OK, I'll say it... we are too sensitive

[FlightlessDuck]

• "That's Why Darkies were Born" was one of her songs? Yeah, um... NOPE!

Lyrics to this song were written by a Russian Jew, Lew Brown (born Louis Brownstein) and was written for the 1931 version of the Broadway review, George White's Scandals. And since this thread is at 14 pages, I bet somebody posted that info already. The song was supposed to be satirical (according to at least some reviewers).

So, never mind on that comment. But boy that's uncomfortable. You wouldn't see Lady Gaga singing that in 2019. Even ironically.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Hockey and soccer have almost nothing in common. The closest sport to hockey is probably lacrosse.

Lacrosse is just soccer with sticks.
Basketball is just soccer but the net is off the ground and with a LOT more scoring.

 

[kaytieeldr]

OK, I'll say it...

There is 100% no reason to play the national anthem at sporting events. Period.

Also, this article specifically said they were going to stop playing “God Bless America” , which is not the National Anthem.

Tradition, begun in 1918. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...nd-getting-no-respect/?utm_term=.f1526068f87f
So, long befire Smith's offensive but legal recordings.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Tradition

"We've always done it" isn't really a good reason. I'm not saying it should be banned or it's evil. It's just kinda silly.

 

[luvsJack]

Lyrics to this song were written by a Russian Jew, Lew Brown (born Louis Brownstein) and was written for the 1931 version of the Broadway review, George White's Scandals. And since this thread is at 14 pages, I bet somebody posted that info already. The song was supposed to be satirical (according to at least some reviewers).

So, never mind on that comment. But boy that's uncomfortable. You wouldn't see Lady Gaga singing that in 2019. Even ironically.

Yeah, I read too that is was satire. I guess maybe one would need to hear or see it being sung?

The other song she sang is more stereotype in one song than I ever thought possible. And sadly, that is what too many thought was true. Of course some of it would fit southerners in general which Kate Smith should have known being a southerner herself.

 

[Klayfish]

Lacrosse is just soccer with sticks.
Basketball is just soccer but the net is off the ground and with a LOT more scoring.

Now those are some really loose associations, IMO. For that matter, we can say that soccer is just water polo played on grass and using feet instead of hands.

 

[luvsJack]

You know, that's an interesting point. I'm sort of neutral on that topic. I'm OK with doing it and probably wouldn't be opposed if they chose not to. I guess it's another one of those long standing tradition things. I do a fair amount of announcing for youth football and lacrosse. Sometimes I'll forget to play it before a game. Usually it's OK, but every once in a while I'll get someone up in the booth with me who goes nuts if it's 5 minutes before game time and I haven't played it.

ETA: Going on those sports lines, I'm a NASCAR fan. I'm stunned that they still do a prayer before every race starts. I'm very much an "atheist", and it doesn't offend me at all that they do the prayer...I'm not easily offended. However, in todays' world I'm just very surprised they get away with it.

Racing is considered a southern sport and that’s probably a lot of it.

Rodeo does a prayer before each event. And the National Anthem. Like it’s a whole big thing with all the riders coming out and riding around the arena and the announcer talking about the history of rodeo and the country and then a pretty girl on a pretty horse coming out with the flag, racing around the arena and then the National Anthem. It’s really pretty and touching honestly.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Tradition, begun in 1918. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...nd-getting-no-respect/?utm_term=.f1526068f87f
So, long befire Smith's offensive but legal recordings.

After 9/11 Congress stood on the Capitol steps and sang "God Bless America," not the "Star Spangled Banner." It was a unifying moment for a contentious group. Prayer at the opening of a session of Congress has become so political -- can't please everyone -- so I wonder how much longer they'll do it.

As for singing the National Anthem at games, I wish athletes wouldn't use it as an opportunity to take a knee in protest, or for people like Roseanne Barr to be obnoxious.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Now those are some really loose associations, IMO. For that matter, we can say that soccer is just water polo played on grass and using feet instead of hands.

 

[sam_gordon]

Now those are some really loose associations, IMO. For that matter, we can say that soccer is just water polo played on grass and using feet instead of hands.

Wouldn't you say water polo is just soccer played in the water and using hands instead of feet?

 

[Moliphino]

I can't get a job right now because my hair is green. My natural hair, which I chose to color. That's different from a job candidate who chooses to wear their natural hair in a particular style - how?

Because green isn't your natural hair color. Black people have been discriminated against for wearing their hair as it naturally grows instead of making their hair more like white people's.

 

[disneyjunkie]

.

 

[LSUmiss]

Agreed. I knew someone was going to try and associate this story with Hitler "What he did was OK at the time." But it wasn't. I don't think murder was ever acceptable.

It’s not this story as much as the logic that morality changes. Some things were always wrong.

 

[sam_gordon]

It’s not this story as much as the logic that morality changes. Some things were always wrong.

So what's "worse", slavery or singing a racist song? But slavery WAS acceptable. So yes, morality does change.

 

[NotUrsula]

OK, I'll say it...

There is 100% no reason to play the national anthem at sporting events. Period.

Also, this article specifically said they were going to stop playing “God Bless America” , which is not the National Anthem.

Amen to that! (tee-hee)
The only sporting events at which it makes sense to play the national anthem are international events, such as the Olympics. The anthem helps to identify the team.

 

[luvsJack]

It’s not this story as much as the logic that morality changes. Some things were always wrong.

Morality does change, what we know to be wrong changes. I mean look back over the thousands of years of history and see for yourself how things have changed over time. So many things that were once accepted, simply are not in today's society and for good reason. To use the example of Hitler being "morally accepted" is not even in the same ball park. What he did wasn't accepted. A blind eye may have been turned but once it was actually acknowledged, no one "accepted it".

And, too, even the industry she was in was different back then. Entertainers did a lot of things they didn't like or didn't agree with. They didn't have the freedom of choice about their work that they have now. An actor today can refuse to do a movie or work with a certain director or fellow actor and still get work tomorrow. It wasn't that way at one time, they were under contract and they didn't get as much choice. I am sure singers were the same way, they sang what their bosses/record company told them to sing or they didn't work. So we don't even know how she felt about the song at the time she sang it.

 

[LSUmiss]

So what's "worse", slavery or singing a racist song? But slavery WAS acceptable. So yes, morality does change.

That’s my point. It was never morally acceptable...perhaps socially acceptable...but that’s different. If I were black, I couldn’t imagine being told that slavery was morally ok at that time. Sure sounds like a justification to me. And what’s the harm in admitting it was morally wrong & reprehensible? And it could be argued that there are no ppl alive who were slaves. But, what about Jim Crow south? Like I said in a pp, there are ppl still alive who suffered b/c of those laws. So we tell them it wasn’t wrong b/c standards were different then?? How are they supposed to feel about that? Wrong is wrong. And there will continue to be tensions until ppl just own & admit it was wrong. Everything else sounds like a justification.

 

[disneyjunkie]

You are applying today’s moral code.

There are a lot of things found morally reprehensible today that were morally acceptable in their time.

Thankfully morals evolve over time.

Actually, I'm not.

I am sure you would be hard pressed to find a black who endured racism during that time that felt it was morally acceptable.

Stop trying to make excuses for awful behavior.

 

[cabanafrau]

There's a difference between morals and ethics. Social mores of societies and cultures are sometimes interesting, too.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Last night I asked Alexa to play the Kate Smith version of God Bless America since I’d never heard it. My husband and I burst out laughing as soon as she started singing. Holy cow, that woman’s voice is terrible. To think that’s the rendition people want to keep? I have to think it’s one of those things people like only because it’s so bad. But, I don’t know, maybe I’m using today’s vocal standards to judge someone who lived in an era when all singers sounded like they were sitting on an out-of-balance washing machine being driven down a bumpy road on the back of a flatbed truck.