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(10-10-2017, 12:29 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Okey Dokey, but also in your limited experience with foreigners do they understand that standing and rendering honors while their Nation's anthem is showing respect and choosing not to do so is a sign of not giving respect (aka disrespect)?  

I can't say, because the fact that we have a segment of the population and our president calling for negative consequences for people who don't stand during our anthem is a huge confounding variable when it comes to determining why people would stand or not stand in this country.  

We've taken a very specific aspect of patriotism and made it into the current gold-standard for patriotism in this country.  I never thought about not standing for the anthem, but I have to admit that I'm going to keep standing but I'm now looking around while the thing is playing and wondering how many people would make a point to ruin my life if I didn't.  It's very interesting, really.  Actually, I look right at the flag.  It's best not to deviate from the protocol at the moment.

I know I'm a bit biased because I was sent to a Catholic school as a kid and I was given the choice to pray and sing in church or explain to my parents why I had an F on my report card. Some of my classmates felt the lord enter their bodies on a daily basis...I didn't. Those lucky stiffs.

So in summation, when I watch soccer and I see the Europeans linking arms and singing their anthems with glee and gusto I assume they are doing so because they view patriotism as a means to unite where we seem to keep using it as an excuse to accuse each other of treason. 

Again, I'm approaching this as a marketing guy.