Quote:
Originally Posted by Ignitionnet
Corbyn is an atheist republican. God Save the Queen is a no-win for him from the point of view of the media.
When I attend church services I don't join in the prayers, nor do I bow my head. I lower my eyes, stand still and keep schtum. Am I being disrespectful? Would it not be far more disrespectful for me to stand there murmuring words I dislike in worship of a deity I don't believe in?
Easy target, but perspective is good. I'd love not to have the anthem centred around the Queen and God, but rather the nation and country, alongside changing the tune to one that isn't shared with the Imperial German anthem and doesn't sound more like dirge than a rousing expression of national pride, but it is what it is.
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As a private citizen with no aspirations to lead this country and represent its people around the world, you are free of many of the expectations that hang round the necks of all our senior public servants.
Corbyn is a republican who nevertheless swore an oath of allegiance to the Queen at the beginning of every Parliament he has ever been elected to. Regardless of his constitutional preferences, he judged that using the form of words that allowed him to take his seat in parliament was the better course of action.
The very act of singing the national anthem is a "thing" in itself, rich in symbolism, quite regardless of the actual words. Plenty of people belt out Flower of Scotland at public occasions north of the border, knowing that the song is an explicit call for independence, and yet having voted No last September.
I would invite all those who don't see a problem with this to consider, in the (highly unlikely) event that Corbyn ever gets to be Prime Minister, how is it going to look to the rest of the world when he is filmed *not* singing along with his national anthem at some major public occasion, when all those around him are doing so?
Of course, the reason why this will never happen is that, like all hard-left nut jobs, he holds his principles so high above reproach that he doesn't know how to compromise. That makes him look irritable and uncouth - not a good look for a PM. So the voters won't give him the job.