Indiana bill would outlaw singing national anthem ‘inappropriately’

Oh say...

Legislation introduced to the Indiana Senate would make it a crime to stray from approved lyrical or melodic guidelines while performing the national anthem at any event sponsored by public schools and state universities.
The bill was proposed by Sen. Vaneta Becker (R).

Here we go again, Indiana legislators making more idiotic laws to add to the 40,000 new ones that went into affect this year around this "free" country. My daughter sings the national anthem...guess I need to let her know to have her allowance money ready if she adds an extra melodic run in the music.

The legislation would require performers to sign a contract agreeing to follow guidelines established by the State Department of Education. Those who failed to abide by the guidelines would be fined $25.

Additionally, schools would have to keep recordings of every performance for two years.

Earlier this year, an Indiana school told a 16-year-old African-American girl to sing the “Star-Spangled Banner” in a more traditional way after another school in a predominately white district complained that her performance at their school was disrespectful to current and former members of the military.

Maybe legislators need to start paying the rest of us for time spent having to fight against this...this....idiocy. Clearly they are running out of stuff to legislate. Here's an idea...spend time passing laws that eliminate all the old ones that DON'T MAKE SENSE.

What will they think of next *shudder*

source

Where's Roseanne Barr when you need her?



I'll even pay the $25 fine just to send her to Indiana to sing it for them.

Yet another ignorant use of laws.

Rules were meant to be broken

Oh the land of the fee,
and the home of the slave.

Haha!

Looks like the republicans in Ind don't like freedom of expression. Here's the video that started all of this nonsense.



I really don't see what people are complaining about sounds ok to me.

Well, I like the idea of a law like this.

I absolutely DESPISE listening to some idiot sing the Anthem of my nation like it is some friggin audition. I care less about the range of you voice - there are other venues that are at your disposal to melodically show off.

Singing the National Anthem the way EVERY FRIGGIN PERSON has for the last 3 decades is pretty insulting to the spirit of the song, and a slap in the face to the American Combat Veteran.

reply to post by DancedWithWolves
I think people like Barr should be treated just like how she (and others like her) treat people. She's an arrogant limosine liberal who is full of herself (and it shows).

But this law is just plain stupid.

*clears throat*

Oh say can you see. . . . . . .

reply to post by azbowhunter


While I appreciate your input and understand what you mean, I have to disagree. I know combat veterans who would feel it more a slap in the face that legislators in this country think we need a law about how to sing this song. Picking our battles has not been America's strongest suit lately. We don't need laws for everything. For me this is another example of state legislatures looking for something they haven't outlawed yet. Another few years and everything will be outlawed.

The largest employer in the state...is the state. The largest employer in the country...is the federal government. Laws like this only add to the bloat. We will bury ourselves under the weight of endless laws trying to control everything everyone does. Enough.

I would like t see the text of this bill. I suspect they want to make it illegal for anyone but old, white Republicans to sing the National Anthem.

This is some crazy fascist, Big Brother stuff. I mean, there are acceptable and proper ways to display a flag, but it's not ILLEGAL. This sounds like a slap in the face of the First Amendment ( and therefore unconstitutional).

That is what makes America great, the freedom of EXPRESSION. For the government to say that you can't honor the country by singing the anthem in a certain was is crazy. And that is what this amounts to, who are YOU to tell ME what is a proper method of expression, especially when it does not infringe on others' rights, someone just simply "doesn't like it?"

I have heard conservative friends of mine, after the national anthem, say "Curse curse, why don't they sing it like it's supposed to be sung?" SUPPOSED to be sung? There is no way it is *supposed* to be sung, it's a song that praises a country and is open to personal, musical expression. While there are vocal and musical structures within the song that are original, the point of music is versatility. Sounds like some some stuffy old bag wants the song to remain stuffy under the guise of respect and properness.

"YOU will honor our country like WE say! You will praise her when you arise and before you go to bed. You WILL (properly) show national pride or we will lock you up, fine you."

Crazy slippery slope, my friends.

The "National Anthem", like the flag, is just another pointless faux patriotic emblem designed by those who revel in watching the little people being led around like good little sheep.

Seriously, when are people going to grow up and stop following such hollow and pointless issues? Following the flag and singing the anthem only emboldens those using it to distract and lead the people along, who foolishly think they are somehow being "patriotic". It's time people stopped and used a little more thought, and started being true to themselves, using morals and ethics instead of some tune and a rag which only symbolises the will of a select few, not the majority. Or is it too late for that and so, right or wrong, they'll just follow the imagery as it's what they have been brainwashed to do?

reply to post by DancedWithWolves


This is sad:

I first misread the title and thought "There's no way India would do this, they are a free speech nation!" then when I clicked on the thread and saw it was Indiana and not India, I thought "Oh, well that makes sense then."

Just sort of shocked me how my brain simply accepted a violation of our rights as normal but was appalled and shocked at it happening in India.

Originally posted by azbowhunter
Well, I like the idea of a law like this.

I absolutely DESPISE listening to some idiot sing the Anthem of my nation like it is some friggin audition. I care less about the range of you voice - there are other venues that are at your disposal to melodically show off.

Singing the National Anthem the way EVERY FRIGGIN PERSON has for the last 3 decades is pretty insulting to the spirit of the song, and a slap in the face to the American Combat Veteran.

The complete irony of this post is mind boggling.

The spirit of the song is about freedom. Freedom of expression, freedom of speech, American freedom, our basic human rights that no man can take from us. The spirit of the song is about pride in a flag that is suppose to represent the Constitution which every combat veteran has vowed to uphold.

For any veteran to be for such a law is against freedom, against the basics of what America was founded on. Sorry I would rather the song never be sung again and tossed in the trash than to have regulation on how it should be sang. That regulation is left open to interpretation my view of good might be different from yours. If this is the America any veteran wants then I want no part of it or them.

I always thought veterans fought for our freedoms not fought to remove our freedoms. If others feel like this post then I guess I have misjudged veterans and been lied to throughout life.

It is a song that is supposed to express how you love you country, such legislation is why America is failing at its roots.

Raist

reply to post by Britguy


While I agree for the most part, I also think the song and flag do have their place. Much of the time however, they are over done in an absurd nationalism that is mistaken for patriotism.

When you try to explain this to people they become so defensive that you are anti American that they are blinded. This legislation though goes against what America stands for in my view.

Raist

Originally posted by Raist

Originally posted by azbowhunter
Well, I like the idea of a law like this.

I absolutely DESPISE listening to some idiot sing the Anthem of my nation like it is some friggin audition. I care less about the range of you voice - there are other venues that are at your disposal to melodically show off.

Singing the National Anthem the way EVERY FRIGGIN PERSON has for the last 3 decades is pretty insulting to the spirit of the song, and a slap in the face to the American Combat Veteran.

The complete irony of this post is mind boggling.

The spirit of the song is about freedom. Freedom of expression, freedom of speech, American freedom, our basic human rights that no man can take from us. The spirit of the song is about pride in a flag that is suppose to represent the Constitution which every combat veteran has vowed to uphold.

For any veteran to be for such a law is against freedom, against the basics of what America was founded on. Sorry I would rather the song never be sung again and tossed in the trash than to have regulation on how it should be sang. That regulation is left open to interpretation my view of good might be different from yours. If this is the America any veteran wants then I want no part of it or them.

I always thought veterans fought for our freedoms not fought to remove our freedoms. If others feel like this post then I guess I have misjudged veterans and been lied to throughout life.

It is a song that is supposed to express how you love you country, such legislation is why America is failing at its roots.

Raist

Is the song ever sung with pride? Are the singers ever proud Americans? Or is it more of a "Hey, look at me, and listen to what I can do with my voice! Please buy more of my albums."

I did not enlist in the service, put my life on the line (in 3 different countries) so people could do what they do to our nation's anthem. People's freedom to vocally destroy a song that tells a story of how our country became free and has stood the test of time was not my motivation for enlistment. Keeping my family, friends and absolute and complete strangers that I will never meet, like yourself, safe from all of those ugly, nasty, scary and armed things that make loud bangs in the night - so that you can be free to choose where you live, work, eat, sleep, play and of course - criticize wherever and whenever you see fit.

Friend, I have witnessed horrible things all over this world - things that I have a hard time dealing with, even to this day. The National Anthem is a testament to the men that fought hard, to the death for the freedom's that we have today - and our flag lay as witness.

Is it too much to ask that the song be sang with HONOR and sang correctly as a tribute to those that have fought to keep this country safe? Can the idiots that attempt the song put aside their "It's my right to sing how I want to." rhetoric for the few moments it takes to complete it?

Jesus, and now I am getting blasted by you people because I am contradicting myself and the idea of freedom.

I'll tell ya what........

Enlist as I have enlisted.
Promise as I have promised.
Train as I have trained.
Travel to far away and unfamiliar lands as I have traveled.
Place yourself in harms way, as I have.
Kill in the name of freedom and safety for those back home, as I have.

Then, and only then, will you have earned as I have earned to criticize the way our National Anthem is performed.

reply to post by azbowhunter


Friend, first of all I am an American and you enlisted to protect the freedoms of all Americans no matter the freedom and even if you do not agree with it. I as an American will speak with the freedoms that are fought for and are God given.

Just because you do not like someone's version does not mean others do not. Many do not like the Hendrix version of the national anthem, I rather enjoy it. You might not like someone's version but others will. You say they are doing it for this reason or that. So this means you can read the minds of others? Who are you to judge what is a good version and what is not? That is up to each individual. If you were not for such freedoms you never should have signed up for what you did.

I do not care what you have seen. You make it seem as if I have never seen anything. How do you know what I have seen or fought for or done in life? I as an American above all will stand for the right of others to sing however they feel expresses their feelings the best. If you cannot stand for all freedoms then you are failing at your service you once did for the country. That means you did it for yourself and not for your country.

Since we are on it what war did you fight in that kept me free? What recent war have we been in that was about American freedom? You want to talk like someone who fought for their country but you then turn and demand things are your way only. That is not about freedom sir, which is about power and control. If you really fought for this country and its freedoms you would not say such things.

If you do not like the song you can always not listen.

Raist

reply to post by Raist


I find it especially funny that people are upset about the actual music of it. If it were the lyrics that were altered, I'd understand. This, however, is the music... music that was written in ENGLAND by an ENGLISHMAN. The irony that we celebrate our independence by singing a song written by the people who we were running away from is amazing.

reply to post by azbowhunter


One last thing to leave you with.

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. Voltaire

Read more: www.brainyquote.com...

Either you are a friend to freedom or an enemy to it, the choice is yours.

Raist

reply to post by cuervo


Yeah strange how people get mad because they do not like a form of music or how someone performs it.

I might not be able to sing well but if I chose to sing the national anthem I would do it for a reason, I would do it for pride and love of my country. How I sing it should not matter to others, they do after all have the right to walk away, turn off the media that is playing me, or whatever. Things have become so PC that it seems many think there should be laws to not offend them.

It sickens me to see such laws being put into legislation in a country that was once known for freedom. I guess all that has been flushed down the toilet by whiney people who cannot accept that others might like things a bit different. What next a law saying everyone should have their hair a certain style?

Raist

While I don't think there should be a law, I do think the National Anthem should be sung the way it was written. Imagine someone changing a nations flag to whatever they think is more artistic. Heck, imagine the furor if someone did this to their college or university's alma mater song.

Just sing it the way it was written.

LOL at the utter idiocy and waste of time and money of a legislature trying to pass a law on how one sings the Anthem of a supposed free country. She can sing it anyway she likes if you don't like it move to North Korea where I am sure they enforce how thier national anthem is sung...

Wow amazing the ignorance of some people in the supposed land of free. I guess it is just a reflection of why our freedoms are being eroded daily when those who are supposed to protect it are more concerned with how someone sings our national anthem then losing our bill of rights...