“I Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
I hate saying that. But I go ahead and say it anyway and hold my right hand over my heart and face the flag like everybody else. But I hate it.
Why do I hate it? Because it is a fake and phony thing to say, right from the beginning and all the way to the end of it.
Why should anyone have to recite a pledge of allegiance to one’s country? Shouldn’t that be taken for granted?
If everyone in the room recites the pledge, does that mean that there are no traitors among them? Is that the purpose of it? To weed out traitors?
But wouldn’t a traitor be happy to recite a pledge? What difference would it make to him? Having to recite such a fake proof of patriotism wouldn’t bother a traitor, or an idiot either.
The only type of person that it could bother would be one of those, such as myself, that believe that true patriotism is diminished by such fake and phony proofs of patriotism and allegiance to one’s country.
From October 1967 through October 1968, I was an LOH (light observation helicopter) crew chief assigned to the Scouts, B Troop, 7/17th Air Cav, stationed primarily at Camp Enari, near Pleiku in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
During the time that I was there, three of the Scout helicopters assigned to me were shot down, killing everyone aboard. Each time it just happened to be on a day when I was assigned to some other duty on the ground.
But I flew enough to get the Air Medal. And I was there long enough to know the most courageous men that I’ve ever met and what it’s like to be in combat and have to face the reality of people dying and bullets being fired at you.
Did all that prove my patriotism? Not really. I was against the war but I was drafted into the Army and was left with no other choice. I preferred to take my chances as a soldier than go to jail or leave my home and escape to another country.
In my opinion none of those who died in Vietnam or served in Vietnam did it out of patriotism or because they felt they were defending America’s freedom.
Those that died there and those that served there did it because they were caught up in that great, big black hole of fake patriotism which is at the hot core of American politics and government of, for and by the people – that required them to go along with the program, even at the risk of their lives.
That program is still in effect today and it just keeps getting dumber and dumber. And who can you blame except government of, for and by the people doped up on fake, phony patriotism that doesn’t have a thing to do with true patriotism or love of one’s country, or of individual thinking or sacred honor.
Where do we get these dumb thinkers that program this dumb machine that spits out these robots in such great numbers that think such dumb things as “We’re fighting them over there so we won’t have to fight them here,” and we’re fighting for our freedom and to spread freedom around the world.
I believe they come straight out of the belly of government of, for and by the people and have been brought up programmed to recite fake patriotic pledges every morning in their schools as some sort of required proof of their Americanism and goodness, rather than being respected as free individuals whose patriotism should be taken for granted until proven otherwise, and who should be expected to think and reason according to the ability that God gave them.
Patriotism itself is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a natural thing that doesn’t have anything to do with the Pledge of Allegiance or the waving of flags. The love of one’s country comes as natural as the love of one’s mother and father. And yet, no one has come up with a daily pledge for that.
I hate it when I see our Congressmen and Congresswomen all standing together like school children in the morning with their hands over their hearts facing the flag and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
To me, this is something that would seem more reasonable if this were Germany during the reign of Hitler instead of being the United States of America. It’s a dumb ritual that doesn’t prove anything except that we love our dumb rituals.
I don’t think George Washington and the other founding fathers would have ever imagined such a thing. They knew what patriotism was. It was part of their character and actions and sacred honor and didn’t have to be recited as part of some two-bit pledge written up by some two-bit writer of some two-bit boy’s magazine.
I hate that Congress begins its sessions with a prayer written up by some hired preacher with the gall to believe that he is officially responsible for dragging God into this mess and giving God instructions as to how God should enter into the minds of everyone present and lead them to intelligent thinking and wise decisions.
I hate it all, just because of the dumb, stupid hypocrisy of it. I really do believe that the greatest evils that have plagued the world from the beginning is because we feed our young on the same dumb, stupid hypocrisy that we grew up on.
If that’s not so, why can’t the American mind realize that terrorism is the killing of innocent people and that through our illegal and unjustified attack on Iraq we’ve killed more innocent people, in the form of acceptable collateral damage, than all the terrorists will be able to do in our lifetimes?
How else can it be explained, that America is bleeding itself to death with unnecessary war on Iraq (and more to come on the drawing board), and unknown billions for prisons and police in our stupid and hypocritical war on drugs, and unknown billions because we’re too stupid to plan and take care of the responsibilities we owe to our poor and the middle class and the challenges of nature and the continued existence of life itself on the planet?
America needs to get smart and a good place to start would be to just throw all of our fake and phony ideas of patriotism overboard, along with our incredible and insane self-righteousness, and put our minds to thinking.
Yes, thinking. Even in our schools. Education, regardless of how much money and effort is thrown into it, doesn’t mean a thing if we can’t figure out some way to trigger the thinking mechanism inside the minds of our young people, instead of just turning out robots that can recite the Pledge and keep us going in the same direction of world destruction the way we’ve been going since the Second World War.
That is what true patriotism is, even more than doing one’s duty as a soldier or raising a family of good citizens or serving in Congress or as the President of the United States, it’s using one’s mind to help bring about a better way for one’s country and all the peoples of the earth, “under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Naman Crowe
namancrowe@yahoo.com
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Ahhhh, but of course, in your observation, you are correct Mr. Naman Crowe. However, in our ignorance, the people will not listen. We carry and wear that ignorance like some protective gear. With so much power, America has become intoxicated like falling down drunkards.
You know, children are smarter than adults give them credit for. Even as a child in third or fourth grade (I forget which) there was something that didn't sit right with being "forced" to recite the pledge, and the preacher who came to our school once a week to talk to us about the Bible and patriotism often showed up drunk. We young people were more disgusted with him and came to realize, if he was such a phony, then perhaps his views on religion and patriotism must be too. All around us we witnessed adult intolerance, racism and hatred. Yet, we were told to love and honor regardless.
Children can't be fooled nor bribed nor swindled. We didn't listen to what adults said as much as we watched what they did, their habits and how they interacted with others who were not like them. We came to the conclusion that adults rarely if ever believed in the things they were constantly trying to force on their young.
Yet, in the end, we became phony like them. Pretending to listen, believe and go along because, after all, they were adults, our instructors; guiding, molding and shaping the adults we would later become and, as adults, we became just like them. Passing that ignorance, as you imply, on down to our young, generation upon generation.
Dee Hurston
dhhurston@netscape.net
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Where does this guy come from?
If, by printing this idiotic rambling, your intent was to make decent patriotic citizens blood boil, congratulations.
I would put Mr. Naman Crowe in the same category as the heartless "Let's kick Katrina victims while
they're down" scoundrels. There is a special place for anti-Americans
like this, and, while they are waiting their turn, I think there is
plenty of room in San Francisco.
Robert LoTufo
rl@lookoutind.com
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Mr. Naman Crowe is a deep thinker and one who comes up with correct evaluations of public practices. I was in High School early in the 1940s and even then, there was a student in our senior class (I was a junior) who expressed the same feelings about reciting the pledge of allegiance. She wrote an essay about it and won a prize although there were many negative remarks about her stance. Some wanted her thrown out of school but many were brought to a point of thinking about what she was saying and were convinced of her argument. I was one of those. My friend's point was that she would not swear allegiance to anything or anyone except her God, Jesus Christ.
Most people just stand up and say the pledge without even know the meaning of some of the words. When I was teaching eighth graders, one of my challenges to them was to see if any of them could write the pledge of allegiance without misspelling any of the words. Never did I find a single student who could do it. Most of them would misspell the word "allegiance" and others would misspell even very simple words. See if you can do it, and don't cheat.
Many people say the pledge without giving it any thought and have no idea what they are saying. Most could not tell you what allegiance is, or what a republic is, or what indivisible means if you asked them. The Bible cautions us about "vain repetitions" and "clamoring; without knowing why we are clamoring. The Bible attributes vain repetitions and clamoring to "heathen" which, as you know, means uncivilized people. I must confess, when I was teaching school, I led my students in the pledge because I thought it would help them to love their country more and to be patriotic. But now I realize they were probably bored saying it and just wanted to rush through it so they could sit down. I taught them a definition of patriotism that said, "A patriot is a person who loves his country and supports its causes." That would seem to be more helpful than gobbledygook or just saying something to be through with it.
To be a patriot, one does not have to recite or mumble the pledge of allegiance, but if one does it should be a serious commitment, should be seriously thought out and it should be voluntary and from the heart, and not coerced. Our beautiful flag is awesome and inspires patriotism and should be respected, but it does not deserve obeisance comparable to the cross or other religious symbols. The physical realm of America is truly beautiful but the social picture can only be beautiful when every person is treated as if he or she were a neighbor. All religions teach "love they neighbor" and if they didn't, it would still be a good philosophy.
Thanks, Nathan Crowe, for a serious look at a national situation that deserves serious thought and consideration. I have come to value your words and your ideas and think of you as someone to respect and emulate.
Mildred Perry Miller
Millermaj@aol.com
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Thank you, Mr. Crowe, for articulating what I've been trying to explain to people for years.
I love my country, despite its vast shortcomings, and I feel that I am patriotic. My patriotism, though, is something that is felt in my heart. It is something that I carry close to me; it's personal and private. For me personally, public displays of patriotism - including the pledge - cheapen the sentiment and make it no more meaningful than a random tacky American flag magnet slapped on the back of a car.
I have no quarrel with people who choose public displays such as the pledge, but the key word is choose. It should be a choice. Forcing (whether directly or not) someone to say the Pledge is inexcusable and runs contrary to this being a free country. Forcing it smacks of facism and reminds me of footage of Nazi Germany and the old Soviet Union. Citizens should be free to make this choice without ridicule or derision, as it is a private matter. It should not reflect on the person's patriotism, just as one's refusal to participate in public prayer should never reflect on a person's beliefs. There are several shades of gray in these matters and everyone's opinions should be respected.
The Pledge is said at my neighborhood meetings. I do not (several of my neighbors don't either), and it's never been a problem. This is how it should be.
Personally, as a gay man, I would feel like a hypocrite saying it anyway, what with the "liberty and justice for ALL" part that so many people have trouble wrapping their heads around or conveniently forgetting about when it's time for a good old-fashioned witch hunt.
Jay Craven
craven_1972@yahoo.com
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I would like to reply to a recently featured "Letter To The Editor" about the Pledge Of Allegiance controversy, which was authored by a person who is "obviously" opposed to the Pledge, but wrote his letter in the disguise of a person supporting the Pledge.
That writer tips his hand by sequencing through the ACLU's "talking points," plus the writer sneaks in a long argumentation designed to attempt to prove that the phrase "under God" is a government establishment of religion.
As do many of the ACLU supporters, this writer fails to use the ACLU talking points in a cogent argumentation. Thus, my rebuttal will also bounce around by necessity.
Amusingly, the ACLU attempts to portray the origin of the Pledge Of Allegiance as if the Pledge was a sacred, deity-inspired document. Sorry, but Francis Bellamy is not Moses, and the Pledge of Allegiance is not the Ten Commandments. Thus, Bellamy's biography and Bellamy's personal philosophy are irrelevant.
Bellamy just so happened to pen a brief statement of patriotism which other American citizens decided to adopt as a common expression of their own patriotism. Over the years, the American citizenry made revisions as they saw fit. Eventually, Congress formally adopted the Pledge in 1942, and Congress also saw fit to later revise the Pledge by adding the phrase "under God" in 1954.
From the time that the Pledge was first published in 1892, there have always been those who objected to its recitation. First, there were anarchists and other political "Cults of One" and "Cults of 100" who objected to expressing their loyalty to the American form of government. Later, in 1935, the Cult of Jehovah's Witnesses refused to join in reciting the Pledge because they believe the American government is a partner with Satan in his universal rebellion against "Jehovah".
The SCOTUS ruled in 1943 that no schoolchild could be forced to recite the Pledge, thus protecting the constitutional right of Jehovah's Witnesses to be as loony as they wish with their religious doctrines. That same 1943 SCOTUS ruling still protects any person who does not wish to recite the Pledge.
Today, atheists, agnostics, the ACLU, and other various "Cults of One" and "Cults of 100" again wish to impose their "godless" beliefs on the overwhelming majority of Americans. I refuse to dignify their argument, that including "under God" in the Pledge is "government establishing a religion", with a rebuttal. If a person believes that, they need more help than I can provide.
Common sense dictates that if the phrase "under God" offends someone otherwise wishing to recite the Pledge, then all that person has to do is simply take a breath during that one-second part of the recitation.
Mark Jasper
Ferguson Street
Mount Vernon, KY