this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 240 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Let's be honest, the whole thing has always been a little weird.

[–] [email protected] 199 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I'm German and learned about this via a friend from the US. When they mentioned it, I thought their teacher was a lunatic. Then they told me that this is normal course of action. Just what in the absolute fuck.

[–] [email protected] 139 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Yes. It's far more than "a little weird". It's how you breed nationalists.

[–] SlopppyEngineer 30 points 4 months ago (2 children)

USA hasn't run into the consequences of nationalism hard enough yet when it backfires.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago

I am not looking forward to the find out stage of all this fucking around.

[–] rekorse 2 points 4 months ago

Everyone forgets the 90s and Timothy McVeigh so quickly.

I bet some people dont even know that was nationalism.

[–] Glowstick 45 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

It depends on where and when in the US. In areas that are Democratic (the more liberal party) it doesn't really happen much anymore, but in areas that are Republican (the more conservative party) it still happens at the start of every single school day.

And the custom of doing this was started by a salesman trying to sell flags and magazine subscriptions. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bellamy#Pledge_of_Allegiance

[–] [email protected] 44 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] errer 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I mean that’s just an unfortunate coincidence given it predated the rise of naziism.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Oh yeah, it definitely is in that sense. The point is that patriotism is hard to discern from facism. That they happened to use the same symbol here is just a good illustration of that. Ultimately, the Hitler Salute also started out as a symbol of patriotism before it all turned to genocide.

[–] JusticeForPorygon 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It's state law where I live IIRC. They force you to say it, because of legal precedent, but the school can apparently get in trouble with the state if they don't say it at the start of the day.

It was always funny when we'd all stand up and only the teachers and maybe three students would say it.

[–] ripcord 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Might want to proofread that second sentence

[–] JusticeForPorygon 4 points 4 months ago
[–] acosmichippo 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

it’s an anachronism from the red scare in the 50’s.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

An anachronism because there aren't still powerful forces in America trying to witch hunt people with left-leaning ideas?

[–] lugal 6 points 4 months ago

C'mon, don't be ridiculous! If the US was so anti left, Sanders would never make it to become president! We don't want to live in the timeline where the Republicans won the 2016 election because the Democrats didn't dare to send Sanders because he's too far left.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Growing up, for a time my folks were way into the evangelical thing and I attended a totally batshit religious school where we recited 3 pledges back-to-back every morning. To the U.S. flag, the Christian flag and the Bible. Then had to recite entire chapters of the Bible we had per force committed to memory that week. Failure to do so was grounds for savage corporal punishment. No other experience in life so inoculated me against authoritarianism and organized religion. It also let me know at that tender age that sadists existed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

In Texas, all public schools do two pledges. One to the US and one to Texas.

[–] Juvyn00b 5 points 4 months ago

My wife used to work for a company that had a morning stand up and daily affirmation. I told her it sounded like she was in a cult. She agreed.

[–] NegativeInf 49 points 4 months ago (2 children)

In high school like 15 years ago we not only had the regular pledge, we had to pledge to the Texas state flag. Which you hold out your hand like you are holding something?

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

It's all hot garbage and unquestioning nationalism. The good bit was, only one teacher ever gave me flack for sitting out the pledge with my little emo ass. And that was my ultra conservative AP US Government teacher. And he was just a nut ball. But when I framed it as my freedom he chilled.

He was still wrong about flat taxes not being regressive!

[–] acosmichippo 30 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

but how can you pledge allegiance to two separate entities?

scenario A: if texas ever attempted secession then you’d have to break one of your pledges.

scenario B: Texas always remains loyal to the US, which makes the texas pledge superfluous. you pledged allegiance to the US which includes texas.

[–] NegativeInf 24 points 4 months ago

It's to incept the idea of secession into little kids head's. Paint Texas as self sufficient and not dependent at all. Then make em want to leave.

I hate this state, but if all the liberals leave, it will only get worse for the next set of young people born here.

[–] TexasDrunk 9 points 4 months ago

That's so weird to me. I grew up in an area of Texas that is very red today. We quit both pledges in the 3rd or 4th grade. It's weird that we did it at all, but that was back when they also taught that freedom of the individual was super important and if you didn't like what someone else was doing you could always just look away because it wasn't your fucking business. So they didn't make us do it at a certain point because it was counter to the other shit they said. That was in the years leading up to Ann Richards being voted as governor so that may inform outsiders of what was happening at the time.

There's a lot of problematic shit that happened when I was a kid. Don't get me wrong. But at least they seemed to be headed the right direction at the time with the info we had (that's a whole other ball of garbage that I'm not picking at today...ask me another time when it's not 3am). I had forgotten about both pledges as an adult until someone reminded me a few years ago that it was a thing.

Texas has gotten way more idiotic over the last 30 odd years.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago

A little weird?