I don’t usually do this, but it’s my blog, so I can make up the rules as I go. Here’s a video from the YouTube:
This is apparently from a group called The Whitest Kids U’Know. The video is brilliant. After watching it, it made me upset that the Pledge is still a mandatory thing in most public schools. This isn’t about the “Under God” thing. While that certainly has no part in the American Pledge of Allegiance or mandated in any public schools, my problem is with pushing the Pledge in its entirety onto our youth.
I watched this video, and thought, “Yep. Makes sense.” Then, a search on Twitter hoping to find a discussion about eliminating the Pledge from our schools put me on to several people complaining about this video. Apparently the video is “mocking” the Pledge of Allegiance, and on Memorial Day weekend! A clear unpatriotic slap in Lady Liberty’s face. I’d agree that it is mocking the Pledge, but I would point out that it’s doing so to express the stupidity and immorality of having our school children recite it blindly. The Pledge itself, while I personally have no allegiance to it, is nothing I’m against (in its original, secular form, that is). I believe a person has a right to pledge their allegiance to a flag and to a government if they so choose. But can children make that choice? I’m sure these conservative types wouldn’t think children are old enough to make decisions about sex, yet they think they can consent to forming a political alignment? I would argue that sex is far more natural and proper for young people to learn about in school than being indoctrinated with blind patriotism.
As it turns out, we Americans have some perverse views when it comes to patriotism. Check out these search results from Facebook:
Pledge of Allegiance? But I'm a pirate!
Over 100,000 people want to put the Pledge in our schools (somewhere it already is) and over 60,000 want to keep the “Under God” disfigurement of 1954 in it. Slightly reassuring, though, is the fact that only 6,000 or so people actually like the Pledge of Allegiance. So, while that’s reason for hope, it’s discouraging to see the blind patriotism in action. “We don’t care about the Pledge, probably never say it ourselves except at Kiwanis meetings, but we damn well better force our children to say it!”
I get that it’s Memorial Day weekend. So, any “unpatriotic” act is probably twice as evil. It would be great if we’d embrace something better than patriotism, as our Founding Fathers did. In an act of sheer defiance of their government, they made a stand for freedom. Their treason was the salvation of a nation. So, if Memorial Day has to be about something more than a day off of work and grilling hot dogs, let it be about remembering America’s lost virtue, in hopes that we may one day restore it.