>I’ve seen this Ali G or Borat guy on Conan. (Sasha Baron Cohen is the guy’s real name) I don’t remember his “act” too well, but it seemed like an Andy Kaufman rip-off. Cohen has the right to his opinion, but what did he expect people to do? I think I understand what statement he was trying to make (anti-war), but the crowd obviously didn’t agree with it or didn’t understand it. Plus, was it even appropriate? Protest all you want, but pissing people off is not going to get them on your side.
Some of the blame for this incident should fall with the people who booked Cohen to sing the national anthem. It was probably the same people who booked Rosanne at the Dodger game or whatever. You would think that people booking national anthem singers would do a little more thinking when it comes to who they choose. It’s not even a matter of research; it’s common sense. Why would a foreigner (the guy in this article is British) want to sing our national anthem at a rodeo or other sporting event? The national anthem is important to people of the country it represents.
Now, I’m not saying foreigners are incapable of singing or should not be allowed to sing our national anthem. I’m just saying it strikes me as odd. The only motivation I can see for someone to sing a foreign national anthem would be publicity and/or money. They are not going to have the same emotional connection to the song as a citizen. I guess I can see if someone wanted to thank us for helping them out and wanted to demonstrate their appreciation by singing the national anthem. Call me cynical but, from what I can tell, the world seems to be pretty pissed at us. Then again, some US citizens are pretty pissed too.
>I’ve long since thought that “Oh, Canada” is the best national anthem (not that I’ve really heard many others). My reasoning is that it’s just a cool song. There could be foreigners who think the same about our song, I guess.