our nation to shorten it to one verse. In my opinion all 4 verses should be sung every time its played. Does anyone else feel this way? or is just the first verse OK with you.
    How...

    What...

    Why...

    In what universe could this possibly be offensive?
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  3. #3
    Just what we need Orlong, more nationalism.

  4. #4
    The Insane Revi's Avatar
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    This is done with all national anthems, it's not offensive, you just don't always have the time or the patient audience to finish the whole thing.

  5. #5
    The Insane Kathandira's Avatar
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    I am sad to admit that I did not know there was more lyrics than the first verse. I tried to look up why it is shortened to just the first verse, but I couldn't find a reason. Perhaps because as a National Anthem, it was too long?
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    The Insane Masark's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Revi View Post
    This is done with all national anthems, it's not offensive, you just don't always have the time or the patient audience to finish the whole thing.
    Up here, only the first stanza is the legal anthem. The other three are not legally part of the anthem.

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    The entire thing is set to the tune of a popular British song sung in the colonies anyways - it's a stupid anthem in the first place.
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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Masark View Post
    Up here, only the first stanza is the legal anthem. The other three are not legally part of the anthem.
    And keep in mind we in the USA have to reaffirm our nationalism to this country after 6.5 innings of baseball with God Bless America as well.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Revi View Post
    This is done with all national anthems, it's not offensive, you just don't always have the time or the patient audience to finish the whole thing.
    This is the Murican national anthem though. It's different. Honestly just one rendition is an insult. It should be sung in full 50 times - once for each state.

  10. #10
    Banned Orlong's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tzalix View Post
    How...

    What...

    Why...

    In what universe could this possibly be offensive?
    Because its disrespectful to butcher it and sing it incomplete

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Rukentuts View Post
    And keep in mind we in the USA have to reaffirm our nationalism to this country after 6.5 innings of baseball with God Bless America as well.
    If you dont like the country, youre free to leave it! Also, I dont know what baseball games youre going to but every one Ive seen sings Take Me Out to The Ball Game. Not God Bless America
    Last edited by Orlong; 2014-12-10 at 05:36 PM.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Rukentuts View Post
    Just what we need Orlong, more nationalism.
    Or a thinly veiled attempt to show off vastly superior obscure knowledge about God save the Quee... I mean the National Anthem.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Orlong View Post
    Because its disrespectful to butcher it and sing it incomplete
    It is only disrespectful on the individual level and not on the national level. As in, it is only disrespectful if YOU think it is and is not disrespectful by default.

  13. #13
    Keyboard Turner Xiver's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Orlong View Post
    I have to say Im [sic] offended every time the Star Spangled Banner is played at an event, and only the first verse in sung. its disrespectful to the flag and our nation to shorten it to one verse. In my opinion all 4 verses should be sung every time its played. Does anyone else feel this way? or is just the first verse OK with you.
    I'm offended by your fake patriotism and trolling.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kathandira View Post
    I am sad to admit that I did not know there was more lyrics than the first verse. I tried to look up why it is shortened to just the first verse, but I couldn't find a reason. Perhaps because as a National Anthem, it was too long?
    Or perhaps because it was never intended as a song? "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the result of the unholy union of a poem (The Defense of Fort McHenry) with the score for a (lightly bawdy) 18th-Century British drinking song (To Anacreon in Heaven) shoved into it. (I say unholy because it's hard as hell to sing - it barely even works as a song.) It became popular in the latter half of the 19th Century, and had some formal recognition after WWI, but wasn't officially the 'National Anthem' until well after the start of the Great Depression. The main alternatives - "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" and "Hail, Columbia" - are 'better' in that sense, although the former suffers from a certain lack of originality, being set to a version of "God Save the Queen".
    "In today’s America, conservatives who actually want to conserve are as rare as liberals who actually want to liberate. The once-significant language of an earlier era has had the meaning sucked right out of it, the better to serve as camouflage for a kleptocratic feeding frenzy in which both establishment parties participate with equal abandon" (Taking a break from the criminal, incompetent liars at the NSA, to bring you the above political observation, from The Archdruid Report.)

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    It is a good point, I always get horribly offended if someone calls me by my first name only, or uses a pronoun. It is only respectful to use first, middle, and last name every time a person is addressed.

    After all, nobody would consider calling Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton just "Hillary" now would they? Everyone that respects Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton calls Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton "Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton".

    edit: By the way, the OP's use of the term "US", without even the decency to add the periods after each letter is apalling, he is clearly not a patriot. It is The United States of America, not "US"
    Last edited by Thekri; 2014-12-10 at 05:40 PM.

  16. #16
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    To me, doesn't really seem like something worth getting offended about. The emotion that is brought up during the first verse is enough for me to remember how much I love living in this country. It's your right to be offended by that, but there are plenty of other things that piss me off instead of that.
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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Orlong View Post
    If you dont like the country, youre free to leave it!
    You would let him go, just like that ? While this person obviously needs to be readjusted, you would let him leave and spread his nonsense over the world, like a disease, against your beloved nation? That's treason man, I thought you were one of the good guys.

  18. #18
    I thought Borat's version was the official one.
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  19. #19
    Merely a Setback Reeve's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maltah View Post
    Or a thinly veiled attempt to show off vastly superior obscure knowledge about God save the Quee... I mean the National Anthem.
    God Save the Queen is My Country 'Tis of Thee, not the Star Spangled Banner.
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  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Orlong View Post
    If you dont like the country, youre free to leave it! Also, I dont know what baseball games youre going to but every one Ive seen sings Take Me Out to The Ball Game. Not God Bless America
    Hey, if you don't like things, you're free to leave! Go set up your own country and sing all 4 verses.
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