Current Events > The national anthem is now a political firestorm

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's all over the internet now, people think it should be enforced to say it in stadiums and arena's and school's and federal buildings while others are saying it's indoctrination and hypocritical for a freedom to be enforced on people.

Thoughts on this CE
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Not the anthem, but the pledge. The pledge has always weirded me the fuck out.

Granted I didn't live in the US til after I left school so it's not like I ever had to do it, but still.
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Pledge of allegiance is ok in my book

Canadians pledge their allegiance to their country when they sing the anthem anyway
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MedeaLysistrata posted...

Pledge of allegiance is ok in my book

Canadians pledge their allegiance to their country when they sing the anthem anyway

Sure, the anthem is fine, but Iunno having to recite a thing while staring at a flag, with all the kids saying it in unison

it's kinda creepy
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This isn't new. It's always been critisized as glorifying war. Archie and Mike argued about it in an All in the Family episode back in the 70s.
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Doom_Art posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

Pledge of allegiance is ok in my book

Canadians pledge their allegiance to their country when they sing the anthem anyway

Sure, the anthem is fine, but Iunno having to recite a thing while staring at a flag, with all the kids saying it in unison

it's kinda creepy

Nationalism is always gonna be creepy because it means having emotions about something that doesn't exist in nature
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NA was meant to be sung at hallowed events, not every stupid event in america.

its lost all meaning in its overuse
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tremain07 posted...

it's indoctrination and hypocritical for a freedom to be enforced on people.

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Forced patriotism isn't patriotism.

Also, folks who don't get passionately into the national anthem or react in the same fervour as other Americans do not "hate America". Just because they're a little more low key, or not at all into the shenanigans that people hold other people to, it doesn't mean that they don't appreciate the country they live in.
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Crono99 posted...

Playing the anthem before games is tradition.

It was inserted into sporting events to drum up enlistment and support for the war. It just never went away after we were no longer at war.

It's like saying "In God We Trust" on our money is tradition.
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Doom_Art posted...

MedeaLysistrata posted...

Pledge of allegiance is ok in my book

Canadians pledge their allegiance to their country when they sing the anthem anyway

Sure, the anthem is fine, but Iunno having to recite a thing while staring at a flag, with all the kids saying it in unison

it's kinda creepy

Yeah it really is lol

In highschool I would just stand silently, it felt really weird reciting the pledge like that every day
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The pledge never bothered me as a kid, but thinking about it now, it does seem inappropriate to have children do. We are indoctrinated to see this as normal, and I don't think most children understand the weight of the pledge.
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Back in my day, they made us look at the Texas flag more than the American one for some reason. also if you were silent you would get wrote up so I just silently mouthed the words .
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The pledge should be taken out of schools. To be honest I'd be for taking the national anthem out of everything other than major things like the Olympics. However, I'm generally against forms of patriotism and nationalism like that.
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if yall dont like america then geeeeettt ooooooouuutt
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the pledge is disgusting and the most anti democractic bullshit ever
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Choosing not to stand for a song is not "disrespecting America" and trying to force people to stand for a song flies directly in the face of the American Constitution that these clowns claim to hold in such high regard.
Especially goes for the Pledge of Allegiance, since it's practically forced on children at the age of 5 or 6. They're just repeating words. They don't know what they mean. It's classic indoctrination. You should only say something if you believe it. You should not be forced to recite the pledge, you should not be forced to put your hand over your heart, you should not be forced to stand, and you should not be forced to stop what you're doing.
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Funkydog posted...

tremain07 posted...

it's indoctrination and hypocritical for a freedom to be enforced on people.

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I stopped doing the pledge as a kid because I realized how weird it was. I'd stand for it, but I wouldn't say anything
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CyricZ posted...

Crono99 posted...

Playing the anthem before games is tradition.

It was inserted into sporting events to drum up enlistment and support for the war. It just never went away after we were no longer at war.

It's like saying "In God We Trust" on our money is tradition.

Yep. The US military pays to have it played at sporting events. The Military-Industrial Complex has become a part our daily lives and most people don't even realize it
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MedeaLysistrata posted...

Canadians pledge their allegiance to their country

lol "country"

They're essentially a vassal.
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The anthem is fine. The pledge needs to be destroyed. It reminds me of North Korea... making kids swear their allegiance. Wtf this is 2019.
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