WHAH WHAH…Sounds like the OP is trying to be Saturday Night Live’s Debbie Downer…
Really, give it a break. Take a deep breath and try to be forgiving. They are riders, not in their element, standing on a podium in front of millions of people. If they forget to put their hand over their heart, really, I think their patriotism should not be questioned.
Just for once, can we all just enjoy the moment???
I’d really rather it be ERASED.
Ahh, then perhaps you haven’t watched him over his career. McClain’s horses work very hard for him. He is very LUCKY that he has had such fabulous animals. However, I don’t think he share thes compassion for the animals that a lot of us riders do. It’s a business to him. Just like it was for his father.
He’s a professional horseback rider. Who does very well. Once again, he has a fabulous animal that makes him a star. The horses are not machines, and they deserve praise after they perform for him. Immediate praise. Not after they leave the ring. Perhaps he has changed his ways, but in the past, he never praised his animals after a round. It has nothing to do with patriotism. With him, it’s all a business.
[QUOTE=Coreene;3453881]
From Andrew Shepherd, my favorite American President:
America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say ‘You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.’
You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the “land of the free.”[/QUOTE]
Mine, to!!! I LOOOOVED this speech, and SOOOOO agree with it. I was just going to bring up (oh, horrors) flag burning. And the effort to amend the Constitution to abolish it. This country needs to get back in touch with what TRUE patriotism is, and, while I’m at it, TRUE spiritualism. Not the gewgaws that are hawked in the name of patriotism, and the saved ones who find it their duty to tell you how to live and believe. Flags, pins, anthems and crosses do NOT make you patriotic or spiritual.
I always put my hand over my heart for the national anthem. While there is a law requiring it - it’s obviously everyone’s choice. I have always done it but after 9/11, I would NEVER forget to do it and I do sing along. Every time I go by ground zero I wonder what it will take for some people to stop putting down patriotism… and FOX has nothing to do with it.
Ok if you were standing up there getting the gold medal … … I’d be trying to capture the moment before it was gone and try not to pee in my pants!:yes:
Yup. Same with horse sports. Gentleman remove their caps/tip their cap, ladies nod. For the anthem,gentlemen remove their hats, ladies do not. Nothing to do with helmet head. In society, when entering a room men remove their hats, ladies may remain with hat on head, to be removed at their discretion. Except in the evening; women would not wear hats at table. (to my weak recollection)
Yes, I know I sound old fashioned. Though I have spied a gentleman or two here and there. Really. Ladies… not so much. 
Sometimes I think that humans are hard-wired to be constantly on alert for fight or flight situations. And since those of us sitting in front of computers typing right now generally have our needs taken care of and aren’t having to run from dinosaurs anymore, we’re subconsciously searching for something to panic about. So we get in a tizzy about what McLain didn’t do with his hand during the anthem. A man who was obviously emotional and stood still and attentive. A man who excelled in the Olympics in a sport that we love. We can’t just enjoy that?
I could not agree with you more.
Or, maybe like quite a few of us, he wasn’t forgetting something so elementary, he was following the instruction so many of us have posted we were told was the correct behavior from childhood.
signed,
another board member with a number of family members who have served
[QUOTE=Dispatcher;3454411]
Ahh, then perhaps you haven’t watched him over his career. McClain’s horses work very hard for him. He is very LUCKY that he has had such fabulous animals. However, I don’t think he share thes compassion for the animals that a lot of us riders do. It’s a business to him. Just like it was for his father.
He’s a professional horseback rider. Who does very well. Once again, he has a fabulous animal that makes him a star. The horses are not machines, and they deserve praise after they perform for him. Immediate praise. Not after they leave the ring. Perhaps he has changed his ways, but in the past, he never praised his animals after a round. It has nothing to do with patriotism. With him, it’s all a business.[/QUOTE]
As it is a business with most all the professionals, past and present. The three REALLY big name trainers that I worked for, and with, were all fond of their horses, but that was it. They were in the barn to do a job, or be sold. Women become more attached then men. And, don’t confuse COMPASSION (which they all share, including McLain) with affection. Big difference. And I am one who doesn’t personally believe that the horse understands what he is being patted for and most CERTAINLY doesn’t know that the treats are a reward for leaving the rails up.
[QUOTE=zahena;3454181]
I’m a belly dancer in my other, other life and I thought they were a lot filled with drama over things. Glad to see that’s not the case![/QUOTE]
OK … out of all the things posted on this thread, THIS is what I want to know more about! 
I don’t think I’ve ever “met” a real, live belly dancer before.
So, tell me Zahena: Are you a pro? Do you compete in the BDOs (Belly Dancer Olympics)? Do you, like, compete as an individual or on a team? What about the judges – are they as political as they are in dressage? And if you win, do you sway along with the anthem?
Inquirying minds want to know!
No, I don’t believe that. Keep your Rush Limbaugh smears straight … the photo was taken during the playing of the anthem, which, as we have seen here, is not considered disrespectful by quite a few of us. Another smear is the one claiming he refused to say the Pledge, which has been refuted.
This thread needs to be erased.
[QUOTE=BLBGP;3454489]
. . . since those of us sitting in front of computers typing right now generally have our needs taken care of and aren’t having to run from dinosaurs anymore . . . [/QUOTE]
Speak for yourself – you should meet my boss. 
Neither do I and until this thread I never realized there was a “law” about it. I don’t think its a lack of patriotism, many of the other athletes don’t do it either. Find something more important to talk about.
Like I said, you may feel it should be hats off for the men and hats on for the women, and I agree as far as riding goes, that is as it should be… But when it comes to the national anthem, after your opinion and how you were raised, if you are looking for some sort of “regulation”, so far here’s the one we have. So if you were looking for something to hang you hat on, as it were, I’m still looking for the language that supports hats on versus off based on gender. Not seeing it, but still looking.
Me, I feel very uncomfortable the few times I have had a ballcap on when the national anthem is played, and yet I haven’t taken it off. And perhaps owing to having two Southern parents, I always felt it was appropriate to have my hand on my heart. But I always accepted it was OK to stand politlely at attention staring at even an imaginary flag.
LaurieP/Corinne. A.Men. It’s always important to remember what we love most about this country, even when it includes utterly ridiculous discussions like this one.
Yes this is the country that became united through of a bunch of renegades who refused to bow and courtesy to the monarchs and insisted on personal rights.
I see Maclain’s oversight as just that, not a statement but an omission and with the pressure of the games an understandable one. Hopefully he will be standing there again soon and a little more cognizant of the moment.
[QUOTE=FEIwannabe;3454396]
Please, someone shut down this silly thread.[/QUOTE]
You just guaranteed that it’ll hit 20 pages.
ESPECIALLY now that belly-dancing has been brought up.
I was mesmerized by this thread - kind of like watching Britney Spears being hauled away by the cops - it’s sordid and pathetic, but I couldn’t help myself.
GREAT GOOGLY-MOOGLY, WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? Have you nothing better to snipe at in your petty lives that you have to criticize an American athlete who just won a gold medal for YOUR country because his HAND is in the “wrong place”? I know where my finger is pointing - in the OP’s general direction. Get over yourself! :rolleyes:
And where does the flag pin go? Or are you a terrorist?
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