Yes, of course. I abhor the pledge of allegiance as I already stated.
I Pledge Allegiance...Umm, no I don't!
- Thread starter TheLonelySquire
- Start date
Well, the "under God" thing was tacked on in 1954, as was adopting "In God We Trust."
Eisenhower wanted make sure we appeared different than the "Godless Reds" of the Soviet Union during the Red Scare and heightening of the Cold War.
It amazes me the number of fellow Americans who don't know this.
--Ted
It scares me more then amazes.
I'm aware but the pledge now has it in it so that was my reasoning.
Frankly, I hate overt displays of patriotism, no matter who does it and for which country. I find the people who feel so zealous about pledging allegiance are the same hypocrites who put those stupid magnetic yellow ribbons on the bumpers of their cars. All talk and no action. Oh, and TLS, about you not being Republican? You sure fooled us all, didn't you? Where there's smoke, there's fire, my dear fellow! -- RR
No one impinged on this guy's rights. He just forgot that they weren't taking part in any of the session's activities and tried to stand during the Pledge, so they gently gave him a tug to remind him that they were sitting this one out. He could have remained standing if he really wanted to, and at worst would have been scolded by his fellow state senators.
Well, 1954 was a solid 31 years before I was born, and I never once learned the history of the Pledge of Allegiance in school. This is all news to me!
The majority of history that I learned in school was either about a) Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent (oh, the things I could tell you about silt!) and b) Nazis.
My American History was pretty limited to things like The Boston Tea Party, the Gold Rush, and Slavery.
That's terrible. American schools should teach, y'know, American History.
I don't know why that would amaze you. Surely it isn't something that's covered in most public school educations. It certainly wasn't in mine. And how many people in the general public would realistically research the history of the Pledge on their own? Or even take an interest in history at all on their own?
Unfortunately, the people in charge of my state curriculum think it's important to learn about Slavery and Nazis every single year of your life than anything else. Between 5th and 10th grade (when I stopped taking history), there was not a single class where the main focus wasn't World War II, Nazis, and Concentration Camps.
I learned about the Civil War in Elementary School (SLAVERY IS BAD!). I don't think I ever once learned about the first World War. And I certainly never learned about anything that happened after WWII.
Right, because clearly we are the only country that matters.
Although, looking at the poster you were responding too, Your post makes a little more sense.
I went to school in the 90s and Learned a ton about American History. I learned about the Pledge In Pre-K and K for gods sakes. I didn't learn world History really until Global Studies in 9th grade.
I think my school handled it fairly well. They teach two years of international history and one of American. Yeah, it's ridiculously hard to fit everything from American history into a year and cover anything with the respect it deserves. But try looking at the time frame of World History (starting with probably the birth of western civilization in Ancient mesopotamia).
But few people realize that it was changed in the 50s to add under God and even fewer people realize that it was changed before that point as well (and that people used to do a sort of salute that resembled an upside-down Roman/Nazi salute, but that was changed during FDR's term).
But few people realize that it was changed in the 50s to add under God and even fewer people realize that it was changed before that point as well (and that people used to do a sort of salute that resembled an upside-down Roman/Nazi salute, but that was changed during FDR's term).
I agree.
There's a very fine line between patriotism and jingoism and it seems America has completely set up camp on the other side.
In a lot of ways its worse than it was during the World Wars, because at least then Americans had some focus and perspective. Now people talk talk that way because they think, "It's the right thing to do."
They do. That's where I learned it. In my experience a lot of kids don't pick up this stuff either because they don't have minds attuned to retaining facts, or they simply weren't paying attention.
Maybe someone else has already pointed this out, but...
When you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you aren't just talking about the dang flag. The words are "I pledge allegiance to the flag...and to the republic for which it stands." So it is not and never has been about "a piece of cloth." It is clearly about the country that piece of cloth symbolizes.
And I do pledge allegiance to it. I think it's kind of a nice custom, actually. Others are of course free to disagree, and as far as I'm concerned, nobody should be required to say it or be constrained from saying it. But if you're going to argue about it, at least argue about the actual pledge, not a version edited to fit your conception of what it says.
When you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you aren't just talking about the dang flag. The words are "I pledge allegiance to the flag...and to the republic for which it stands." So it is not and never has been about "a piece of cloth." It is clearly about the country that piece of cloth symbolizes.
And I do pledge allegiance to it. I think it's kind of a nice custom, actually. Others are of course free to disagree, and as far as I'm concerned, nobody should be required to say it or be constrained from saying it. But if you're going to argue about it, at least argue about the actual pledge, not a version edited to fit your conception of what it says.
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Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
American schools are tiered like this:
Athletics (but only football and other sports) > Reading, Writing, Math > Science > Computers > History > Art, other 'creative' programs > Physical Education
Well put, but in my country our oaths and allegiance is to a unelected royalty not to the people. I cannot sing 'god save the Queen' or salute the union flag in good conscience as they do not represent the British people.
Very interesting, Thor. I never thought of "God Save the Queen" in that way. I'm not a big fan of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as a national anthem. It's a pretty tune - though not original, I know - and some of the words are nice enough, but it's just too hard to sing, and it talks a LOT more about the flag than the country. (Personally, I think "This Land Is Your Land" would be much better.) But maybe I shouldn't complain too much.
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This Land is Your Land is a pinko commie song
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