I was reading an article by Henry Chu, the
Los Angeles Times correspondent in Israel about "Hatikvah," the Israeli national anthem today. What I was struck by was how it was a refutation of the multicultural nonsense about submerging identities into an undifferentiated, pluralist mass. The point of the article was that national identity does matter. For the Jews, the much disputed line in their national anthem, " the soul of a Jew yearns," as uncomfortable as the Arabs find it, is part and parcel of Israel's self-understanding. To take it out is to deny the country's Jewishness. The same is true of the American identity. You can't take out the ideas that make one an American without changing what this country is all about. Identity is for people, non-negotiable, where its who they are or what they conceive their country to be. Its an assertive thing and liberals may feel discomfited at the idea nations and cultures are not all alike. And that is the way it will remain to the end of time.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".) "The Soul of a Jew Yearns..." in the Israel national anthem.
Say, isn't that promulgating a religion? Non-Jews might be offended. It must be illegal to sing that or say that in America and especially on federal property. Why hasn't this come to light before now?