What exactly is a national anthem meant to achieve? If it’s meant to get young people drunk on emotional patriotism and willing to die in irrational military actions, maybe we shouldn’t have one. Or at least call it honestly “The Human Meatgrinder Song.” “Over There” by Cohan would be a rotten choice, of course, if you remember the words. Maybe something obviously ironic by Bertholt Brecht. I think of the short poem by Edgar Lee Masters in SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, the dead soldier’s spirit speaking from under a headstone inscribed with “Pro Patria.” “‘Pro Patria’ — what does that mean, anyway?”
What exactly is a national anthem meant to achieve? If it’s meant to get young people drunk on emotional patriotism and willing to die in irrational military actions, maybe we shouldn’t have one. Or at least call it honestly “The Human Meatgrinder Song.” “Over There” by Cohan would be a rotten choice, of course, if you remember the words. Maybe something obviously ironic by Bertholt Brecht. I think of the short poem by Edgar Lee Masters in SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, the dead soldier’s spirit speaking from under a headstone inscribed with “Pro Patria.” “‘Pro Patria’ — what does that mean, anyway?”