Student sits during pledge of allegiance; gets chair kicked out from beneath him

[Tiberius]

Right, it is a pledge of allegiance to this country. But it kinda flies in the face of people who sacrifice/die FOR this country when someone can't even be bothered to stand up during a pledge of allegiance to it.

Why? There's a massive difference between pledging allegiance to a country and honoring people who sacrifice / die for the country. You can respect the people in the military for their sacrifices and protest the country for the way it is perceived as heading.

Since the pledge has nothing to do with the military and is entirely about the country itself, it makes sense that not standing for the pledge is an indication that the person is not OK with the way the country is heading. It says nothing about their attitude towards the military.

There is a dangerous blend of national identity with the military, and it makes no sense. You can be patriotic and be against the military. You can be pro-military but object to the state of the country.

Anyway, being a military wife, that's how I see it. People have the right to do what they want, but when someone doesn't stand up simply because they don't feel like it, it does hit me with a certain attitude of disrespect to those of us who are sacrificing.

I think you are suffering from a bias of some kind due to your military background. You associate the pledge, the national anthem, etc. with the military. I can see how refusing to stand for it would come across as disrespectful towards the military, the veterans, the soldiers who died. However, my point is there is no reason to even think that the pledge or national anthem is about the military, because they just aren't. Unless they are specifically used in the context of "and now we'll sing the national anthem in honor of our troops", I don't see how either is not simply about nationalism and the country.