The illegal aliens and their adult anchor children who have grown up into dope dealing gangbangers living next to me are colonists who don't care about allegiance to America.
Aren't we all the descendents of colonists? You aren't always gonna have good neighbors. Just look on the bright side of life.
This is my opinion. Since you are a minor...you don't have freedom of speech or freedom from speech in a situation like this. Your parents do. If you decide you aren't going to participate..its a lack of respect for your country, your school and your teacher and your parents. If your parent decide their right to raise you is being trod upon...then they have a case. Get a job, get independent, and be beholden to no one....then you have freedom. And then you can disrespect a free country that allows you to do so.
Which is the same thing said by every grandchild of immigrants, right when the next generation of immigrants moved in next door. Xenophobia is nothing new. You're entitled to your opinion, but the Supreme Court disagrees. See, e.g., Tinker v. Des Moines. What's disrespectful about it? He can sit quietly and let others "pledge" if they so wish. Quite strange, I think, to refer to this as a "free country" and in the same post imply that children should be forced at the threat of punishment to stand and say a rote pledge.
I reckon those Nazi sympathizers were patriotic. You should strive to be a free thinker. In my opinion, it should be criminal for an authority figure to restrict your intellectual freedom. When an authority figure mandates for you to recite a passage, it's an attempt to indoctrinate you to believe those words, without thinking about the meaning behind them. When you are demanded to recite the pledge of the allegiance, the authority figure, your teacher in this example, is making a request for you to believe in your country, whether or not it's in the right or wrong now or at any point in the past or future. This indoctrination is asking for your obedience to your government. Your government and all governments have a high level of inherent corruption. Your government should exist to serve YOU and other citizens...not the other way around. As a citizen, YOUR opinions on government and political policies matter. And YOUR voice should be heard, not quietened by absurd indoctrination. This doesn't mean your teacher, parents or whomever is asking for you to do this is a bad person. It simply means that this is an ideological tradition that has been passed down as a norm. If it's not something you don't buy into. Don't do so. After all, the US is the "land of the free", not some place like North Korea now is it?
And you hit the ball with that statement. We can believe something, it's how we present it, that counts.
Immigrants and gangsters who peddle dope are not the same thing. Would you like to live next to dope peddling gangsters? America is not worthy of my allegiance. It's your country. To me America is the Oceania that George Orwell wrote about in his book 1984.
My neighbors are dope peddling gangsters who can't read English. They have threatened me when I've protested their dope peddling transactions in broad daylight in front of my home. The police can't help me. What should I do? Why should I be loyal to America? Why does America deserve my allegiance?
Granny says, "Yea... ... chillun's used to say the pledge of allegiance in school at the beginning of the day... ... ever since dey stopped dat `cause of some nutcase atheist... ... it been downhill ever since."
No one should be forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I, however, will continue to say it. I will continue to stand and remove my hat when the flag passes by. I will place my hand over my heart when reciting the Pledge and do my best to think of the words as I am saying them. I honestly feel sorry for those who have so little love of their country that they cannot bring themselves to say the Pledge.
Sorry if it has already been answer but do you go to a public or private school? Public schools can't force you to say the pledge however i think the rule is different in private schools. For instance if you go to a private school which are in most of cases associated with religions in one way or another chances are you are going to be forced to taking some religion classes and maybe attend religious services in order to get a degree there. However in a public school the law states they can not make you do such a thing.
It's a job, a bad job but a job. Sorry, I haven't read many George Orwell books. What book were you refering to?
Probably already mentioned but the original pledge didn't have -under god- in it and it was only amended in 1954 to include that. I don't get the pledge of allegiance. How often do you use it, only for special occasions or what? It just seems like nationalistic twaddle. Just seems like a poor attempt at indoctrination. Doesn't surprise me that the pledge was created by a minister. Religions are very into reciting and indoctrination. It's something I would expect from countries like North Korea, Russia, China, etc, not America. @Kranes: He's talking about the book 1984. Big brother and all of that, not a bad analogy really.
Umm... Sounds like you have a problem with poor police service, if what you say is true. I feel sorry for anyone who thinks their love of country is adequately represented by a 31-word sentence largely written a century ago by a Socialist.
It's not a job. It's a crime. It's a crime that endangers my life. Do you care? Meet one of my neighbors: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_17082758 This is the Orwell book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
I haven't been murdered yet, so the police have bigger fish to fry. I want you to meet my neighbor: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_17082758 Do you care about my life?
If something has to get done, isn't a job? Whether good or bad? If he is on trial, then he has not been convicted. Look at the facts, and judge from that, not on the crime he may have committed. Still need to read 1984. Looks like a good read though.
According to your definition murder is also part of his job. What about my life? Dope deals are still being done in front of my home. What should I do? I am a senior and can't afford to move.
According to my defention, a job is something to do, what ever the job is. It's not always good, it's not always bad. If you are having a probelm, then organize a neighborhood watch. Go speak to someone who can do something. Let your voice be heard. There's no point complaining, when there is a solution.
I live in gangster town. My other neighbors are also afraid of gangster violence. The police are overwhelmed and nonresponsive to our complaints. We have a neighborhood watch, but most people in my neighborhood are sympathetic to the gangsters because of their ethnic identity. We've spoken to the politicians, but they do nothing. We are now outnumbered. Our voices are drowned out. What should I do? Help me please with your ideas.
Learn. That's one of the biggest things you can do. Don't complain, learn from your mistakes. If this failed, learn why it failed. Then try again. Keep doing it, you'll attract attention. Attention can be used to make this a big probelm. Be careful though, attention brings trouble. To get the attention approach, organize a massive campaign. Get people to write to the newspaper, call random people, and get them to sympathize. No rallies. It makes you look stuipd, and people will have a harder time sympatizing. (How good are signs, when people are driving?) Do it all on one day, after something big. People will pay attention to you then. If it gets violent, contuine. People will pay attention after that. I hope this helps.
