Parky60 Loc: People's Republic of Illinois

Cancel Culture Targets the Star-Spangled Banner, Wants to Replace With ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon
Dan Andros ~ June 25, 2020
Cancel culture has a new target: Francis Scott Key and the Star-Spangled Banner. They’d like to replace it with “Imagine” by John Lennon, which was described as “virtually the communist manifesto” by the singer himself.

What started with the toppling of some confederate statues has now morphed into an ISIS-like war on statues, targeting almost every pillar of iconic American history.

Christopher Columbus, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, and more have all been targeted by angry vandals looking to make a statement.

An article appearing on Yahoo.com questioned the nation’s anthem and said the song seems to be “striking a wrong note” during this “antiracist era” of today. They wrote:

In an increasingly antiracist era when problematic iconography — ranging from Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben to even the Dukes of Hazzard General Lee car and country band Lady Antebellum’s name — is being reassessed, revised or retired, America’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” seems to be striking a wrong note.

After a lengthy discussion of the song’s history, they asked activist and journalist Kevin Powell what would be a suitable replacement. He had a suggestion in mind:

So, if “The Star-Spangled Banner” goes the way of the Confederate flag and Gone With the Wind, what should America’s new national anthem be? Whatever it is, Walker says there should be a formal “vetting process” to make sure the next anthem doesn’t have a terrible past; Powell, for his part, suggests John Lennon’s “Imagine,” which he says is “the most beautiful, unifying, all-people, all-backgrounds-together kind of song you could have.

While melodically beautiful, “Imagine” is hardly a unifying message. As previously mentioned, Lennon described the song as the communist manifesto. It describes an atheist, secular, border-less, property-less, communist world. To suggest that song as “unifying” is startling. In 100 years, communism has left 100 million people dead according to David Satter. Executions, starvation, famine, forced labor are among the more common forms of death under various communist regimes.

But today, the prevailing wisdom seems to suggest that if someone said or did something racist during an era when slavery existed, we must delete them from society.

Key’s “bigoted background” is also criticized, arguing that he was “literally born into a wealthy, slave-holding family in Maryland.” They went on to explain that Key was a lawyer who prosecuted abolitionists and “didn’t believe in freedom for all people.” Interestingly, those tearing down statues have also targeted multiple abolitionists themselves.

The song comes from a poem Key wrote while eyewitness to the war of 1812. Key certainly held racist views of the day and sought to uphold the law of the day, including slavery. But he also reportedly freed several slaves while also representing others seeking freedom and ensuring they had land. He spoke out against violence and cruelty against slaves. So, while Key is certainly not some clairvoyant figure in history who sought to end slavery, and indeed spent most of his life in court on the opposing side of abolitionists, his story doesn’t fit entirely snug into one narrative.

Yahoo’s article says if there’s “a tradition that hurts any part of society” it’s time to “just throw it away.”

Pray for our nation as we navigate this highly divisive and reactive moment.

Kevyn

Why change it to a song by a British composer, the Star Spangled Banner is sung to the tune of an old British drinking song. Better to replace it with music by an American patriot, I would suggest Peet Seeger’s “The Torn Flag” the lyrics are below.

At midnight in a flaming angry town
I saw my country's flag lying torn upon the ground.
I ran in and dodged among the crowd,
And scooped it up, and scampered out to safety.

And then I took this striped old piece of cloth
And tried my best to wash the garbage off.
But I found it had been used to wrapping lies.
It smelled and stank and attracted all the flies.

While I was feverishly at my task,
I heard a husky voice that seemed to ask:
"Do you think you could change me just a bit?
Betsy Ross did her best, but she made a few mistakes.

My blue is good, the color of the sky.
The stars are good for ideals, oh, so high.
Seven stripes of red are strong to meet all danger;
But those white stripes: they, they need some changing.

I need also some stripes of deep, rich brown,
And some of tan and black, then all around
A border of God's gracious green would look good there.
Maybe you should slant the stripes, then I'd not be so square."

I woke and said, "What a ridiculous story.
Don't let anybody say I suggested tampering with Old Glory."
But tonight it's near midnight, and in another flaming town
Once again I hear my country's flag lies torn upon the ground.

ImLogicallyRight

I would think the Mickey Mouse Club song as more to your type.