Memes on Monday

Standing up during the national anthem.

Or rather Standing up during the national anthem which is being played on a TV in a clubhouse during a SuperBowl Party.

Or rather Standing up during the national anthem which is being played on a TV in a clubhouse during a SuperBowl Party where there is illegal gaming taking place (football pool - needs a 1-day state license) and alcohol is being served (without the A.B.C. special social events permit which is required.)

But everyone stood. They came out of the kitchen, the card room, wherever and stood fixed to the screen, listening at attention to yet another horrible rendition of that anthem which should have been replaced so long ago.

Everyone that is except my husband and I. We sat.

Now don’t get me wrong, while I think such displays of patriotism and respect are largely hypocritical I fully agree with Henry IV of France that sometimes “Paris is worth a mass.” (Google this; it makes for interesting reading.)

I have been at enough military events to know that you stand when the flag goes by and since that anthem seems to get played at the same time, you stand for that also.

There is a federal flag and national anthem code; you know the old standing and hand over the heart, except for the military, when the flag goes by and the anthem is being played.

This part is a hoot: Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.

Children are being slaughtered all over the world; people die because they can’t afford health care and we have a flag and anthem code which tells you how to remove and hold your hat. The mind boggles!

But leaving aside this minutiae to details: when did the meme devolve into standing for the national anthem when it’s part of a TV show? And, this time, a TV show where the only really important thing was the network’s ability to sell all their airspace. Two headlines today in online news are: [Superbowl] Ads That Pushed Our Usual (Well-Worn) Buttons and The Best Super Bowl Ads. After all, the bottom line is always the bottom line for business. Even better when you package it with patriotism and sports for Americans.

It was a socially, gutsy thing for the two of us to remain seated. This is a small community; we are both active participants in it; and people talk, especially in small communities.

But, how could we not remain seated? We never got caught up in the Iraqi debacle; we never stopped protesting the “Patriot Act”’; we didn’t join the hysteria of flying the flag after the destruction of the World Trade Center; so how could we say now “Oh, let’s fit in. This is such a small point.” We have never accepted conformity without examining its background.

Gore Vidal once said: You become what you seem to be.

I guess, last night, in that room, in a small way, we all proved that true.