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

[Catholic_Lady]

I think he's been living in England for a while?

[SteelCurtain]

He told me 'cheerio' earlier on Slack.

I think the auld Isle has rubbed off on him.

[Ravenshire]

I think he's been living in England for a while?

I lived in Oregon for more years than I care to admit. It never made me an Oregonian.

[pocaracas]

Royalty?
Dude, we had that up until 1910... then it was cast aside, not without some commotion... but it's good, now.
And, for president, the person with the most votes votes, gets the seat.

Not that it's worth much... the Prime Minister is the guy that is the head of the government, in spite of being #3 in the country's hierarchy.

I didn't mean an actual monarchy.  I just meant you have that old lady you trot around and many brits seem to be crazy about.  And the princesses and dukes, and all that weird stuff.  A big old birthday parade every year too.  Is the queen on your money?  It all seems a bit silly.  

The point I was making though, is that she seems to be a symbol that the folks of England like to rally around.  Rather than a person/position, the US likes flags and songs.

Oh, no no no no no no no wrong!!! wrong wrong wrong!!!

England? Ok, I am working in the UK, now, but my homeland is a nice patch of land on the south-western tip of the old continent.
The best place in the world... bathed by the gulf stream while it's still warm, a place of great beaches, mountains, plains and rivers. Great food (definitely, not England!), friendly people (definitely not Germany), and a language that foreigners claim sounds like Russian (but definitely not Russia)... must the the R's; we have trilled R's and throaty R's... the Enligsh R's barely count as R's, for us... it's like y'all are going to say an R, but abort it before even reaching 1/3 of it.

You should visit my country. It is the one place where food tastes like itself... We don't need no stinking gravies, or sauces, or ketchups, or hot sauce, or anything to make food taste "good". We actually enjoy the natural flavor of each ingredient... heck, there are even commercials about how something they want to sell preserves the natural flavor of the food you're cooking.
We eat fish, lots of fish.... also squid, octopus, cuttlefish. We eat pork, lamb, goat, beef.... even piglets - the famous Leitão da Bairrada.
We eat soup at every meal.
We have a proper Mediterranean salad, too, at every meal. Also, no sauces! Just salt and the golden ingredient, olive oil (some people put vinegar, but I detest the stuff).

Cheese.... cheese.... no need for fancy molds and crap to make it "tasty". From fresh cheese to very cured cheese. Cheese from cow's milk, sheep's milk, goat's milk, any mixture of the three... from smooth cheese that looks melted, to very hard cheese that needs to be cut very thin.... they're just so good!

Bacalhau, the fish that can be cooked in a million ways - my favorite is with chickpeas.... but I'm a chickpea nut, so...

Then there are the things I don't care much about, but many people enjoy - wines... lots and lots and lots to choose from - you can spend a lifetime sampling them all.
And the famous Port wine... more liquorey than winey, but that's how the world likes it.

Do come visit... you won't be disappointed!
Portugal.
From winter to summer we have something amazing to offer at any time of the year!

[Catholic_Lady]

Portuguese sounds like Russian? I've always been told it sounds like french.

---

Poca, what is typical portuguese food?

[Athene]

I do recognize America as being my country. I was born here, my parents, grandparents, etc. were. 
I like it here well enough. And I care about the people here.

But there's a significant number of people within this great, great nation who don't feel compelled to give my kind of folk the full consideration of "real" Americans. Enough so that I don't feel compelled to stand up and pledge allegiance to the flag any and every time it's deemed appropriate . 

Now, I'll go through the motions if it's a matter of being prudent, (i.e., work-related functions) because, let's face it: I've gotta pay my bills.
Outside of that, it's pretty much a coin-toss; I'll stand when I feel like it. 

And when I don't, I won't.

If that ruffles certain peoples' feathers....so what? I'd wager most of those types don't consider folks such as myself to be a truly worthy part of this country if we're not entertaining them or chucking a fucking ball anyhow.

So to hell with them.

[AFTT47]

I think coerced acts of patriotism are foundationally un-American. They smack of Soviet propaganda rituals or Hitler Youth ceremonies.

This sums up my thinking perfectly. I think the founders would not approve of things like the Pledge of Allegiance. It's nothing but state propaganda. A classroom of children mindlessly speaking somebody else's words like robots is not at all in the spirit of this country as founded. Programming blind obedience to state into our children doesn't strengthen us - it weakens us. Strength comes from a diverse group of people who all think for themselves.

Robots who blindly follow their programing have their uses. They're great in an assembly line. A population of people who do that though are not going to contribute much to a society. The founders of this country understood that. They were all mavericks. They wrote a constitution which favored the free-thinker, making sure that his or her voice could not be silenced. IMHO, that is one of the fundamental reasons this country rocketed to its position as the wealthiest, most advanced and most militarily powerful country on the planet. Great things happen when minds are unleashed.

Perhaps the most revolutionary thing about this country when it was founded was that the government was not protected from criticism. The lowliest of peasants could say whatever he or she thought of the government or of any member of it. There are no sacred cows here and that is a strength! People speaking their minds expose our own flaws and weaknesses. Only then we can fix them.

This country was not built by compliant robots. It was built by troublemakers, rabble rousers and malcontents.

[pocaracas]

Portuguese sounds like Russian? I've always been told it sounds like french.

Your Portuguese doesn't sound like mine.
I've watched too many Brazilian tv shows... Not only some grammar is different, and some words are used differently, but the accent makes it sound very different overall, specially to someone who doesn't understand the words.

Poca, what is typical portuguese food?

Prepare to Google!
- feijoada - beans, even different kinds of beans, and pork and some cabbage all cooked on the same pot.
- arroz de marisco - shellfish in rice (some people are considerate and remove all shells prior to serving... Some claim the shells retain flavour so the person eating is the one who should take care of them)
- bacalhau à Brás - the signature salted fish in small chunks, cooked in a pot together with very thin fries (thin as a toothpick), some scrambled eggs thrown in the mix and topped off with parsley and some olives.
- anything with bacalhau, actually.... There are books with tons of recipes for it.
- along the coast, you find lots of grilled fish.
- caldeirada, a stew with several kinds of fish thrown in.

Should I say anything about all the sweets? Many developed by bored nuns with access to lots of sugar, eggs, and cinnamon?

[downbeatplumb]

I'm a veteran.  I can't be bothered to stand for the pledge, or any other coerced display of patriotism.  Am I disrespectful to veterans?

Why would respect be mandatory?
If its forced it loses its point.

[AFTT47]

I'm a veteran.  I can't be bothered to stand for the pledge, or any other coerced display of patriotism.  Am I disrespectful to veterans?

Why would respect be mandatory?
If its forced it loses its point.

That's our whole argument! Making a ritual of showing fealty makes the whole thing pointless! It's the classic thing of using force to lead a horse to the water but in the end, no force can make him drink against his will.

In the end, you have to earn respect. There is no other way. Coerced show of respect is meaningless. It only exposes your inability to earn it.