Worth a read for the “secede from our marital union” part alone!
I have never once done the Pledge of Allegiance. Grew up a Jehovah’s Witness, who think that giving allegiance to a country would mean putting that country over God. Even if any of my teachers didn’t like this reasoning, they were obliged to keep quiet and accept it. There was a Supreme Court case about this exact issue.
Left JWs as an adult, so I never had to do it.
I have never seen a kid sit down for O Canada unless they are in a wheelchair. Of course getting sent to the principle’s is not worth it but I would admire a kid who had the balls to do it.
Dear America:
Most countries don’t do this shit. At all. It’s weird and off putting
Does anyone else also fly bombers and fighter jets over stadiums at the start of a game? Do you take 2-5 minutes to honor some guys in the military during half time?
to be fair, that one (afaik) is a legitimate training exercise. it’s useful to train pilots to be at an exact place, in an exact formation, at an exact speed, at an exact time… and if you can get marketing and morale out of it, welllll why not
Also, jets are just plain old cool. Everyone likes a mini-airshow.
Piling on the list of negatives - they use leaded fuel, which is bad for you. I still like planes though
No they don’t. Jets use jet fuel not avgas.
I mean yes, I love airshows, but there’s something about a mass celebration of these machines of death where a crowd gathered for a completely unrelated purpose gets to see the last thing an afghan child at a wedding sees gives ick in a way that normal airshows, even with all the military recruitment and propaganda don’t.
It doesn’t even apply to all flyovers, sometimes it’s like F-14s or Chinooks or WWII era planes where the message isn’t so dark.
where a crowd gathered for a completely unrelated purpose gets to see the last thing an afghan child at a wedding sees
I know this probably makes it worse, but the Afghan child most likely wouldn’t even have a chance to see the plane (or more likely, predator drone) that fired the missile that killed them.
It’s one of the many reasons these children are fucking terrified of clear skies and sunny days.
yyyyyyyes but it’s also expensive and thoroughly weird when compared to the rest of the world… so whilst it does serve a legitimate purpose, it’s worth noting those points too
It’s also dope AF. Frankly, I’d rather have those planes boosting morale here than dropping bombs somewhere else. I see it as a win-win.
Lol, as opposed the the drills and formations that NK/Russia etc do?
not at all - they’re all exactly the same… i’m just noting that there are reasons to do them beyond only propaganda and nationalism
It’s fucking weird and creepy
You can train the pilots in other time and area. The combination with an unrelated game makes it propaganda.
you can, but as i said at the end of the comment: you have to do it anyway… you either entirely waste the fuel, maintenance, and pilot time, or you use it for something
in a couple of comments people have said they think it’s “plain old cool” and “a mini air show”
propaganda? perhaps
but people also seem to enjoy it… better than entirely wasting it
NK does i believe
When you connect the dots of modern history, you realize America was most of the way to fascist dictatorship the entire time.
Many of us have been waiting for it to drop the facade for decades.
Fascism is just capitalist imperialism turned against your own citizens.
Americans are cultists
This shit has always been creepy. Always. Greetings from Germany o/
I moved the US as a kid, and this shit gave me massive cult vibes from the start. I refused to participate.
I was suuuper popular in middle school…
Internet Germans convinced me to sit down for it in high school. And yeah its such cult shit
Good choice with the forward slash. Good choice.
Agreed
“Our country is really the best, all the other countries suck… God bless Johnson & Johnson…”
True, but they start you off doing it at the age of 4 or 5 so it is completely normalized before our brains are developed enough to question it
My kids refused to do it and I supported them. We started sending them to online school after that. The pledge was thought up and implemented by White Christian nationalists to commemorate 400 years since Columbus “discovered” America. Prior to World War 2 students didn’t put their hands over their heart, they did the Bellamy salute AKA the Nazi salute. Choral repetition and responses are used to brainwash people.
My son is in second grade and ha, chosen to not to say the pledge of allegiance (his own decision because we talk about how the country won’t take care of its people). He says he teachers never force him, but subs always do claiming we’re the greatest country in the world.
I stopped in third grade. I walked to school so had to hang out till the busses were gone and I asked my teacher after school one day why I had to say it. She said I didn’t have to if I didn’t want too but that I should stand. It made sense to me . Never said it again.
I asked the same teacher why she said Columbus “discovered Smerica” when there were already people here. She could not answer that one and I don’t think the thought ever crossed her mind. I knew school was all bullshit after that and didn’t really participate much after that
I don’t think kids should even stand for it. Our loyalty should be to the people, to our communities, to the scientific pursuit of truth, to the health of the planet, and to defending the unalienable god given right of dignity for all people.
it me lmao
Same. But I didn’t do it because of a different indoctrination, not because I understood anything special.
Lmao saaaame
Im guessing that’s a lot of us here lol
There was always one kid that sat down during the pledge in my class. None of us thought he was annoying or weird. I admired him.
I sat down because I was lazy.
This is the kind of shit that leads to nationalism over patriotism. Blindly teaching kids to pledge allegiance without teaching them what comes with that or why.
That or the fact that your government should be pledging allegience to you, not the other way around. We the people do not serve the government.
Generally, the main problem with being “far left” is being ridiculed for being right earlier than everyone else.
You’re welcome
the pledge of allegiance is brainwashing at NK levels.
That was me!
