So first a little background. The Star-Spangled Banner, or rather 'Defence of Fort M’Henry' was written on September 14, 1814, by Francis Scott Key. The War of 1812 was a "war" between the US and the British. He was said to be inspired looking through his spyglass to see the American flag survived a night of heavy bombardment (whether this is how it actually happened is unknown)
The later coined Star-Spangled Banner became the national anthem a little over a century after it was written. Basically every American and many foreigners know the words.
But, did you know that we only sing the first verse? In fact, there are four total verses. The third is where we get into some trouble in the modern world.
[i]"And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
[u]No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:[/u]
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"[/i]
While the entire song is inherently anti-British, the third stanza was a call for execution of the mercenaries and slaves who fought for the British side during the war, as well as the cruelty of the British themselves, often forcing them to fight in the front lines.
The third stanza is why we have certain athletes not standing for the nation anthem, right or not. I don't have an opinion either way because it is not sung anymore, I just wanted to share the information here.
Hope you found this interesting!
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Oh, because God forbid we kill traitors and enemy soldiers in a time of war.
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4 RepliesDid you know that Star Wars has a dark side? [spoiler]The luckiest seven you will ever meet[/spoiler]
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The [b]ONLY[/b] reason that guy started kneeling in the first place is because he was in danger of getting cut. Smart actually, if they cut him after he started doing it he would have said it was racist.
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4 RepliesYeah, the blue part.
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1 ReplyEdited by joibasta: 2/6/2017 5:24:30 AMThe third stanza makes sense though. The slaves who fought for Britain were traitors and the British are enemy soldier. Traitors have always been sent to death. Also I already knew this from school.
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1 ReplyBullshit those athletes don't even know that exists
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1 ReplyThe more you know
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3 RepliesEdited by MS18EKampferMG: 2/6/2017 6:09:02 PMThere's a lot of stuff they don't teach us in school due to the more questionable parts of America's history. Always neat to see more of it wash up every once in a while.
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5 RepliesDid you know all American flags taken to the moon would have been bleached white by the unfiltered light of the sun? Let's hope no extra-terrestrial visitors understand the white flag of surrender.
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7 RepliesYou want a dark side? Check out the "science" of eugenics. There is little difference between science and the Inquisition.
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4 RepliesDo you know the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
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Russian national anthem earrape > everything
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2 RepliesHahah. "Slave" "[i]dark[/i] side"
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5 RepliesThen why did the same athletes stand for it before BLM?
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Did you know it's actually based off an English drinking song?
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11 RepliesIf no one sings the third stanza then why would football players know about it?
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1 ReplyNews Flash! Nobody cares!
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Already knew that
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Wait, that's your anthem? I thought it was your waltzing Matilda.
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Oh well
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Hmm, did not know this