Rule 1: Be civil.
Rule 2: No zionists/tankies.
Our Sibling Community:
Related:
Pledge of Allegiance is literally some stupid shit some opportunists made up to sell flags to schools with fat government contracts.
It's also just sort of creepy to idolize a flag. I always stood for the pledge in school out of respect for the freedoms I enjoyed, but refused to put my heart on my chest to worship a piece of cloth. This was in the 90s.
Nowadays I don't even stand for it because everything's gone to hell and I'm just constantly mad about it all.
Freedom, what freedom
I wish I wasn't required to stand for the pledge. (I'm a teacher. State law requires everyone to do it every day.) When I asked what the consequences would be if I didn't, I was basically told I'm welcome to exercise my 1st ammendment right, but I get no help if parents complain. I'm more help to students inside the classroom than out... but I absolutely never call out any kid who chooses not to. I just happen to be making coffee during that part of class most days.
When I taught I never stood or recorded the pledge. I found the concept insulting. How dare they question my loyalty on a daily basis? Don't think anyone noticed.
What state?
Iowa
That's some serious indoctrination. Wow.
Soon they'll be required to swear allegiance to the Führer every day.
State law requires it? That's insane. I'm sorry.
A teacher once snarkily told me "men and women died for you, you need to stand!" to which I responded "I didn't ask them to do that."
Won't stand for the pledge until there is truly liberty and justice for all.
Also, the ones who died for me and the things i believed in were mostly executed under that flag.
Also, they didn't even "die for you". That's a lie they've been sold - they died protecting corporate/imperialistic agendas. They died for the upper class.
edit: and it also implies that we are safer - but we are not. There's no true conflict resolution through military means. The conflicts are "maintained", simmering/enhancing until they boil over.
Well no.
Plenty of people died for me. Died for all of us. So many executed under that flag.
Can't name any who flew it.
There have definitely been unjust wars, where various propaganda has been used to get people to fight for corporate or imperialistic agendas.
Acting like the people that died fighting Nazis, or the people that died prevented North Korea from taking the South, didn't die protecting others is just disrespecting those people. Imagine how many people that have survived, lived, and prospered on the European continent and in South Korea because soldiers and resistance fighters were willing to lay down their life for a greater cause.
This isn't a black-and-white issue.
You are absolutely right, and I do believe that the vast majority of soldiers worldwide are well-intentioned and doing what they're doing for perceived right reasons. What I'm getting at is that, generally speaking, wars do not actually solve the underlying issues they are purportedly trying to fix. The Nazi ideas are still with us to this day. The North Korean regime is still a threat to its own people and others. Armies should be a deescalating force, building bridges between nations.
I see your point, however
Armies should be a deescalating force, building bridges between nations.
I don't really agree on this, I think that's what diplomacy is for. Armies are for when someone shows up with weapons, trying to kill you and your family, displace you from your home, and take everything that is yours. Armies are the backstop when diplomacy fails and you have no choice but to defend yourself with violence.
Yes, armies can't defeat an ideology completely (as you say, Nazi ideas are still with us today, and North Korea is still a threat to the South). However, armies did ensure that a bunch of people that would have been purged by the Nazis have instead lived fulfilling lives. Armies did ensure that a lot of Koreans actually don't live under the oppression of the Kim regime. An army is currently preventing Putin from taking Ukraine, displacing Ukrainians, and wiping out Ukrainian culture.
The last example is perhaps the best, because we can see in real time that Ukraine would obviously prefer not to fight this war. They would have preferred to build bridges and friendship with their neighbouring country. That is the job of diplomats and politicians. The army is there for when that neighbour decides to invade, because they don't want bridges and friendship, but complete control.
This is correct, armies can do well in defending populations. The issue is that wars tend to cause more of what they are trying to solve/prevent. For example, Nazism rising out of the aftermath of WWI. Authoritarian/aggressive USSR/Russia rising out of the west's reaction to the socialistic revolution of 1917.
I think that, ideally, armies should be converted to be a positive force of cooperation (for example helping people all across the world with self-sufficient and sustainable local agriculture), instead of an aggressive/destructive one (of course, this can not realistically happen in the current way the world works, but I'm talking theoretically)
What you're asking for is Star Trek and The Federation. The military(only speaking for the US) isn't equipped or trained for nation building. It is by nature the "big stick" Teddy Roosevelt was referring to. The state department is the diplomatic arm of the US government. They should be the ones forging all those ties and teaching people outside the US how to be self sufficient and sustainable.
Honestly I wish the US military was more like The Federation. I'd join back up in a heartbeat.
They could be sued for that even if the student was not Palestinian. Students cannot be obligated, legally speaking, to stand for the pledge of allegiance.
the teacher responded to her exercising her free speech by telling her "you enjoy the freedoms in this country, if you don't like it you should go back to your country" pretty shitty reaction. the school district put out a very strongly worded memo that they DON'T tolerate this kind of treatment of students, and didn't do anything other than the statement.
It’s also just not realistic in the US right now. Some students are not American and don’t want to be, which is normal. Why should they (especially, but honestly anyone) be expected to pledge allegiance to a country that isn’t and won’t be theirs?
As for the second part - I could maybe have pushed my dad to move house when I was in school, if I’d pushed incessantly and had a very good reason, but I could not have actually had an impact on what country we lived in. I can’t imagine many high schoolers do.
It's absolutely abhorrent behavior. The absolute most I would expect out of the teacher is a friendly confirmation that the student wasn't sitting because they just zoned out. Even that kinda seems like a waste of time.
How is this a problem at all? In my very republican town in the 1980s a ton of kids didnt stand for the pledge because they moved here from foreign nations and many planned on returning. As a buddy of mine said "Im Japanese. Why would I pledge allegiance to the USA?" (Ironically he never moved back to Japan)