RE: Student sits during pledge of allegiance; gets chair kicked out from beneath him
October 27, 2017 at 12:28 pm
(October 26, 2017 at 3:27 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:(October 26, 2017 at 3:02 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote: I served. For what it's worth, I really don't want people standing for the pledge if they don't want to, no matter what the reason. It loses all meaning if you stand for any other reason than to express your patriotism. Standing to meet people's expectations isn't exactly noble.
This. Whether compelled or coerced via social convention, the oath is rendered effectively meaningless as anything other than a tool to promote so-called "patriotism".
I already swore a meaningful oath to that effect, I certainly don't need to recite a wholly meaningless one, and I won't expect anyone else to either.
It doesn't have to be so nefarious. I don't like the pledge of allegiance or national anthem at sporting events and calling soldiers 'the best and the brightest.' It all feels like a 13 year recruiting effort so when kids graduate highschool, more of them will join the military.
The beauty of the strategy, is that there is nothing wrong with the individual actions. Teaching kids they are a part of a bigger community is a good thing. Giving a nod to people who serve at a ballgame is a nice gesture. Not calling soldiers "Dummies who make poor life decisions" seems polite.
So you have these 3 things that are essentially good being manipulated into something negative. The easy solution for me, is just to have the conversation with my kid about what's happening. I understand others don't recognize it or are tricked.
That being said, it's probably in my, my kid, and my country's best interest to have a bunch of people getting tricked, signing up, and wandering around in some foreign country for a few years. So practically speaking, maybe it's a necessity. I'm sure it was, back when they needed people to go to fight some wars where there was a good chance they'd die.
But this "YOU KNOW WHO ELSE HAD PLEDGES!!! HITLER!!" shit is dumb. Most of us said the pledge, and I don't think it led to us being compelled to commit too much genocide. Every country has some goofy patriotic nonsense going on. Again, a practicality. You can't have nobody in your country feeling any connection to said country.