Pledge allegiance to the flag, but when did this country ever offer allegiance to us?

For all (white people).

Basically, there's an unspoken "rich people" after every important saying in America.

Pledge of Allegiance:

with liberty and justice for all [rich people].

Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [who are rich] 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 [for rich people].

4th Amendment Text:

The right of the [rich] people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures

5th Amendment:

No [rich] person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law . . ..

6th Amendment text:

In all criminal prosecutions, the [rich] accused shall . . . and to have the Assistance of [good] Counsel for his defence.

Everything makes a whole lot of sense when looking at it through that lense.

Liberty and protection from justice for the billionaires

Growing up in England but consuming so much US media, these things stand out to me as utterly bizarre when I first learned about it or saw it myself:

  1. The pledge of allegiance (reminds me of North Korea documentaries)
  2. Flags everywhere on houses (don't you know what country you're in??)
  3. Singing the national anthem before domestic sports matches
  4. Picture of George W. Bush on the wall of the immigration office on the border with Canada, when I first visited with family (everyone in the world knows what your president looks like. This just reminded me of the dictator of Turkmenistan plastered all over their airport on a stopover, and videos of Iraq)

Iraq? I didn't exactly know them for giving political power to the president ngl.

All is only the ones they consider to be people.

It evolved, for a while, but is swiftly regressing past where it was at the founding of this nation.

All Animals Are Equal but Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others - Orwell

As long as we debate liberty and justice under a meme we will never get these back

Liberty and justice for all who can afford it.

And have the right skin tone, religion, political alignment and sexual preferences. (*)

*Additional conditions may be added at a later date

Nah, you're misunderstanding it. Probably a regional accent that's confusing you. It's "liberty and justice for oil"

I got suspended for 3 days in junior high for refusing to say the pledge. When asked why I said, "why should I pledge allegiance to this country and not some other country?". That did not go well with my homeroom teacher who was a veterans wife I guess. She argued people died for this country and I said people died because of this country and I don't think that's ok and I'm not swearing allegiance to any government body. I was 14 at the time and this was in 94. When I got back from suspension she want my homeroom teacher any longer. I found out her husband died while serving.

Someone needed to explain to her that her husband died to protect you right to express your opinion, even if she didn't agree with it.

But not really. He probably died for no good reason at all, like Oil, or to "stop the spread of Communism." America seems to have no problem throwing as many lives down those two holes as they need to, and still never achieve whatever objectives they think they have.

did your parents back you up?

jw bc my mom gave me good lessons on authority and who should get respect and how. I had a couple "suspensions" that were really just a day off, once or twice she even took it off work to do something with me. I don't remember the exact scenarios now because they were pretty minor things, but I appreciate the way she handled it.

except that time I brought a knife to school to have a friend sharpen it at home. I understand why they wouldn't want knives there, and I broke that rule knowingly and after consideration.

also, lol @ suspensions in the first place. like what does that even accomplish? Oh no what am I going to do with the rest of the day and up to the next two days completely off, what a terrible time I'll have biking around town and playing video games. It's not like getting behind on classwork is an issue for that period of time when you're an easy A student who's never had the study and is going to have a hell of a time adjusting to post secondary.

Its interesting that having a relative that "Died for this country" serves as a tool to further entrench nationalism.

Almost like it has its purpose by its own. Right?

Kek

She argued people died for this country

People died for pretty much every country. That doesn't make this country special at all.

She argued people died for this country

More often killed for it than died for it.

So technically more people died for other countries and as this seems to be the benchmark for swearing allegiance to. We all should swear allegiance to the country that the most people have died for.

We all should swear allegiance to the country that the most people have died for.

Mongolia?

Би тугтаа үнэнч байхаа тангараглаж байна Монголын мөн түүний төлөөлж буй Бүгд Найрамдах Улсад, Бурханы дор нэг үндэстэн, хуваагдашгүй, Бүгдэд нь эрх чөлөө, шударга ёс.

(Bi tugtaa ünench baikhaa tangaraglaj baina Mongolyn mön tüünii tölöölj bui Bügd Nairamdakh Ulsad, Burkhany dor neg ündesten, khuvaagdashgüi, Bügded ni erkh chölöö, shudarga yos.)

The pledge of allegiance was to fight socialism, not encourage freedom.

I thought it was to sell shitty flags in bulk

Just a bonus grift.

One nation, indivisible...

Hold up, can we squeeze some division in there to make it clear we're not one nation?

We've altered the pledge before, pray we don't alter it further

Not one nation. One world.

i mean the whole "everyone is created equal" lie has been going on since the start of the whole country

written by a slave owner who was alienating human beings he forced to make nails of their unalienable rights

its almost like we were lied to.

I want a refund for all the time I wasted in school saying the pledge and learning about checks and balances.

Can we do a class action against Trump? HE OWES ME.

every textbook we read said we bring you the bread
guess what we brought you instead?

No, for whom.

I'm so sorry.

You know, I knew, and yet I didn't.

It's prescriptive vs. descriptive.

Yeah I lean descriptive, I just couldn't help myself.

Apparently we were supposed to outgrow it like belief in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy

From Sir Terry Pratchett:

All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING

they made you swear fealty to a piece of cloth. that cloth was supposed to be the ultimate arbiter of liberty and of justice. "all" is "everyone who is represented by the cloth" and ever since the cloth was first designed, it's been a limited few who've been represented by the cloth.

they made you swear fealty to a piece of cloth

They made you say fealty to the administration and it's lackeys

The cloth wasn't going to write you up for suspension.

it's called hypocrisy

The pledge of allegiance translated into normal english:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

And for the oligarchy for which it stands one nation, under capitalism

indivisibly held together through an iron fist, with liberty and justice for some"

I just used that time to catch up on the homework I didn't do. At least in high school and possibly also 8th grade.

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