As odious as I find the Jehovah's Witnesses otherwise, they did a great service to the country in their SCOTUS case on the pledge of allegiance.

I don't think that reciting the pledge of allegiance every day is what's going to hold this country together. Blind loyalty to your country is one of the things that could tear it apart, since it leads some people to believe "My country, right or wrong". Why pledge allegiance to a country that's gone from a representative republic to an oligarchy? Why show loyalty to a country that professes freedom, yet we have to fight for centuries to ensure civil liberties and equality for everyone who isn't a straight white male christian?

I've been to a local small town city council meeting a few times and they start the meetings with the pledge. Considering the low wattage intellects present on that council, I always chuckle that they can seem to remember the words.

When I was a kid, we did the pledge outside every morning. Of course I thought nothing of it as a child, and that's why all these groups want to get them while they're young. They're impressionable, and many kids are already used to their parents having authoritarian control over them.

(January 21, 2015 at 12:15 pm)Sionnach Wrote: “’America will never be destroyed from the outside,’” Ogden read from her essay. “’If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.’ So if you do not say the Pledge of Allegiance to this nation and support America, you will be a part of that destruction.”

I love it. It recognizes the problem and then boldly states, "I want to be part of the problem!"

From a foreigner's perspective...

Making children say the Pledge every day or at all just looks like brainwashing.
But maybe I'm just jealous. How come we don't have a pledge?

(January 21, 2015 at 12:59 pm)Xeno Wrote: From a foreigner's perspective...

Making children say the Pledge every day or at all just looks like brainwashing.
But maybe I'm just jealous. How come we don't have a pledge?

Even while I was in school it creeped me the fuck out.

Cause it is creepy. Little children all standing up and reciting this weird, over-patriotic promise of obedience in unison.

Kind of reminds me of back when I used to go to church. One day I accidentally walked in on a large group of old ladies and nuns reciting some litanies or something, in unison. And as more people came in the church for the mass that was taking place later, the old ladies were talking louder and louder, at some point they were almost shouting and then just like that they finished and all walked off. I felt like I walked in on a cult meeting... which I kind of did, when you think about it.

(January 21, 2015 at 12:58 pm)Faith No More Wrote:

(January 21, 2015 at 12:15 pm)Sionnach Wrote: “’America will never be destroyed from the outside,’” Ogden read from her essay. “’If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.’ So if you do not say the Pledge of Allegiance to this nation and support America, you will be a part of that destruction.”

I love it. It recognizes the problem and then boldly states, "I want to be part of the problem!"

Yeah, it sounds pretty contradictory. I agree with the first part, but the conclusion doesn't fit the observation.