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I like my country plenty but it's absolutely ridiculous to make children swear fealty to the USA every day. It's creepy and accomplishes nothing because kids have no idea what it means or the implications of it (i.e. being called in to die halfway around the world). It's part of the #1 goal of public education in the United States: teach obedience.
Wonder how many of us who think the Pledge is a good thing will still think that when they discover it was written by a socialist for a boys magazine?
My problem with kids saying the Pledge in school is that when I said it as an 8 year old elementary student , I believed it. Then i started paying attention to colored water fountains and where people sat on the bus or where we all lived.
Perhaps the realization that is was not true was my first dive into not trusting institutions.
I had the same experience.
And I think that requiring kids to say it every day both trivializes the experience of loving your country and is way too much like the forced leader/flag idolatry that is inculcated in totalitarian nations.
My problem with kids saying the Pledge in school is that when I said it as an 8 year old elementary student , I believed it. Then i started paying attention to colored water fountains and where people sat on the bus or where we all lived.
Perhaps the realization that is was not true was my first dive into not trusting institutions.
And we the people, as always, pushed our institutions to eliminate segregation. Like everything else, in this nation, the non oppressed were the folks who effected that change. Just as several hundred thousand white men gave their lives in the Civil War for the Union, fighting on behalf of the oppressed.
Trust should not be blind, but you only presented half the story. If we were say China, we would not self correct. We would not fight solely to help others. We would not win wars w/o seizing the defeated nations turf. We would not spend massively on the Marshall Plan.
We are not perfect, but when we spot a wrong, sooner or later, we self correct.
You can pledge allegiance to friends, family, or other individuals you trust and respect, but no reason to pledge allegiance to a ruling class/government. Also no reason to pledge allegiance to others simply because you happen to live within some lines on a map.
I never liked it. It feels like too much. I've never one that felt much love for an institution though, whether it's country, high school, home state etc.
I cordially detest all forms of patriotism.
The sooner countries and the need to even have a passport to travel goes the better - religion too TBH.
Not going to see it in my lifetime but it has to happen for the longevity of our species. Why did a group of private citizens feel the need or even desire to publicly affirm this national dogma. Time-wasting nationalism, diet McCarthyism. Are there many other non-totalitarian countries that do that? That level of indoctrination with "patriotism" is pretty gross.
the pledge is a hang over from Cold War 1.
It was part of an overall plan to reject communism and to condition Americans. In order to get young men to sign up to fight small wars in far off lands you need to to wrap them in flags from birth.
Requiring a daily oath of loyalty is exactly what brainwashing is. Children in the USA are taught from a tender age that the USA is some sort of island in a dangerous world. A beacon of freedom if you will.
The pledge is part of the that. Notice the pledge also confirms no state can leave, and includes GOD in order to bind more tightly. Many nations have pledges but few require children pledge themselves to a flag and or nation on a regular basis.
The pledge is just one part the propaganda machine that the USA refined during the cold war. The result has been the converting of a free and democratic nation into a militarized state.
Our kids are raised NOT to question authority, they are raised to be the USA is an "exceptional" nation and better than all other nations on the planet. Our entire culture has become so jingoistic that neither party truly questions our spending 50 cents out of every dollar on the war machine while also being unable to provide basic healthcare and living conditions for our population.
USA is exceptional. We have gone to exceptional lengths to justify out spending the next 10 nations combined in MILITARY spending. We have exceptional levels patriotism despite our civic leaders waging virtual war on minorities and the poor. We have mass incarceration, an ever widening wealth gap, endless wars layered one on top of the next.
The pledge is one of the primary tools to condition our youth. We also train our youth to see the world as a zero sum game and to believe that hard work results in wealth and security. That only lazy or weak and inferior poeple end up poor. We do this in many ways, most of which we don't even notice.
I don't think it was ever intended to end up like this. There just appears to have been no plan to wind it down in the event we actually won. thus we have continued in this vain since the 1950s ... I believe it will be our undoing..
So, your identity is based on your affiliation or preference for a team or company?
Your words, not mine.
It's more likely to mean a person has isolated themselves from outside influences, probably are more self centered and likely have few or subdued emotional relationships but I'm no expert.
The Pledge is one of those things that appeal to Nazi-types (hail the Fatherland) and religious types (who desperately want to grovel in front of something): a pledge of fealty, reflecting the ancient belief that the king rules by divine right, and therefore everyone in the kingdom must do whatever he decrees.
Historical pledges of allegiance were to the Ruling Class, not the nation itself. After all, of course you will defend your homeland from invaders. What is not self evident is whether you are supporting the current King and other members of the Ruling Class--hence Pledges of Allegiance.
I also find requiring the Pledge disturbing, since what is admirable about America is the innovative idea that citizens do NOT recognize the "divine right" of any king to rule them. While specifically calling out fealty to "the Flag" and "the Republic for which it stands" (rather than the King), this does not negate the fact that the purpose of such pledges was always to solidify the power of the Ruling Class. As a citizen of a free nation, there should be only be admiration for the ideals of freedom, and perhaps pledges to defend your fellow citizens from invasion by foreign armies (not the same as a pledge to serve in wars for any reason other than defending our borders).
This brings to mind the controversy around burning the flag. While I wouldn't do it, and it does strike me as disturbing and distasteful when someone else does it, I do believe that the flag is a symbol of freedom--and if people are not free to burn the flag (for whatever reason), the very freedom that it represents is gone.
many states do not require kids say it.
I found out when my son refused say it about 4th grade. I was surprised but i don't like telling my kids what to think (i see the irony) , thus i checked out the law.
In the end i had to teach his teacher and then the school what the law was, they seemed surprised on two levels. One that kids have a full choice. Two that i would support my son..
When it was done and dusted i told my son it has nothing to do with me you are free to do as you please but i made it extremely clear i expected full respect regardless.
I lived in a number of countries and no matter the nation when they play their anthem or have some national ceremony you stand if they stand, you bow as they do. It is just common manners.
As it turned out , once my son found it was up to him and that they could not make him a short time later he started to say the pledge.
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