Ah, lunch break. Time to review the news…
I see that George Bush has said the national anthem should be sung only in English. This bothers me quite a bit. English is not a “national” language; we produce everything from tax forms to ballots to you name it in all sorts of languages. So why have we begun to hold these national “icons” (such as the flag, the pledge, and the anthem) as sacrosanct. If they become unmutable because they are “holy”, isn’t the creating a defacto national religion… and by doing so, aren’t we ignoring the commandment to not have other Gods?
If folks want to produce covers of patriotic songs in their languages of origin, let them. Won’t this serve to increase patriotism? Does singing the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish or Esperanto (Aj diri, vin povas vidas de la tagiĝa frua lumo) make you disloyal? I don’t think so.
(Of course, those who fear this probably do so because they don’t know what the folks are signing. Heaven forfend, it might just be “Voto para los demócratas”.)
