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

[Brian37]

...and plenty wouldn't.

I certainly can't help it if anyone sees refusing to participate in coerced nationalistic virtue signaling to be offensive.  Quite frankly, I see no reason to kowtow to their demands.

I think the coerced nationalistic virtue signalling could also be viewed as a harmless agreed upon social norm to politely show respect.

I meet someone and they put out their hand, I know the act of holding hands and wiggling them a couple times is fucking dumb.  But that's what we came up with.  Is it so dumb that I'm going to start slapping people's hands away and calling them morons?  I don't really see a need for that.  We shake hands, and move on.

Nationalism and militarism certainly are scary'ish ideas.  On the flip side, a sense of community, and an appreciation for some who've sacrificed is another way to frame it.  I think as individuals, we can easily scale the intensity of what it means to us.  Some people just have difficulty not projecting that intensity onto others.  But that's how symbolism works.  I like the confederate flag because I grew up watching the Dukes of Hazzard.  I had a general lee car, and bedspread.  That's my relationship to that flag.  For me, I 'kowtow' to others demands, because they seem reasonable enough.   To me it's just a cool design, to them it's a history of persecution, so I go along with the idea of not displaying it all over or whatever.  The American flag goes the same way.  I don't give a shit about the military.  But I know a lot of people do, and I think that's reasonable enough.  So I play along, as it doesn't cost me anything.  I guess I could draw a line in the sand, but I just don't see what I'd be trying to gain by doing so.

That being said, I see someone like Colin Kaep doing what he's doing to protest treatment of black people in America, that seems 100% justified.  And I think in a better world, what he's doing and those who find a lot of meaning related to military would have no problem coexisting.

No, the same political shaming was used in the 50s and 60s against minorities. The same political vilification and demands of loyalty were that of WW2 Germany. 

Colin is right, the right is wrong. Progress was never made in this country by social conservatives. Progress in the west has always been lead by liberals. And I don't want to hear crap about Lincoln being a Republican either, the parties flipped with Nixon's "southern strategy". 

Of course what Colin is doing is justified. What 45 is doing is not.