Standing For the National Anthem

Butterflylove · 17-11-2010 01:03PM

Im sure most people dont really get why its so important but sure we all celebrate St Patricks Day even tho all he did was drive snakes out of Ireland,

Personally I always stand but my sister's local in the outbacks of nowhere some of the older generation sit with their hands behind their backs to mark a respect for the song but to note the current shammbles of a government we have at the moment who are running to others for help etc only ever seen it once myself and it was only 3 really drunk men so thinking it might just be an excuse to save them standing :rolleyes:

jokettle · 17-11-2010 01:08PM

The only positive thing about the national anthem being the last song played in a nightclub is that the opening notes serve as a great reminder to get my coat from the cloakroom before the queue starts.

concussion · 17-11-2010 01:16PM

Adam wrote: »

it's too much effort, and i never know where to look...

You face the band

Ush1 · 17-11-2010 01:16PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

But at least I hope you stay quite and show some respect for it. People that that don't shut up and show some respect may as well be trampling over the national flag at the same time.

Hardly. I think the person who's in charge of the music should show more respect and play it when it's dignified. Not to some group of people out of their heads on booze.

Fighting Irish · 17-11-2010 01:24PM

Canis Lupus wrote: »

I'd (not happily) die for Ireland if it was required (I imagine we're safe enough from invasion so it's likely I'll never have to worry about it) but I can't be arsed to stand for that song.

No thanks

Pherekydes · 17-11-2010 01:34PM

It's funny how some very patriotic people will stand to attention for their anthem and sing the words, but they'll also scrawl the name of a football team over the national flag or drag said flag around in the dirt or use it as a towel after winning a medal an international sports championships.

Dudess · 17-11-2010 01:46PM

^^^
A Premiership football team too...

National pride/patriotism do not mean anything to me - I was merely born here, by a twist of fate I could have been born in Kentucky. I can understand to a point it having some resonance for those who serve(d) in the army, but otherwise, I really do not get it.
If you want to stand for the national anthem, by all means do, but do not bully people who don't want to do it, into doing it. And it's cheapened anyway by so many knuckle-heads who haven't a clue about Irish history/politics/language, yet all of a sudden become all misty-eyed with pride.
I went to a pub one night in Cork with English friends who wanted to go to a place playing trad music, so I picked somewhere not that great but convenient (it was raining) and it just turned out to be a bunch of half-wit ra-heads and ra songs. Mortification doesn't even cover it - no way would I stand for the national anthem there, we just left. Cus yeah, I'm real "proud" of that horrible shambles... :rolleyes:

WalterMitty · 17-11-2010 01:46PM

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Im human first, Irish second.

smokedeels · 17-11-2010 01:58PM

"Nationalism does nothing but teach you how to hate people that you never met. And all of a sudden you take pride in accomplishments you had no part in whatsoever" - Dough Stanhope

sums up my feelings.

AnonoBoy · 17-11-2010 02:00PM

smokedeels wrote: »

"Nationalism does nothing but teach you how to hate people that you never met. And all of a sudden you take pride in accomplishments you had no part in whatsoever" - Dough Stanhope

sums up my feelings.

All we did was watch sports bloopers and get hammered.

FoxT · 17-11-2010 02:10PM

I hate it if I am out & the band plays the Nat'l anthem at the end of the night. I feel that I am being bounced into a situation where I stop dancing & stand - or sit down & risk being considered a Black Muslim West Brit Protestant.

Generally - I prefer to register my disapproval by sitting down. After all, I am at a gig, not a fenian convention.

However, If I was at Croke Park, a military funeral, or a commemoration service - ie where a nat'l anthem is appropriate - then I will happily stand.

listermint · 17-11-2010 02:10PM

smokedeels wrote: »

"Nationalism does nothing but teach you how to hate people that you never met. And all of a sudden you take pride in accomplishments you had no part in whatsoever" - Dough Stanhope

sums up my feelings.

I think it promotes community, but whatever floats your boat i suppose.

Some folks just like to 'go against the grain' just because. And the internet has more of these than your average coffee shop.

Best of luck to you.

* going against the grain means your Zanny and individual and 'stick it to the man' Woop Yeah..... etc etc etc

Adam · 17-11-2010 02:14PM

concussion wrote: »

You face the band

i could face your mother but look at her tits...

MagicMarker · 17-11-2010 02:14PM

Erm, if I feel like standing, I'll stand. If not, then I won't. All depends on the occasion.

Dudess · 17-11-2010 02:29PM

listermint wrote: »

I think it promotes community, but whatever floats your boat i suppose.

Some folks just like to 'go against the grain' just because. And the internet has more of these than your average coffee shop.

Best of luck to you.

* going against the grain means your Zanny and individual and 'stick it to the man' Woop Yeah..... etc etc etc

People have given very good reasons for choosing not to do it, it's quite different to just going against the grain. As for nationalism promoting community... maybe local areas do, but I don't personally see nationalism that way. I think of community as being inclusive, nationalism to me in a lot of ways promotes exclusion.

Renn · 17-11-2010 02:32PM

I find looking back on nationalism in different periods pretty damn interesting (Nazi Germany/America etc) but today it means nothing to me. I've seen a good few docu's where the veterens simply state that - that it's a pretty hard thing to define and that nowadays it's completely different.

TwoShedsJackson · 17-11-2010 02:35PM

gatecrash wrote: »

This is an aside from the Things you Refuse to do thread.

I have to say I'm appalled at the amount of people who refuse to stand for the National Anthem.

Honestly, what are your reasons for not standing? Is it cos you think you are quirky and cool and just want to be different?? I just don't understand it. One poster said it's cos they have no interest in the army So the National Anthem is more to do with the army, than the nation?? Here's a clue. NATIONal Anthem.....

Why does it bother you whether someone stands or not? If you want to stand, stand, if they don't want to stand, let them not stand.

The anthem neither knows nor cares whether you stand or not.

Dudess · 17-11-2010 02:36PM

I can very much understand the nationalism of an oppressed group, e.g. the Palestinians (or catholics in Northern Ireland in the 70s) but there's a lot more to that than mere national pride. And I obviously hate anti Irishness (or anti any nationality) because even though I was only born here, I'm still part of that group, but that's about as far as my national pride goes. No shame either - hate when people say "I'm ashamed to be Irish"... although I'd definitely distance myself from certain notions of Irishness, e.g. that blowing up people is the way forward.

strobe · 17-11-2010 03:14PM

I think patriotism and nationalism are ultimately a way for rich powerful people to control poor powerless people and if necessary get them to kill other poor powerless people in order to get wealth and power from other rich powerful people. I'd be a hypocrite to help propagate this nonsense if I was to bestow respect on it. So no, I don't feel any particular imperative to stand if someone plays the national anthem in some pub in this country or any other I have been in. That's my call and anyone that has a problem with that can go and sh1te to be blunt.

Dravokivich · 17-11-2010 03:26PM

I don't hold any degree of national pride in being Irish as a result of being born here.

To me it's the exact same kind of hype that religion can fuel within people.

hotmail.com · 17-11-2010 03:31PM

They shouldn't play it at the end of the night when most people are drunk and can barely remember their own name, never mind trying to stand up in a respectful fashion.

Son Of A Vidic · 17-11-2010 07:47PM

What National Anthem? We should update it really, especially since our sovereignty was sold off to the '4th Reich' (EU). Is this what generations of Irish men and women died for? To come under the thumb of Europe and the IMF, fcuk what a waste!

PeterIanStaker · 17-11-2010 07:52PM

Anyone who stands for the national anthem is a terrorist and will be reported to Michael McDowell immediately and taken away and shot. How dare they?

Venom · 17-11-2010 08:02PM

sensibleken wrote: »

The only time I come accross it is at ****e weddings or some such crap night out where the DJ will play rock the boat or the macarena. I don't do them either.

What has the war of independance got to do with a night like that?

+1

Standing for the National Anthem at important political events, sporting events or a valid Irish event like St Patrick's day is acceptable. But I'm ****ed if I'll stand up for it at weddings or other trivial matters which have nothing to do with the nation.

Kimono-Girl · 17-11-2010 08:23PM

Venom wrote: »

+1

Standing for the National Anthem at important political events, sporting events or a valid Irish event like St Patrick's day is acceptable. But I'm ****ed if I'll stand up for it at weddings or other trivial matters which have nothing to do with the nation.

+1

to be honest i find those drunkenly swaying to the song, or those who don't know the lyrics more offensive then those who don't stand for it in some club or pub!

Renn · 17-11-2010 08:31PM

I don't know the anthem nor do I stand for it. Go me.

LizT · 17-11-2010 08:35PM

At sporting events I stand with pride and sing our national anthem.

But when it's played in a club or a bar at the end of the night? - it's just a pisstake! I refuse to take it seriously - to me it just signals that the night is over and it's time to go. I'd never stand in the middle of a bar or a club just for the national anthem at the end of the night, and from my experience there's not many who would.

Mike 1972 · 17-11-2010 08:48PM

Venom wrote: »

a valid Irish event like St Patrick's day

mikemac · 17-11-2010 08:51PM

Ronan Acidic Quota wrote: »

I've worked in just about most major nightclubs in Dublin over the last 20 years and I've never heard it played.

Possibly a city thing, same in many clubs in Galway

Come to the midlands, every pub and nightclub plays it when they turn up the lights at the end of the night

latenia · 17-11-2010 08:52PM

The Soldier's Song
We'll sing a song, a soldier's song,
With cheering rousing chorus,
As round our blazing fires we throng,
The starry heavens o'er us;
Impatient for the coming fight,
And as we wait the morning's light,
Here in the silence of the night,
We'll chant a soldier's song.

Soldiers are we
whose lives are pledged to Ireland;
Some have come
from a land beyond the wave.
Sworn to be free,
No more our ancient sire land
Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
Tonight we man the gap of danger
In Erin's cause, come woe or weal
'Mid cannons' roar and rifles peal,
We'll chant a soldier's song.

In valley green, on towering crag,
Our fathers fought before us,
And conquered 'neath the same old flag
That's proudly floating o'er us.
We're children of a fighting race,
That never yet has known disgrace,
And as we march, the foe to face,
We'll chant a soldier's song.

Sons of the Gael! Men of the Pale!
The long watched day is breaking;
The serried ranks of Inisfail
Shall set the Tyrant quaking.
Our camp fires now are burning low;
See in the east a silv'ry glow,
Out yonder waits the Saxon foe,
So chant a soldier's song.

Infantile nonsense.

Standing For the National Anthem

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