07-04-01
PLEDGES & PATRIOTS

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The regressives are having an absolute hissy-fit about Tennessee State Rep. Henri Brooks' refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It's a source of neverending amusement to me that the people who CLAIM they're for 'individual freedom' are always the quickest to scream "Traitor!" or worse when someone exercises said freedom in a way they don't like.

Representative Brooks, an African-American, won't recite the Pledge of Allegiance because she thinks it's a lie - we are not, after all, a united nation at this point in our history, and liberty and justice does not apply to all people equally. Of course, the Pledge doesn't specifically state that we're all equal, which brings me to an interesting point - the author of the Pledge, Francis Bellamy, WANTED to include the word 'equality' but chose not to because he knew that too many people were against equality for women and African-Americans.

Well, well. It seems that Henri Brooks' point was made for her long before she was born.

African-Americans aren't the only people who can find fault with the Pledge of Allegiance. I pretty much stopped reciting it back in junio high school because I found the words "under God" offensive. Interestingly, it wasn't until recently that I discovered the original wording of the Pledge, which is quoted above. Notice that there's no mention of God. Bellamy, a Christian Socialist (funny how the regressives never mention that), would hardly have condoned such an addition, since he himself stopped attending church because of hostility toward his political beliefs and the racial bigotry that was prevalent in his church. In fact, 'under God' wasn't added to the Pledge until the 50s...during the McCarthy era. No doubt many people already knew this, but I didn't, and I think it's a damned shame that it isn't taught in schools. If we're going to be pressured into reciting something, shouldn't we know the full details of its origins? I would have happily recited the ORIGINAL pledge (though I would still have defended anyone's right to not recite any version) when I was in school.

For those of you who may be throwing your hands up in bewilderment as to how I could possibly find the words "under God" offensive, let me clarify:

Right-wingers love to claim that those who don't want religion brought into schools are "anti-Christian". This is a stupid argument on several different levels, first and foremost being that Christianity is not the only religion in this country. When cornered, the right-wingers will sometimes fall back on accusations that people who don't want religion promoted in public schools are "anti-religion", or "hate God".

But the truth is that I'm not at all anti-religion...I actually think that religion, as long as it doesn't evolve into fanaticism, is a pretty nifty thing. It's just not for me - I am, and always have been, a 'doubting Thomas'. As for hating God...I'm an agnostic. I'm not sure that there IS a God (nor am I sure that there isn't), so how on earth could I possibly "hate" him/her/it/them?

So why do I object to the words "under God", and why is my objection strong enough that I refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Glad you asked. See, while I think religion is a great thing for many people, I also think it's a private thing that shouldn't be foisted upon others. And stating that our nation is "under God" is, in effect, saying that we as a nation recognize God as the supreme being. Further, since we don't say "under A god", or "under a supreme being", we are making a direct reference to the Judeo-Christian god, and anyone who says otherwise is a liar (to test this theory, try reciting "one nation under an unspecified divine being" while standing next to a few right-wing fundamentalists, and see how they react). And I don't like being pressured into pledging allegiance to a Judeo-Christian nation. It goes against everything I was taught about my country and about liberty. We are NOT a Judeo-Christian nation; we are supposed to have freedom both of AND FROM religion.

I first found the courage to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance when I was in seventh grade...ironically, a classmate who was a Jehovah's Witness inspired me. He refused to say the Pledge because Jehovah's Witnesses have extremely strict rules against idolatry, and though he was ridiculed by the teacher and by many of the students, he held his ground and stuck to his convictions. Okay, so I thought his convictions were a little wacky (the only Jehovah's Witnesses I've ever met have been extremely nice people, but they're also pretty weird)...so what? I'm sure he found MY reasons equally wacky (and I know he wasn't alone). The important thing was that he was willing to stand up for his beliefs, and I realized that I wasn't being true to my own beliefs by continuing to recite a Pledge which I found offensive. So I stopped reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and other than being on the receiving end of a few snide comments from other classmates, life went on as usual.

All of this is basically an exercise in raising molehills up to the level of mountains -- it's not something I think about terribly often. I can't even remember the last time I was in a situation where pledging allegiance to the flag was required/requested, and frankly, it's just not that big of a deal to me. I don't judge a person's patriotism by whatever meaningless acts they may or may not perform, and yes, I consider the Pledge of Allegiance largely a meaningless act, because it's used primarily in schools and very few students really think about what they're saying - they simply recite the words by memory and move on.

So, if the Pledge of Allegiance is, in my view, a largely meaningless act, then why do the regressives go into such hysterics when someone refuses to recite it? Simple - things like the Pledge of Allegiance are one of the few ways that right-wingers can "prove" they're patriots. It's an easy thing to do. And when someone refuses to recite it, regressives can leap up and say "Well, *I* say the Pledge of Allegiance because I love my country!" in the hope that people will look only at their surface actions and judge them accordingly. It's a bit like parents who buy their kids spiffy clothes so they can parade them around and convince people that they're good, loving parents -- buying clothes is easy; practicing good parenting is hard. And, as we know, right-wingers will always take the easiest way out.

Today is the Fourth of July, and it's a pretty dark day for many of us. It's overcast and drizzling here in Los Angeles, and the symbolism of that can't be ignored. We're living in shadowed times; the liberty and justice our forefathers fought and died for is in greater peril now than it's been in our nation's history. People who love America know that reciting a simple pledge or saluting a flag isn't going to fix the terrible situation we've found ourselves in; pretending that we are a united and indivisible country isn't going to fix it either.

True patriotism requires more than lip service.



~Rose




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