Please rise and remove your caps
drakeheuer14
Posts: 4,500
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.
And when I say hats, I mostly refer to baseball caps.
Pittsburgh 2013
Cincinnati 2014
Greenville 2016
(Raleigh 2016)
Columbia 2016
Cincinnati 2014
Greenville 2016
(Raleigh 2016)
Columbia 2016
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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?"
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?"
Cincinnati 2014
Greenville 2016
(Raleigh 2016)
Columbia 2016
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.)
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.
"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
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
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.
Cincinnati 2014
Greenville 2016
(Raleigh 2016)
Columbia 2016
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.
Cincinnati 2014
Greenville 2016
(Raleigh 2016)
Columbia 2016
Gentlemen also take their hats off while indoors, especially while dining. I always take it off when I am seated at the table.
I open the door and hand it off to anyone but I hold it open to allow ladies to enter first.
That's going a bit far.