51–60 of 131 posts
The metaphorical implications of us formerly enslaved folks often making this song our own...like whew, where to begin?
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The anthem uncoupled from what it stands for may seem strange, which is why it’s so important to remember the lives of the fathers, brothers, and sons sacrificed at Fort McHenry holding up the flag through the night, and all the lives lost since then holding up the foundations of freedom and our way of life. If you’re living in America enjoying the (ever shrinking) bounty of liberties we have, it’s good and healthy f…
yeah, no. not for me. just reading what you've written gives me flashbacks to all of those uncomfortable moments of having to perform some oath and pledge my allegiance to something i did not choose. nobody chooses where they are born. why would someone else expect they'd pledge their fealty to something they didn't choose to be apart of just because of their place of birth? to me, it's just weird that anyone would p…
FWIW, I seldom if ever say the Pledge of Allegiance — I took the oath to support and defend the Constitution many years ago when I joined the Navy, and then again as a lawyer; I figure that ought to be plenty ....
Trevor Noah has a bit about how 'muricans are the only ones that sing the national anthem all the damn time. He adds how it's also the only anthem where it is sung differently each time depending on the performer. Personally, I have always felt very strange in the entire concept of having to sing this at various events or in school as well as the pledging of allegiance. It just feels very cultish or something you'd e…
> Personally, I have always felt very strange in the entire concept of having to sing this at various events or in school as well as the pledging of allegiance. We live in a society. The government takes 40-50% of your income every year so you can support the other people who are part of the same society. It allows you to survive and protects you from those that would harm you both internal and external. Saying a sho…
Faux performative patriotism. You took the oath to support and defend the Constitution when you were admitted to the bar. That ought to be enough.
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The anthem uncoupled from what it stands for may seem strange, which is why it’s so important to remember the lives of the fathers, brothers, and sons sacrificed at Fort McHenry holding up the flag through the night, and all the lives lost since then holding up the foundations of freedom and our way of life. If you’re living in America enjoying the (ever shrinking) bounty of liberties we have, it’s good and healthy f…
That may be true, and it may be of personal value to pursue this for yourself. That's different from socially badgering others into it at group events.
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The really crazy thing is that the original pledge of allegiance made no reference to god at all . It was added as late as 1954, when Congress passed a law which added the words “under God” after “one nation.” A year later Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, was brutally murdered in Mississippi after allegedly flirting with a white woman. His killers were acquitted by an all-white jury. But ya know, at l…
> But ya know, at least we shoehorned religion into our pledge. "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Look I find it way overplayed to the point of losing any meaning, and a lot of people (civilians) assign some deeper meaning to the ceremony than is likely warranted, and probably parti…
The pledge itself wasn't even around until the Civil War, and was worded differently than what is used today. There's a lot of things that people accept as "always been that way" because it was that way when they were kids. It's not dissimilar to how most of the Civil War memorials weren't actually installed until the 1950s.
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> Personally, I have always felt very strange in the entire concept of having to sing this at various events or in school as well as the pledging of allegiance. We live in a society. The government takes 40-50% of your income every year so you can support the other people who are part of the same society. It allows you to survive and protects you from those that would harm you both internal and external. Saying a sho…
> Saying a short affirmation of loyalty to that entity once in a while seems pretty mild in comparison. Faux performative patriotism. You took the oath to support and defend the Constitution when you were admitted to the bar. That ought to be enough.
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> Personally, I have always felt very strange in the entire concept of having to sing this at various events or in school as well as the pledging of allegiance. We live in a society. The government takes 40-50% of your income every year so you can support the other people who are part of the same society. It allows you to survive and protects you from those that would harm you both internal and external. Saying a sho…
> Saying a short affirmation of loyalty to that entity once in a while seems pretty mild in comparison. Faux performative patriotism. You took the oath to support and defend the Constitution when you were admitted to the bar. That ought to be enough.
Performative chants serve as a form of mass hypnosis - to solidify the legitimacy of a batshit insane society in the weak minds who just want to go along to get along.
Our society is fucked. And those of us fortunate enough to be in the creative class can wax philosophical about it in our luxury boxes while everyone else gets fucked.
* Beyonce 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGDH18R7GfA
* H.E.R. 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL8sJEv00PU
* Jazmine Sullivan 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XkiuGRo3rk
* And of course the GOAT, Whitney 1991 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n9bxfxE25Y
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That may be true, and it may be of personal value to pursue this for yourself. That's different from socially badgering others into it at group events.
If it bothers you so much don’t go to these events.
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yeah, no. not for me. just reading what you've written gives me flashbacks to all of those uncomfortable moments of having to perform some oath and pledge my allegiance to something i did not choose. nobody chooses where they are born. why would someone else expect they'd pledge their fealty to something they didn't choose to be apart of just because of their place of birth? to me, it's just weird that anyone would p…
> all of those uncomfortable moments of having to perform some oath and pledge my allegiance ... FWIW, I seldom if ever say the Pledge of Allegiance — I took the oath to support and defend the Constitution many years ago when I joined the Navy, and then again as a lawyer; I figure that ought to be plenty ....
My "favorite" part is that they are having kids recite a pledge knowing full well that most of them have no understanding to what it actually means. Taking a pledge should be one of those "I, state your name, of sound mind and body, pledge allegiance..." It's just one of those things that is so illogical to me that I don't get how it's not for everyone else