You must log in or # to comment.
Dear America:
Most countries don’t do this shit. At all. It’s weird and off putting
Pledge oft what? Eli5 pls
Wtf. Hard to believe this is real… Do only certain far right private schools do nationalistic stuff like that or is it a common phenomenon over there, like are public funded schools allowed to do bs like this as well?
EDIT: WWWWTTTTTFFFF
" All states except Nebraska, Hawaii, Vermont, and Wyoming require a regularly scheduled recitation of the pledge in public schools.[13] Many states give a variety of exemptions from reciting the pledge, such as California which requires a “patriotic exercise” every day, which would be satisfied by the Pledge, "
To be honest its a miracle you guys didn’t turn facist earlier with stuff like that.
I get the sense Lemmy people are generally less likely to participate in this weird shit, as I also sat it out and we kind of select into this sort of “fuck you I won’t do what you tell me” mindset by rejecting mainstream apps.
I didn’t know it was an option in elementary, but as early as I remember I always adjusted the words to make it silly. I especially remember saying “under frog” when they got to the under God part, with liberty and French fries for all.
Yeah I stopped doing it in High School after realizing that it’s some North Korea level bullshit. Got a few other kids in my homeroom to stop too, which really angered our teacher. She was a military spouse and would actually yell at us for refusing to participate. In the end, we compromised by standing but not reciting it. Was the begining of my political and social awakening.
I had an amazing American Government and Politics teacher in senior year of high school, but I knew about her much earlier. She kept a file of print-outs of the section of State law which codified that no child could be forced to participate in the pledge. She was so awesome. I happened to just arrive at her class after the first plane hit on 9/11. I don’t think there could have been a better place for me to be trying to make sense of that.
how did it go down for you that day given you were in her class?
It was really hard to process. I was about to turn 18. So I didn’t know shit about shit, but I sure as shit thought I did.
A friend ran up to me in the hall when we were changing classes and says dude a plane just hit the world trade center. I started laughing, imagining some idiot in a cesna. He gave me an ugly look and walked away. I got to class and it was on the TV. Our amazing teacher was clearly in shock in retrospect, but she tried to guide us and we had a little discussion on terrorism and the US involvement in war in the middle east. We talked about how Bush was going to handle it.
We had only one conservative in class who was also loud out and proud gay. This was unusual for the time. He had a big personality but even he was quiet. I remember talking to a friend trying to estimate casualty numbers.
We watched the second plane hit and the towers fall live. Saw all the people jumping out the windows. The rest of the day is a blur. We got sent home early. I rode the bus home and watched live TV all night.
I stopped in elementary school.
At the time, it was because I was convinced that the pledge was essentially worshipping a false idol, and if I continued to do it, I would go to hell. Teachers couldn’t fight that argument. Students didn’t fuck with it either. I stood. I didn’t cross my heart, and I didn’t say it.
About 6th or 7th grade, I started challenging my “faith” and realized that the pledge was essentially swearing fealty to something that was supposed to serve the people, not the other way around. By highschool, I didn’t even stand for it anymore. It was nationalism.
