Queen Elizabeth and the passing of an era

There was some late news last night, and it was too late to write up a post. I considered a video of "God Save the Queen". Maybe Blogger will allow that, but haven't tried it lately. Embedding a video seems to be a problem these days.

But I stopped when I saw the lyrics to the song. It is shocking how militaristic it is. A comparison to the American patriotic song that uses the same music, which is called "My Country 'Tis of Thee", is quite different. The American version extols liberty whereas the British national anthem extols victory over enemies. But the American version is not the national anthem.

This is the second time I've noted the militarism of national anthems. Critics of the American national anthem cite its lyrics as a glorification of war. Not that I see it that way. It is far less the French or English national anthems. By the way, the French national anthem was the second. Perhaps the noting of criticism of the American one is third.

This allow me to seque into the topic of criticism. Criticism can be dangerous in some regimes, and it may well become dangerous in this country. It has not always been so, but it does seem to be the case now. Criticism of the powers-that-be may well lead to some bad situations soon for a number of folks. I'm not excluded amongst those who may get into some hot water because of that.

But this is a small time blog. Well, that hardly matters in a totalitarian regime. People informed on their neighbors in the Soviet Union. Even the smallest offense could get you into serious trouble.

Criticism here is not meant to be destructive. If anything, if it mattered as to its acceptance as a goodwill gesture to improve, I might even get down on my knees and beg people to please take heed of these things. People should not be too anxious to allow that to happen to our own country. It has not been that way until recently.

Things are happening today that I thought I'd never see in this country. We have people being held for the "crime" of speaking their own minds. That's not how this country was founded, but it may be the direction in which we are headed. That is, unless the trajectory is corrected, that is exactly where we are headed.

Here's a link to the British National anthem.