Has the national Anthem lost all meaning?

[Machjo]

The Canadian national anthem, we would think, should be a symbol of Canada's patriotism, of our love for our country and, by implication, for our fellow Canadians.

Not so, it would seem:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/sto...25.html?ref=rss

According to this article, many Canadians believe that no longer enforcing a daily singing of the Canadian national anthem is worthy of death! This principle, dealing with a multicultural and multi-Faith school, having been requested by some parents to exempt their children from the daily singing the National Anthem, had transfered the Anthem from the classroom to Assemblies so as to make it easier to exempt the concerned students. As a result, according to his testimony on the CBC's the National this evening, he'd received thousands of e-mails calling him a traitor, and even received many death threats.

This is just incredible. Have those parents never considered what it means to be a Canadian? Are they defending the anthem blindly with no understanding of what it santds for? We're in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban against the same kind of fanatical mentality, and yet these same parents will use that war as a pretext to import that same mentality on our shores and threaten the life of a principle for changing his policy on the national anthem?

Has Canada really swong that far to the nationalistic right as that many Caandians would really wish the death of an elementary school principal just trying to include certain students in the school environnment?

This is really scary news. We don't need the Taliban's mentality on our shores, thank you very much.

[Bonam]

Kids are supposed to sing the national anthem daily in elementary school? News to me heh.

[lily]

Kids are supposed to sing the national anthem daily in elementary school? News to me heh.

We didn't when I was a kid, and my kids don't now.

If I remember right.... this school didn't have a daily singing either.

[Machjo]

Kids are supposed to sing the national anthem daily in elementary school? News to me heh.

Good point. I sang it only in school assemblies when I was in elementary school.

But the point I was making is that parents accusing this principal of being unpatriotic were proving themselves to be even less so by acting like the very Taliban we're fighting. Seriously, which is less patriotic between making minor changes to the singing of the anthem in school vs. uttering death threats?

Hmmm... irony?

[Radsickle]

I did. In Halton Region, as a kid, we had morning excercises and national anthem singing every morning. Nothing wrong with it 'cept for the odd, primitive mention of a god in the lyrics...

[Machjo]

We didn't when I was a kid, and my kids don't now.

If I remember right.... this school didn't have a daily singing either.

This school did have daily singing until a few parents complained for religious reasons, after which it was transfered from the classroom to the Assembly meetings so as to accommodate those parents. But even then, it's not like the Anthem was banned, it was just a changing of the policy.

But death threats? That defies the original spirit and purpose of singing the anthem (i.e. to serve as a reminder of our love for our people and country) anyway, doesn't it?

[Machjo]

I did. In Halton Region, as a kid, we had morning excercises and national anthem singing every morning. Nothing wrong with it 'cept for the odd, primitive mention of a god in the lyrics...

I'm not saying anything wrong with the Anthem per se (though I do know some Christian sects that consider it idolatry and what not), but simply pointing out the irony that the very people defending it on the grounds of patriotism are showing themselve to be the lest patriotic by spewing forth Taliban-like death threats, totally defying the intended spirit of the very Anthem they're trying to defend, making it pointless anyway.

[Radsickle]

I'm not saying anything wrong with the Anthem per se (though I do know some Christian sects that consider it idolatry and what not), but simply pointing out the irony that the very people defending it on the grounds of patriotism are showing themselve to be the lest patriotic by spewing forth Taliban-like death threats, totally defying the intended spirit of the very Anthem they're trying to defend, making it pointless anyway.

Those dulling people are few though.

[Bonam]

Of course death threats are idiotic and wholly inappropriate in this case or just about any other. It seems all the more odd since singing the national anthem daily in schools is not Canadian policy or tradition or anything as far as I am aware - it is certainly not done at any school I've attended or known people who have attended.

If it was done in every single school and had been for centuries I could understand agitation and controversy when one school's principal suddenly decided to reject it... but that is clearly not the case.

I suspect the death threats are just people being stupid due to the anonymity that email can provide. I mean people post (real life) death threats to each other over disagreements about computer games all the time on various gaming forums, for example. And I'm sure it's common on many other types of internet media, though I guess relatively rare here on these particular boards.

[Machjo]

Those dulling people are few though.

The principal himself claimed to have received well over a thousand e-mails, many of which had threatened his safety. That's not a bad (or should I say 'good'?) showing for one single e-mail campaign.

[Guest TrueMetis]

The only time we sang the national anthem at my school was at the remembrance day assembly. There were some people who didn't sing which didn't bother me it was the people who wouldn't stand up to honour the fallen soldiers which pissed me off.

[Remiel]

While I do not recall precisely how often we might have sang whole heartedly with the anthem, when I was in elementary school (which was rural), it was played every morning. Many different versions of it, too.

[Mr.Canada]

I did. In Halton Region, as a kid, we had morning excercises and national anthem singing every morning. Nothing wrong with it 'cept for the odd, primitive mention of a god in the lyrics...

Same goes for me. I didn't really give the word God a second thought to be honest. It wasn't until I was an adult that I heard people questioning it for God knows why...but then again I was raised properly, went to Sunday school as a boy and the whole bit.

It's very hard for me to believe that we can live about 15-20 minutes from each other and you can be so wrong, all the time. Must be something in the water over there in Guelph...You grew up properly in the proper area far away from the urban ghettos where most of these liberals come from yet you espouse liberal, almost communist ideals at every turn. I don't get it.

[Bonam]

but then again I was raised properly, went to Sunday school as a boy and the whole bit.

LOL

[Smallc]

but then again I was raised properly,

So what went wrong then?

[Shady]

Has Canada really swong that far to the nationalistic right as that many Caandians would really wish the death of an elementary school principal

Define "many Canadians." 5, 10, 15 people? All kinds of people get all kinds of death threats. However, it doesn't mean Canada has swung one way or another.

[Machjo]

Define "many Canadians." 5, 10, 15 people? All kinds of people get all kinds of death threats. However, it doesn't mean Canada has swung one way or another.

He claimed to have received over 1000 e-mails, many insults and many trheats among them. That's ot a small number directed at just one target.

[Shady]

He claimed to have received over 1000 e-mails, many insults and many trheats among them. That's ot a small number directed at just one target.

I have no doubt he received over 1000 emails. What he's doing is pretty stupid, and is bound to attract a lot of responses. However, of the 1000, how many were really death threats?

Edited July 25, 2009 by Shady

[robber88]

I know at my school we all had to sing the anthem and we were heavily encouraged by our teachers. When I reached high school we no longer had to sing, but stand quietly and reflect which I'm almost sure none of us were doing. I think the anthem has somewhat lost touch with many Canadians, ones my age at least. I know lots of people my age who love this country and think its great but don't think singing a song has anything to do with patriotism. Sending death threats because someone has an alternate idea like the principal is unpatriotic.

[Machjo]

I have no doubt he received over 1000 emails. What he's doing is pretty stupid, and is bound to attract a lot of responses. However, of the 1000, how many were really death threats?

I don't know, but he said many. So I take it it's more than one or two.

To be fair to him though, if it's in his mandate to do whatever he can within the rules to create an inclusive environment for all children, and there is no official rule saying that the children must sing the Anthem every morning in the classroom (meaning he was going above and beyond the call of duty already), then according to the rules he'd be expected to follow, it would make sense that he should bring the Anthem out of the classroom into the Assemblies. Had he not done so, and assuming he were dealing with JWs (which I'm guessing was the case by the sound of it), they'd likely have fought it in court and won on the grounds that no law required the Anthem in the classrooms in the first place, thus costing the taxpayer more money.

So for you to say his decision was stupid is essentially putting him in a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. Not very fair. And to excuse death threats isn't too responsible either.

[Smallc]

I don't know, but he said many. So I take it it's more than one or two.

To be fair to him though, if it's in his mandate to do whatever he can within the rules to create an inclusive environment for all children, and there is no official rule saying that the children must sing the Anthem every morning in the classroom

This had nothing to do with singing the anthem, it had to do with the playing of the anthem. The anthem shouldn't offend anyone who lives here.

[Machjo]

I know at my school we all had to sing the anthem and we were heavily encouraged by our teachers. When I reached high school we no longer had to sing, but stand quietly and reflect which I'm almost sure none of us were doing. I think the anthem has somewhat lost touch with many Canadians, ones my age at least. I know lots of people my age who love this country and think its great but don't think singing a song has anything to do with patriotism. Sending death threats because someone has an alternate idea like the principal is unpatriotic.

I agree with that last sentense except for one point. It wasn't so much a different idea on the part of the principal (had no parent complained, he would have had no intention of changing the daily classroom routine.) It had to do rather with critical problem solving skills on his part, which involved analysing the parents' complaints, the root of those complaints, the offical rules by which he had to abide, and developing a plan that could best synthesize the needs of the parents within the legal constraints within which he had to operate. Within those constraints, I would likely have made the same decision he had made.

Now I also acknowledge that he'd missed one critical factor in his analysis of the situation, and one I had overlooked too until the dung hit the fan: fanaticism on the part of other parents.

Honestly, I would have made the same mystake, having assumed parents couldn't be so cruel. Now looking back on it, I realise he could have handled it a different way. He could have first consulted with all the parents in the school, explaining the problem, and consulting on a solution all could accept. But then again, that might not have been a good idea either, considering that as a school principal, he should be responsible for the safety of those parents under such dangerous circumstances. An alternative soluton could have been to consult with all the parents without mentioning who made the initial complaint (though that could still have been a tough position).

Really, no matter how he would have dealt with it, he was screwed from the start. Shameful behaviour on the part of those parents and other Canadians, really.

But how is it fair to the principal to put him in such a bind? Certainly a principal must have decision-making authority to be able to do his job. Add to that that considering that many schools in Canada already don't sing the national Anthem anyway, why aren't those Canadian terrorists terrorizing other schools too and picking on him alone, considering that his school had already been singing the Anthem more than most schools in the country anyway.

That might also be why he'd never expected such a Taliban-style attack from so many Canadians.

[Machjo]

This had nothing to do with singing the anthem, it had to do with the playing of the anthem. The anthem shouldn't offend anyone who lives here.

So that excuses death threats? So are we to expect the judged who'd sentenced a parent to six months in jail for having gone to the principal's office to threaten him to now be threatened in his turn? Is mob rule the rule of the land now?

[Smallc]

So that excuses death threats?

Who said that it did? The fact that he had death threats against him also doesn't suddenly make OK what he did.

So are we to expect the judged who'd sentenced a parent to six months in jail for having gone to the principal's office to threaten him to now be threatened in his turn? Is mob rule the rule of the land now?

No one is suggesting mob rule. Death threats aren't ok.

[Shady]

That might also be why he'd never expected such a Taliban-style attack from so many Canadians.

Sorry, but emailing a death threat is wrong, and anyone guilty should be prosecuted. But I wouldn't call that a "taliban-style" atttack. This is what a taliban-style attack looks like.

Taliban militants arrested in acid attack on Afghan Girls