By Peter P. Mahoney
So, we are again bombarded with expressions of pseudo-patriotic outrage over the fact that a football player refused to stand during the playing of the national anthem. Let's not even get into the question of why engaging in this nationalistic ceremony has become a requirement for attendance or participation at a sports event.
After I returned from Vietnam, me and my friends used to routinely refuse to stand for the anthem to protest the continuation of that war. I once received a cup of beer poured over my head for my efforts, certainly not the worst that ever happened to me for being an anti-war veteran.
But, hey, it's just a song, not a particularly good one at that. The tune is taken from a 17th- century British upper-crust drinking song and the lyrics are singularly uninspiring, although I suppose one could say that the emphasis on rockets and bombs is suitably representative of the militaristic, perpetual-war society we have sadly become.
The anthem is a song; the flag is a piece of cloth. They are symbols, representing the supposed principles and ideals of our country – things like equal justice for all, tolerance for differing opinions, celebration of diversity. The pseudo-patriots take great umbrage at the alleged "disrespect" shown to the symbols but utter nary a peep about the disrespect shown to the principles they represent. In fact, they are perfectly willing to discard the principles in their defense of the symbols. Apparently, they concede freedom of expression only to those whose views coincide with theirs.
This allegation that not standing for the anthem shows disrespect for the troops is pure flapdoodle. The idea that the role of the American military in the world today is "to defend freedom" is an utterly trite and transparent fabrication, but even if you buy into that paradigm, then not standing for the anthem honors the troops, because it is an expression of the freedoms they are out there defending.
And, of course, we see the usual tired old "love it or leave it" meme being trotted out by those who believe that their brand of patriotism is the only allowable one and those of us who think otherwise are somehow "un-American" and should just leave so we no longer pollute their ideologically pure universe with our noxious expressions of dissent.
Well, guess what? We're not leaving. In a democracy, dissent is not a right, it is a duty. The dissenters are the true patriots.
Peter P. Mahoney is a Vietnam veteran who recently moved back to Warren.
