Please rise and remove your caps

drakeheuer14

I have always wondered why removing your hat for the national anthem or when you meet someone is taken as such a high sign of respect. I have looked into it some and see different reasons from politicial to historical to religious to "it is respectful, just do it." If I say so myself, I don't get it and I think you should be able to leave a hat on your head whenever you want without being prompted to remove it for whatever the reason may be. I wear hats almost daily and while I still remove it out of respect to whoever feels it is respectful since it isn't a difficult deed, I do find it a little unnecessary nowadays. And I promise, leaving my hat on looks better than the hat head underneath! If you saw me at a sporting event and I didn't remove my hat for the national anthem, would you feel disrespected or that I am disrespecting anyone? A hat is a clothing item, not a form of disrespect. And the fact that high schools don't allow kids to wear hats is even more ridiculous. When I was in high school the response I got to why can't we wear hats is that it is disrespectful and/or they dont want it to have gang affiliation. But of course females could wear different styles of hats in high school and different events and it is considered a style. Makes no sense. Rant over lol. 


And when I say hats, I mostly refer to baseball caps. 

Thirty Bills Unpaid

It is an old school, stupid gesture with significance that nobody can explain well enough to justify the custom. I've heard knights removing their helmets to display their level of trust and loyalty. I've heard the items you've spoke of. 

I like my hats as well and remove them when I'm asked, but as I do... I think to myself, "Why am I doing this?"

rgambs

I'm on the team. "hats as symbols of respect" is dumb

HesCalledDyer

I, too, have seen various reasons as to why this is common or expected practice.  Like you, I just don't think it fits current times.  The most common one I've seen is about knights removing their helmets in the presence of the king as a display of both subordination and trust (that the king would not chop their head off).  These days, it's illegal for someone to behead you.
But anyway, I assume it just evolved from there into more common situations like sporting events, dinner, someone's home, etc.  It's really one of those things that's just been instilled through generations with no one stopping and asking "Uhh, do we really need to do this anymore?"

pjhawks

the cap is supposed to go over the heart.  it's a sign of respect and love for those who fought for your freedom. don't be a dick. remove your hat and put it over your heart during the anthem.

drakeheuer14

pjhawks said:

the cap is supposed to go over the heart.  it's a sign of respect and love for those who fought for your freedom. don't be a dick. remove your hat and put it over your heart during the anthem.

I still do remove it since others view it as respectful. But it is just a hat. I can put my hand over my heart. True respect would be thanking a man or woman in uniform when you run into them in your daily life. I don't respect them any less for questioning why my hat (a clothing article) should be removed. 

Go Beavers

It seems like there could be regional differences about the hat rule, too. Drake, I'm curious what part of the country you live in? I know some people that get irked when someone is wearing a hat indoors, no matter what the situation. 

CM189191

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqp1bGuiHHs

pjhawks

rgambs said:

pjhawks said:

the cap is supposed to go over the heart.  it's a sign of respect and love for those who fought for your freedom. don't be a dick. remove your hat and put it over your heart during the anthem.

Only person being a dick is you.

Maybe we should have a law that it's mandatory, that wouldn't be reminiscent of Nazi Germany at all!

doesn't need to be a law. there are many things people can legally do but doesn't mean your not a dick if you do said things.  if someone wants to wear their hat during the anthem feel free but it is my right to think they are a dick for doing that. just as it's your right to call me out for my post.  it's all good. just my opinion on those who do that.

eddiec

Some things don't have any logic they have just become customs. Like shaking hands. Knowing what local customs are makes you an informed individual. Some countries kiss three times when they meet. Once is probably enough but if I'm in that country and meet somebody I kiss three times. Doesn't make any sense but it's a custom.

F Me In The Brain

Why do people say God Bless You when you sneeze?  (Actually I have looked this up...just think it is similar.)
I dont believe in God, but I say this to people.  Why?  Because it is customary and a symbol or caring and respect.
If someone says it is a sign of respect for those who serve(d) that is good enough for me. 

I love that Sopranos clip.

My pops fined anyone wearing a hat inside his house (who had been told before he didn't want hats worn by men inside) a dollar.  My friends all used to laugh.  My brother and I paid many a dollar over the years.
I will wear my hat in my house.  If I go into someone else's house I take it off. 
I always take off my hat when eating indoors.  If I am eating on the patio, I will keep it on.  (Being a mostly bald fuck, the hat is for a purpose outside.  I also will keep my shades on, if needed, while eating outside.)

Thirty Bills Unpaid

pjhawks said:

the cap is supposed to go over the heart.  it's a sign of respect and love for those who fought for your freedom. don't be a dick. remove your hat and put it over your heart during the anthem.

Nobody here us said they don't remove it. 

They are questioning the significance. Maybe a hand over the heart is better than some crusty old ball cap? Maybe a peace sign with the left hand held three quarters high over the shoulders could be the new and improved sign of respect? It could be this generation's stupid ritual.

Meaningless gestures don't pay respect. Words and actions do. Half the people that eagerly pull their hats off their heads and stand erect throughout a national anthem shit all over the freedom that was earned for them.

brianlux

Advice from Uncle Walt:
"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."
-Walt Whitman

HesCalledDyer

pjhawks said:

the cap is supposed to go over the heart.  it's a sign of respect and love for those who fought for your freedom. don't be a dick. remove your hat and put it over your heart during the anthem.

But why is it a sign of respect? Who deemed it as such? For those who fought for our freedoms - what does that have anything to do with a hat?  What about a foreigner visiting and catching a game? No one here fought for his freedom. Why do we just blindly follow this "tradition" without questioning its validity and application to modern times?

drakeheuer14

Why are hats the item singled out? Does that mean if you are at a sporting event and you are not wearing hat to be removed during the national anthem that you are showing no sign of respect during it? 

And to the person asking if it is a regional thing, I have attended sporting events in a bunch of different cities and there is no difference there. Maybe high schools are different across the country though? I lived in Ohio most of my life and moved to (and currently live) in South Carolina during high school. Both schools were a no go on hats. My understanding was all schools are this way. 

pjhawks

HesCalledDyer said:

pjhawks said:

the cap is supposed to go over the heart.  it's a sign of respect and love for those who fought for your freedom. don't be a dick. remove your hat and put it over your heart during the anthem.

But why is it a sign of respect? Who deemed it as such? For those who fought for our freedoms - what does that have anything to do with a hat?  What about a foreigner visiting and catching a game? No one here fought for his freedom. Why do we just blindly follow this "tradition" without questioning its validity and application to modern times?

better people than you apparently.  any other common courtesy you want to piss on too?  not into saying please and thank you or hold the door for a woman? are you against happy birthdays and giving gifts too?  how about saying I love you? want to question who deemed that appropriate? any others?

rgambs

All of those make much more sense than removing a hat. 
Except holding a door for a woman, that one's off.  You should hold a door for a human, regardless of what type of human.  

drakeheuer14

The only person I am affecting by removing my hat though, seems to be just me. The ones you listed are directly toward another human being.

RunIntoTheRain

Holy cow @pjhawks people are just posting their questions about it and you're personally insulting them. 

HesCalledDyer

pjhawks said:

HesCalledDyer said:

pjhawks said:

the cap is supposed to go over the heart.  it's a sign of respect and love for those who fought for your freedom. don't be a dick. remove your hat and put it over your heart during the anthem.

But why is it a sign of respect? Who deemed it as such? For those who fought for our freedoms - what does that have anything to do with a hat?  What about a foreigner visiting and catching a game? No one here fought for his freedom. Why do we just blindly follow this "tradition" without questioning its validity and application to modern times?

better people than you apparently.  any other common courtesy you want to piss on too?  not into saying please and thank you or hold the door for a woman? are you against happy birthdays and giving gifts too?  how about saying I love you? want to question who deemed that appropriate? any others?

No need for personal attacks, man.  I'm not pissing on anything, just asking questions. That's what people do when they don't understand things and want to learn of their origins and reasons.  I don't see how not taking a hat off is a sign of disrespect to ANYTHING, moreover to those who fought for my freedoms.  And the only reason anyone has is "because that's the way it is."

CM189191

rgambs said:

All of those make much more sense than removing a hat. 
Except holding a door for a woman, that one's off.  You should hold a door for a human, regardless of what type of human.  

Except taxi cabs and revolving doors.  In which case it is polite to enter first.  To slide across the seat in a taxi.  And to get the revolving door moving for the person behind you.