本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Scarborough Mirror - August 5, 2001
Reprinted with the permission of the author.
I don't know about you, but I for one fully support Senator Vivienne Poy's campaign to change lyrics of 'O Canada' that go, 'all thy sons command,' on the grounds they are sexist and exclude women from truly feeling like full Canadian citizens.
But why stop there? If you really sat down and listened, the anthem is rife with words and phrases that any normal person would find offensive.
1. Right off the bat are the words 'O Canada'. I mean, where does this 'O' come from? Isn't that archaic? As in, does it not discriminate against our young people?
I think 'Hey, Canada,' or 'Yo Canada' even 'Wha's up Canada?' would be more appropriate to foster a feeling of inclusiveness among youth.
2. Then there's, 'Our home and native land.' Hello! Not every Canadian is from here originally! They immigrated here! So Canada is not their native land!
The line is an affront to immigrants. Not to mention our First Nations people, who no doubt don't like us calling this 'our' native land, when they think of it as their native land.
Besides, some people have Canadian citizenship but don't live here. So Canada is not their home.
Perhaps a better lyric would be, 'Our summer place of residence and land where many of us were born, while others moved here'. It covers all the bases.
3. Then, of course, there's the notorious, 'True patriot love, in all thy sons command.'
Why patriot love. Why not maternal love?
Clearly this is another sexist lyric, the word patriot being derived from patrios, or 'of one's father': Women and the gay community no doubt find this unacceptable.
Not to mention the word 'command.' It sounds so militaristic, like some sort of male dominance thing. 'Inspire' or 'generate,' or even just 'facilitate' would be better.
Sure we could change sons to souls, except that might offend the atheists, or anyone from any of the religions where they don't believe we have souls.
Not to mention those cynics who don't believe in love. They have rights, too.
Maybe the best term to replace sons, and one that would be acceptable to Ottawa's bureaucracy, would be Social Insurance Number holders.
Thus, 'True patriot love in all they sons command' would become, 'True feelings of warmth, in all those with a Social Insurance Number facilitate.' Kind of pretty, eh?
4. The next line, "With glowing hearts we see thee rise, the true north strong and free," will have to go, of course, since a) some people have artificial hearts, which rarely glow, experts say, b) some people are blind and therefore don't see thee rise, and c) some people don't like the idea of a country being strong, as if we're going around kicking sand in other countries' faces, which isn't nice.
A better line would be, "With various types of hearts, some artificial, we 'sense' thee rise, the true north (for those of us who are up north -- some of us are in Florida) vital and autonomous."
6. Last but not. least, there's that lulu of a lyric, "God keep our land, glorious and free," the God reference added in 1970, which offends atheists, and any number of non-Christian religious groups who might interpret this as a Christian God keeping a watchful eye on the land, and not Allah or Buddha.
I think a better line would be, "O supreme being, or God, or four-leaf clover, or lucky horseshoe, or whoever's in charge, keep our (or whoever's) land, glorious and free, O Canada, we won't necessarily stand on guard for thee, O politically correct Canada, you're just so nauseatingly PC…'
And there you go. Our new national anthem lyrics. They have a nice sort of Canadian ring to them, don't you think?
Now, strike up the band!更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
Reprinted with the permission of the author.
I don't know about you, but I for one fully support Senator Vivienne Poy's campaign to change lyrics of 'O Canada' that go, 'all thy sons command,' on the grounds they are sexist and exclude women from truly feeling like full Canadian citizens.
But why stop there? If you really sat down and listened, the anthem is rife with words and phrases that any normal person would find offensive.
1. Right off the bat are the words 'O Canada'. I mean, where does this 'O' come from? Isn't that archaic? As in, does it not discriminate against our young people?
I think 'Hey, Canada,' or 'Yo Canada' even 'Wha's up Canada?' would be more appropriate to foster a feeling of inclusiveness among youth.
2. Then there's, 'Our home and native land.' Hello! Not every Canadian is from here originally! They immigrated here! So Canada is not their native land!
The line is an affront to immigrants. Not to mention our First Nations people, who no doubt don't like us calling this 'our' native land, when they think of it as their native land.
Besides, some people have Canadian citizenship but don't live here. So Canada is not their home.
Perhaps a better lyric would be, 'Our summer place of residence and land where many of us were born, while others moved here'. It covers all the bases.
3. Then, of course, there's the notorious, 'True patriot love, in all thy sons command.'
Why patriot love. Why not maternal love?
Clearly this is another sexist lyric, the word patriot being derived from patrios, or 'of one's father': Women and the gay community no doubt find this unacceptable.
Not to mention the word 'command.' It sounds so militaristic, like some sort of male dominance thing. 'Inspire' or 'generate,' or even just 'facilitate' would be better.
Sure we could change sons to souls, except that might offend the atheists, or anyone from any of the religions where they don't believe we have souls.
Not to mention those cynics who don't believe in love. They have rights, too.
Maybe the best term to replace sons, and one that would be acceptable to Ottawa's bureaucracy, would be Social Insurance Number holders.
Thus, 'True patriot love in all they sons command' would become, 'True feelings of warmth, in all those with a Social Insurance Number facilitate.' Kind of pretty, eh?
4. The next line, "With glowing hearts we see thee rise, the true north strong and free," will have to go, of course, since a) some people have artificial hearts, which rarely glow, experts say, b) some people are blind and therefore don't see thee rise, and c) some people don't like the idea of a country being strong, as if we're going around kicking sand in other countries' faces, which isn't nice.
A better line would be, "With various types of hearts, some artificial, we 'sense' thee rise, the true north (for those of us who are up north -- some of us are in Florida) vital and autonomous."
6. Last but not. least, there's that lulu of a lyric, "God keep our land, glorious and free," the God reference added in 1970, which offends atheists, and any number of non-Christian religious groups who might interpret this as a Christian God keeping a watchful eye on the land, and not Allah or Buddha.
I think a better line would be, "O supreme being, or God, or four-leaf clover, or lucky horseshoe, or whoever's in charge, keep our (or whoever's) land, glorious and free, O Canada, we won't necessarily stand on guard for thee, O politically correct Canada, you're just so nauseatingly PC…'
And there you go. Our new national anthem lyrics. They have a nice sort of Canadian ring to them, don't you think?
Now, strike up the band!更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net