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thistlechaserWork and pleasure: The company I work for has a Japanese branch, and I'm one of the people they work most with here in the US. We're work-close, but not like friends-friends close. I'm so terribly tempted to ask them if maybe they could pick up the second Prince of Tennis musical and send it through office-mail to me! I wonder if it's readily available in stores, or if one has to hunt for it and wait in lines? ...well, I guess even if it was really easy to buy I still might not ask them to do it, but I'd be even more tempted!
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So, once again, the phrase "under god" in the Pledge of Allegiance is up for debate. If you've read even a day's worth of LJ posts by me, you'd know I was against the "under god" being in there. However, I've been thinking about it more over the past few days and have come to larger conclusions:
I'm against the whole Pledge of Allegiance, not just the one phrase within it. If someone walked up to me right now and demanded I said it, I'd refuse.
First off, I question the value of it:
The government/schools are making kids who have no idea what they're saying parrot it. Does this make the Pledge meaningless? Or does it make it worse because we're making kids pledge something they cannot understand and so cannot make a choice as to if they wish to pledge it or not?
Even if the kids are older and do understand what the pledge is making them agree to, can they disagree and not say it if they like? Probably about as easily as one could refuse to pray if prayers in school were required...
Second, exactly why should I be pledging anything to a country being run by someone who did not even get the majority of the votes? Someone who won on a technicality? An idiot who wants to force his religious beliefs on the whole nation? A country which does *not* have equal rights for all, and if continues in this trend, will be removing more and more rights from women and minorities?
When I was a kid, I said the Pledge because I had to. I didn't think about what I was saying or what it represented -- the whole thing meant nothing more to me than a moment the whole class had to stand and speak at the same time. I'm no longer apathetic towards it.
Why, in a supposedly "free" country, is pledging allegiance a required act?
ETA: Based on the comments, it seems it's no longer required. (Yay progress!) Yay me being an old, old person as well? ;) "Back in my day", it was a required act. Nice to see that's changed!
--
So, once again, the phrase "under god" in the Pledge of Allegiance is up for debate. If you've read even a day's worth of LJ posts by me, you'd know I was against the "under god" being in there. However, I've been thinking about it more over the past few days and have come to larger conclusions:
I'm against the whole Pledge of Allegiance, not just the one phrase within it. If someone walked up to me right now and demanded I said it, I'd refuse.
First off, I question the value of it:
The government/schools are making kids who have no idea what they're saying parrot it. Does this make the Pledge meaningless? Or does it make it worse because we're making kids pledge something they cannot understand and so cannot make a choice as to if they wish to pledge it or not?
Even if the kids are older and do understand what the pledge is making them agree to, can they disagree and not say it if they like? Probably about as easily as one could refuse to pray if prayers in school were required...
Second, exactly why should I be pledging anything to a country being run by someone who did not even get the majority of the votes? Someone who won on a technicality? An idiot who wants to force his religious beliefs on the whole nation? A country which does *not* have equal rights for all, and if continues in this trend, will be removing more and more rights from women and minorities?
When I was a kid, I said the Pledge because I had to. I didn't think about what I was saying or what it represented -- the whole thing meant nothing more to me than a moment the whole class had to stand and speak at the same time. I'm no longer apathetic towards it.
Why, in a supposedly "free" country, is pledging allegiance a required act?
ETA: Based on the comments, it seems it's no longer required. (Yay progress!) Yay me being an old, old person as well? ;) "Back in my day", it was a required act. Nice to see that's changed!
