Texas student athletes boycotting recruiting and alumni activities to push for racial inclusivity on campus
Good. Happy to see more college athletes realizing the power and leverage they have
In reading another article about this song I found out that "I've been working on the railroad" also had its origins in Princeton students mocking black workers. Fucking everything is horrible.
Given the change in Tom Hermans tone I think the players push is going to make this right.
I mean pretty much everything from back in those days is horrible by today’s standards. An entire region of our country had virtually its entire economy driven through slave labor for years.
The US national anthem has a racist history, and even a racist verse (which isn’t sung today). If you look at anything from that long ago, you’ll find a racist background.
ain't no time like the present to correct that one either. No on sings those verses, just wipe them out. the brits have the same issue in their anthem with lines about killing the scottish. this has been done before, after franco spain ditched the words to their anthem altogether
being canadian I have always maintained our anthem(the english version) is bland to the point of boring. However, I will take bland statements about pine trees over the gross history a lot of nations have put in their anthems
Oh I don’t disagree. I’m just saying there’s absolutely no surprise when you’re looking songs with pre-civil war origins that you’ll find racist tones and backgrounds. I’m not saying to keep them around, I just don’t see the surprise that some people have.
But do you agree? I always find it interesting when people say ' I don't disagree' or 'I'm not saying...'
without making clear their position on an issue.
If it is racist/bigoted then it has got to go. You can't ask POC to sit in a stadium full of people singing racist lyrics..even moreso you can't ask those black young men to go out and perform in front of those people. Can't imagine anyone arguing otherwise.
"We stand on guard for thee" -- Not bland! I love your anthem.
I’m sorry, LOL. Who the hell are those Mounties protecting?
being canadian I have always maintained our anthem(the english version) is bland to the point of boring.
Yeah. The French version (the original) speaks of defending their homes and rights while the English one speaks of the "true North" and various other platitudes. It's a nice tune though.
As for "The Star-Spangled Banner," I've never particularly liked its melody. It's hard to sing.
I thought about presenting you with the truth, but you clearly aren't interested in truth.
What truth? What did I say that was false?
You said
Marry me Juliet
You'll never have to be alone
I love you and that's all I really know
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress
It's a love story baby just say 'Yes'
You think the national anthem is racist. There’s a good place to start.
Probably don’t want to look up the ice cream truck jingle then.
so youre telling me all the songs I sang as a child were either racist or about the black plague? This explains the goth phase I hit in high school
the canadian national anthem is a great anthem, love the song, second only to ours. its like how i think about ND's fight song vs. the victors, but minus the rivalry.
That looks to me like an unsourced claim written by an opinion columnist. Even if completely true, there's a chilling dynamic here. "America has its roots in racism" is a common statement. We are also apparently on a campaign to erase, and wipe from the history books, anything that has its roots in racism.
It’s actually true! Some quick research will show you the original lyrics are pretty fucked up.
Curious what examples you have of anyone trying to erase or wipe from history books? I agree that’d be an issue but is something I see being raised as a scary boogeyman idea moreso than something anyone’s actually trying to do.
So the lyrics changed. Why can't we say, "OK, the original song, had lyrics that are considered objectionable, but now, nobody knows them!" We don't use them. Nobody sings them. The song changed. Shouldn't that be considered a good thing? Shouldn't that be considered progress? We removed racist words and replaced it with something that isn't the least damn bit racist at all. Instead, people at Texas want to end the use of a song because it has the same tune as a song that once had different lyrics.
And once you label something racist, nobody can ever say it again or sing it again without it being a morally objectionable thing to do. You're right in that nobody's trying to literally wipe the history books. But functionally, is there really a difference between that and trying to tell people never to sing a certain song again?
I see a parellel to that in the way the entire country is treated. We declare The Eyes of Texas racist and unsingable because of a tenuous link to racism. Change the lyrics, it doesn't matter, the song is unrecoverable. It cannot be rehabilitated because of a racist past. Well, the country has a racist past. Not completely, but it has racist elements. The suggestion to me, as we tear down everything that looks racist in modern eyes, from statues of philanthropists to the Star-Spangled Banner, is the country itself is unrecoverable and cannot be rehabilitated. If nothing else with a racist past can be touched with modern hands, why the USA itself?
It sure does say something about your belief system that you say that people are tearing down the statues of philanthropists. Because what I see is people tearing down statues of slavers, traitors, shitty generals, and genocidal assholes. Those attributes seem a lot more important than if they left some money to be spent on public works after their death.
Yeah what... which philanthropist is he referring to? I’ve never heard of this take.
People who believe in The Lost Cause absolutely think those plantation owners who paid for libraries and colleges to be built in their name were philanthropists.
The reason is because there are no "Adults left in the room" our leadership has failed us across the board. What we're currently seeing is fascism and marxism. And even though I lean more left socially, it's unfortunate to see the collateral damage, as now EVERYONE is racist, EVERYONE is a homophobe, and we should all be ASHAMED of our country for EVERYTHING that's EVER happened.
I wrote a paper in college about this very thing, I even gave an example that was damn close to what we're experiencing, where rage mobs would overthrow municipalities. I got a horrible review from a liberal professor on that paper, just recently emailed him through his edu email account. "Do I have a right to be OUTRAGED NOW?! You're an idiot, please throw yourself on the fires of our crumbling civilization."
Unfortunately the same inept and corrupt leadership that has been pandering for minority voters for over 50yrs now, has done so much damage to them that their hiding among the wolves as to not be seen within the crowds striding lock and step with them.
Yeah but that paper you wrote in college was at a shitty no name school. So makes sense.
You should absolutely make a Diary post out of that paper. We could all use the benefit of your wisdom.
Yep.. lifelong Democrat here who was even voting for Bernie Sanders if he would have got the nomination. That said the left has went completely loony for the past year.
the cancel culture is making it now where our freedom of speech is starting to be a compromised. fact that everybody isn't up in arms about this is crazy.
You start trying to stop conversation means you only get one version of the story. No different that China you get to that point
The last year? That slope people referred to, the one people mocked? You remember, the slippery slope? I'll grant you that slope has gotten an extra helping of Astroglide in the last year or so, but it's been there for decades.
People aren't up in arms about this because they're afraid of speaking out, they're afraid of repercussions. Example: in Bernie country, Vermont, a school principal was fired last week because she pasted this on FB.
I firmly believe that Black Lives Matter, but I DO NOT agree with the coercive measures taken to get this point across; some of which are falsified in an attempt to prove a point. While I want to get behind BLM, I do not think people should be made to feel they have to choose black race over human race. While I understand the urgency to feel compelled to advocate for black lives, what about our fellow law enforcement? What about all others who advocate for and demand equity for all? Just because I don’t walk around with a BLM sign should not mean I am a racist.
The intended meaning of "No refuge could save the hireling and slave" was never explained by the author.
Today the word slave has only one meaning/usage but at that time in England and the US, it was commonly used as a contemptuous general insult. Also, it would have been particularly appropriate as an insult to the British army of the Napoleonic wars as many of them were mercenaries or had been forced to join the army and serve the King in order to avoid prison or starvation. By contrast, the US population was proud of its reliance on free, patriotic citizens taking up arms and fighting when the need arose. (A system that barely worked then and became less and less workable.)
I'm not saying this was definitely the thought behind the lyrics. I'm just saying that what seems to be the clear meaning today is not necessarily the meaning Key intended in 1814.
I know a few posters here said “gone with the wind” was one of their favorite movies. Never seen that racist movie but we need to ban those posters.
Hopefully you're being facetious... I can't stand the South because of the racial tension. But as soon as you start pulling down posters, and lighting books/movies on fire you've become the socialist all over again. This is the exact link with liberalism that makes it such a dangerous path. As someone who leans left on social issues, I'm very careful not to go to far... it's a slippery slope, which is what we're currently seeing.
So do you now outlaw any movies with those actors in it?
How far has this really gone? Well HBO pulled it from their repertoire, other networks will be following.
WELCOME TO NAZI GERMANY! Whereby you're told what you can watch, what you're supposed to think, and who you're supposed to be mad at!
So our we banning Django Unchained? Roots? Why stop there?
"America has its roots in racism" is a common statement because it's undeniably true. I don't think anyone is on a campaign to erase anything from the history books that has its roots in racism. Just the opposite actually, there's a push to have the history books more accurately reflect America's historical roots in racism.
I don't believe it's undeniably true for even one second. Sorry. America has its roots in religious freedom and the rejection of monarchy. Racism existed at the time, yes. It is not the root of the country. And yes, there is a huge push to wipe out what some people think are racist ideas. What else do you call it when people want to change the national anthem because a never-sung verse mentions slavery? Or when Texas wants to stop singing The Eyes of Texas because the tune has a theoretically racist background?
The taking of the lands of Native Americans and the dependence on slavery for the economy is how this country grew from being a collection of colonies in the 18th century to a world power in the 19th century. That's a bit more than "racism existed at the time". To deny that our country's history is rooted in racism is to deny the history of our country.
You mean like how the persecution and genocide of the native Americans and large portions of black history are either totally whitewashed or erased from history books?
Taught an eighth gade history class some years ago where much of everything of controversy or interest had been removed from the text. The slavery chapter indicated the the worst thing that slaves had to endure was scratchy shirts made from burlap. History teachers had to bring a lot of outside curriculum. The thought at the time was that the textbook makers were meeting the needs of the statewide Texas textbook purchase.
The fact that you know about it is proof that it's being taught... are you that much of a dolt?
I don't think a single adult out there doesn't empathize with the plight of African Americans, or Native Americans.
However, unless you're an ancient alien (I'm not saying it was aliens), then you nor I were there and participated in such atrocities... so MOVE ON!
We kept picking at the wound, rather than letting it heal, and now its become infected. Now we're forced to amputate or cut it out.
You write, "The fact that you know about it is proof that it's being taught."
This is flatly false. Much of US Middle and High School History curricula do not involve an in-depth study of much of anything, much less the shortcomings of our own nation. If you want to learn about these topics in-depth you almost have to either self study (online or off) or purposely take a class about the matter in college.
“The fact that you know about it is proof that it's being taught... are you that much of a dolt?”
Says who? You some how have this comprehensive knowledge on my K-12 curriculum and exactly the way it was taught?
For instance, I am a resident of Omaha and just recently learned about the lynching of Will Brown that occurred in 1919. Basically this mob of angry white protestors set fire to the Omaha Courthouse In an attempt to murder a black man, Will Brown, who was wrongfully accused of assaulting a white woman. They got a hold of him, beat him, hanged him, riddled his body with bullets and set his body on fire. This was during the Red Summer, when waves of Domestic terrorism and lynching swept through the US.
The fact that I knew NOTHING about Will Brown or even the Red Summer is a blatant example of the missing history and whitewashing done in schools. A massive piece of Omaha history completely and mysteriously swept under the rug. Isn’t that interesting? This stuff isn’t taught in school, you either learn about it later in college or seek it out on your own.
“I don't think a single adult out there doesn't empathize with the plight of African Americans, or Native Americans.” Hahahaha you’ve got to be joking. Almost any politically charged comments section disproves this. Hell, our very own loud and proud non-terrorist KKK disproves this.
It's only been 56 years since an entire community of people was afforded the right to vote. The infection is old news...it's been festering for like 400 years.
Damn, that's actually a pretty big deal. Imagine our athletes saying they want to get rid of The Victors.
Good for them. The little things do make a difference.
I always thought the whole raising your fist in the air every time you sing the word, hail, seemed a little too similar to a fascist salute for comfort. But it never stopped me from going along with the crowd. Maybe it's time we revisited sine of our traditions to see if they still make sense.
What the fuck?
The raised fist, or the clenched fist, is a symbol of solidarity and support. It is also used as a salute to express unity, strength, defiance, or resistance.
This is why black athletes did it at the Olympics in 1968. To protest racial inequality.
you may be mispronouncing “hail.”
The fist pump was a thing long before WWI, let alone WWII, you idiot. It does not have anything to do with 'Facist' (you mean Nazi, BTW) symbolism. Stop reaching too far.
No I mean fascist salutes, in general. Mussolini had the Italians doing unified salutes long before the Nazis were doing it. Same with Franco in Spain. Hitler and his ilk largely borrowed a lot of their behaviors and pagentries from fascists and other right wing dictatorships that came before them in Europe. It's not at all unlike how Donald Trump glowingly admired Vladimir Putin and Rodrigo Duterte.
Yeah, hail to the victors and the associated first pump pre date world war two and they were never associated with right wing ideologies. I never suggested that they were. I'm just saying that the similarities, which are purely incidental, make me uncomfortably.
You are a fucking idiot.
Thanks. I love you, too.