there are plenty of issues that i have strong feelings about, and plenty that i don't. but usually i can at least understand why things that don't excite me might get a rise out of other people.
but not this clamor over the spanish language version of the national anthem. i just don't get why anyone would give a shit if someone has translated the song into spanish, no matter what their views about immigration policy may be.
i realize that the national anthem is a symbol of this country. but if you don't like the new words, why not just say that the new song isn't really our national anthem? see? isn't that easy? by fiat you can avoid the whole problem, even if you happen to harbor an irrational hatred of all things spanish, this problem can easily be defined out of existence. sure, the song has the same tune as our national anthem, but, that tune was ripped off from to anacreon in heaven, a popular drinking song (listen for yourself). just because it has the same tune doesn't mean the "star spangled banner" is really about alcohol, eroticism and paganism. we can justifiably claim it's a new song now. which is all the anti-spanish people have to do if they were at all interested in not being outraged about a faux problem.
besides, the star spangled banner isn't even that good of a song ("anacreon" is better. it, at least, isn't about blowing up stuff). whatever importance "the star spangled banner" has is purely in its importance as a symbol. and while symbols matter, it pales in comparison to actual problems like (to pick just one of several juicy examples) holding 141 people prisoner incommunicado for over four years because they were the "worst of the worst" and then later admitting those people posed no threat. that cuts to the heart of what this country is supposed to stand for. by comparison, the symbolic value of the national anthem doesn't mean much at all.
UPDATE: read steve's post about this issue. he's got links to the spanish lyrics and an mp3 version of it too.
UPDATE2 (5/1/06): KnightErrant managed to find versions of the national anthem in german, french, polish, yiddish, pig latin, and samoan. i poked around and found this version in arabic. if i could read more languages, i'm sure i could find many more.
