People who get hung up on minutiae like that will be the first to demand everyone fall in line behind the sending US troops to Ukraine or Israel, or sign up to be the neighborhood snitch next time there's a lockdown.

Shouting out your sports team or your community or even your Scout troop's name when you're singing the national anthem is the sign of a healthy nation made up of robust communities. It's a signal that you understand what your sense of nationalism is built on. Insisting that the symbolism of the anthem itself needs to be rigidly separated from those things is not a sign of virtue. It's a display of weakness, because it means you think the symbol is just a symbol, supported by nothing of value. It's an empty virtue signal, an appeal to authority, and it betrays a deep insecurity.

People who get hung up on minutiae like that will be the first to demand everyone fall in line behind the sending US troops to Ukraine or Israel, or sign up to be the neighborhood snitch next time there's a lockdown.

Shouting out your sports team or your community or even your Scout troop's name when you're singing the national anthem is the sign of a healthy nation made up of robust communities. It's a signal that you understand what your sense of nationalism is built on. Insisting that the symbolism of the anthem itself needs to be rigidly separated from those things is not a sign of virtue. It's a display of weakness, because it means you think the symbol is just a symbol, supported by nothing of value. It's an empty virtue signal, betraying a deep insecurity.