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bmoreboy410 t1_ixsyhda wrote

I don’t care if it was referring to Baltimore. Fuck the national anthem.

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mknoll1 t1_ixsyo2f wrote

I feel like Independence Day in most countries is because the British got kicked out.

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WillieKeeler96 t1_ixszo5p wrote

“Our flag will wave forever” is pretty much the whole point of our anthem

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msleepd t1_ixt005b wrote

I mean France’s talks about the blood of the impure watering their farms so I think ours is kinda mild.

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old_at_heart t1_ixt4gid wrote

Ha ha. But I think it's more like "we will prevail in an uncertain and often hostile world".

NO, that's not right: the Star Spangled Banner begins and ends on question: did we prevail? Will we prevail in an uncertain and often hostile world?

That's what's vital to the U.S. national anthem. It's a riveting message amidst all the howdy doody "golly it's a nice country and everything is just swell here" type anthems out there, which is also the gist of the proposed hopelessly bland replacements for the Star Spangled Banner.

Will we make it? We just never know for sure. But, damn, with gallantly streaming colors, we'll put up a hell of an effort.

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saltwaterterrapin t1_ixt5ee1 wrote

The US anthem isn’t that bad, I feel like. Maryland’s is all “Go John Wilkes Booth!” though :/

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thatgeekinit t1_ixt897o wrote

Possible criticism: The song is pretty martial for an anthem sung at international sporting events. Though it is pretty similar to the Polish and Ukrainian anthems in that way. A lot of anthems are based on 19th century nationalistic poems with similar themes.

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logaboga t1_ixta7mu wrote

It doesn’t at all?

Oh, say, can you see By the dawn's early light What so proudly we hail'd At the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watch'd 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 O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free And the home of the brave?

Where are the lines threatening slaves?

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dudical_dude t1_ixtaga2 wrote

Personally I’d prefer a national anthem without the rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air but I guess that does describe this nations m.o. quite accurately.

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JHBaltimore t1_ixtbo14 wrote

He pitches for the orioles, so of course he is going to mention Baltimore.

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LaPieCurieuse t1_ixtgti0 wrote

Yeah, it's pretty brutal. The first verse and refrain of the French national anthem translated into English:

"Arise, children of the Fatherland Our day of glory has arrived Against us the bloody flag of tyranny is raised; the bloody flag is raised. Do you hear, in the countryside The roar of those ferocious soldiers? They’re coming right into your arms To cut the throats of your sons, your comrades!

To arms, citizens! Form your battalions Let’s march, let’s march That their impure blood Should water our fields."

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OneFootTitan t1_ixtgw2w wrote

This guy doesn’t seem to have heard many anthems. France, Mexico, Italy, Cuba, Russia, etc. All speak of war, many specifically about war against another country

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gettinhyphy t1_ixtlvtj wrote

I mean Kazakhstan anthem accuses other countries of being run by little girls and claims all other countries have inferior potassium.

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kamace11 t1_ixtn8oz wrote

Yeah and I want to say both Romania and Vietnam have almost hilariously violent ones. US is def top half but it's far from craziest.

Romanian: "Priests, lead with your crucifixes, for our army is Christian, The motto is Liberty and its goal is holy, Better to die in battle, in full glory, Than to once again be slaves upon our ancient ground!"

And Vietnamese: "Our flag, which is dyed with the blood of victory, carries the soul of the nation (…). The path to glory is paved with enemy corpses. (…) For so long, we have contained our hatred! Let us be ready for all the sacrifices so that our life is radiant."

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puptrait t1_ixtv4co wrote

To be fair, the Vietnamese aren't exactly exaggerating. Besides Canada, what other country can say they beat both the USA and France in separate ground wars?

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tansreer t1_ixuba7y wrote

You're trying to split hairs. Where are you finding that distinction encoded into the law that declares the Star Spangled Banner the anthem?

I don't see anything that says "just the first verse, we don't like the verse about killing runaway slaves that joined the British so they could be free."

0

bmore t1_ixulrta wrote

We lost all credibility when the National Park Service flew the Fort McHenry flag at half mast for the death of the queen. I mean what.

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bmore t1_ixun762 wrote

The verse is not wrong in a retconned sense that Black Loyalists were doomed, for the British/Canadians were happy to abandon them in corners of Nova Scotia to starve and fend off racist whites, but yes the verse is bad and while I enjoy this country's anthem I do wish we'd formally codify it as the first part alone.

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bmoreboy410 t1_ixuq8x2 wrote

Its not even about whether it was true or not. But I think that you are wrong.

The final provocation was that men who escaped their bonds of slavery were welcome to join the British Corps of Colonial Marines in exchange for land after their service. As many as 4,000 people, mostly from Virginia and Maryland, escaped.

Whether manipulation or not, the British kept their word to Colonial Marines after the war, refusing the United States’ demand that they be returned and providing them land in Trinidad and Tobago to resettle with their families. Their descendants, called “Merikins,” still live there today.

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SoulStoneTChalla t1_ixv4u5d wrote

He should check out the French anthem. That goes hard.

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hamsterstyle609 t1_ixv51u2 wrote

Yeah it wouldn’t be a stretch at all to say the War of 1812 was, at best, a pyrrhic victory for us, in the sense that we survived at all. The British thoroughly beat our asses and considering that’s what the anthem was written, it might not carry the connotations of defeat to them.

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wbruce098 t1_ixvbxrb wrote

Our flag was put at half mast for the death of the leader of a BUNCH of America’s closest allies, a leader who had stuck with us for 70 years. Given that 1812 was 210 years ago, and we’ve fought on the same side for well over a century now, I think we’ve gotten over the original enmity and just might be close friends.

It’s a lovely way to honor someone of that status and importance to our national goals, even if they’re not American.

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wbruce098 t1_ixvcekj wrote

Maybe there’s a reason we don’t sing those verses anymore. We also don’t count slaves as 3/5 of a person for the census anymore. Made mistakes, fixed some of them. I guess that’s progress.

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Risque_Terrorist t1_ixvlc9w wrote

overall i really disliked my time in america but living in baltimore was a really nice experience. if there's any america pride there it's all for baltimore love that city so much love all you guys

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dishonourableaccount t1_ixvr2hs wrote

I’m still miffed that 2026 World Cup games won’t be played in Baltimore anymore, solely because I want to see how commentators explain us shouting “O” during the anthem.

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Ocean2731 t1_ixvtzba wrote

Denmark has a good one. They point out to what I can only assume is the other Scandinavian countries that they can actually grow plants in their country and have a nice beach. They also remind the world that they used to be rather violent Vikings. Oh, they point out that their women are gorgeous.

Pure trolling.

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2crowncar t1_ixw4ugh wrote

Legend of the Baltimore 1812 Clipper, Chassuer.

>>Chasseur, under Captain William Wade's command, evaded the 1812 British blockade and cruised the West Indies from July until the Christmas of 1813, harassing the British merchant fleet.

>>List of some of the prizes that Chasseur captured during the War of 1812:

>>1. Adventure, ship, divested off cargo, sent to Charleston, South Carolina, but recaptured there 2. Alert, brig, divested and burned 3. American, schooner, divested and burned 4. Ann Maria, schooner, divested and burned 5. Britannia, brig, sent to Beaufort Carlebury, ship, valued at $50,000, ordered in 7. Christianna of Scotland, sloop 8. Commerce, brig, sent to Charleston, South Carolina 9. Eclipse, brig, bound to Liverpool from Buenos Aires, captured and sent it to New York.[8] 10. Favorite, sloop, divested and burned 11. Joanna of Malta, divested and burned 12. Harmony, brig, converted into a cartel 13. Martha, sloop, converted into a cartel 14. Marquis Cornwallis, brig, converted into a cartel 15. Melpomene, brig, six guns, sent to Newport 16. Miranda, schooner, divested and burned 17. Prudence, brig, converted into a cartel 18.HMS St. Lawrence, schooner, see above

New captain of Chassuer has huge cajones:

>>In July 1814, Captain Thomas Boyle took command of Chasseur. He sailed across the Atlantic ocean and harassed British merchant shipping from the coasts of Portugal and Spain to the English and Irish channels.

>>Most famously, while cruising the English channel, Boyle had proclaimed a blockade on the entire United Kingdom to show the absurdity of "paper blockades". Boyle's proclamation was posted in Lloyd's Coffee House in London.

Wikipedia “1812 Clipper” Chassuer

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