In the US most students recite “the pledge of allegiance” every morning before school, which is kind of crazy. If you were in charge, what if anything would you replace it with?

  • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
    0·
    11 days ago

    I, [Insert full name], swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.

  • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
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    12 days ago

    If anything, get them to find/research their own that they identify with and explain what makes it personal to them.

    • saltesc@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      How dare you propose freedom in the land of the free. No freedom for you! Not until you pledge an allegiance.

    • athairmor@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      And do the same for the national anthem before every fucking sporting event. I’ll be damned if I’m standing and praying to a flag at every summer swim meet that is already going to take 4 hours to get done.

      • JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        Don’t even get me started. My high school didn’t just do sports events, but they did the anthem or the pledge before just about every single event held in the building.

        Cultlike behavior.

        Actually, no. Just Cult behavior.

      • dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de
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        13 days ago

        I never understood why Americans do that. For international events where the anthems of both teams are played, sure. But otherwise? Do you guys forget which country you are in?

        • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.netEnglish
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          13 days ago

          It’s part of the militarization of everything, and acts as patriotism propaganda.

          Not only the anthem, but they usually have armed forces people, equipment, sponsorship, etc. and why it’s such a big deal with athletes don’t fawn enough over it (eg. the take a knee “scandal”)

          Sports are a strong recruitment tool, being popular with men throughout their lives, and have been wildly taken over with military propaganda as a result.

        • athairmor@lemmy.world
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          13 days ago

          It’s an effect of the crazy religiosity that Europe shipped over before the country was even founded. So much nutty Protestant fervor has rippled through American society since then. It infected secular institutions over time.

          • dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de
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            13 days ago

            Which makes it even more crazy to me.

            I live in a very Protestant area in Europe. In fact, many of the Protestants who got driven out of France around 1700 have settled around here, so roughly a similar timeframe to the ones in America. And we turned out entirely different. Here, Protestants are considered the “technically Christian on paper but probably hasn’t seen a church from the inside in a decade” kind of person while (some) Catholics are the conservative hardliners who want bibles and crosses in classrooms.

            • athairmor@lemmy.world
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              13 days ago

              Might have something to do with the fact that, in Europe, they had to live alongside other people. In America they had their little bubbles where the crazy could echo and become stronger. Combine that with the amount of opportunistic grifters that came to and were bred in America. The “land of opportunity” inspired an individualistic greed that was more than happy to use religion to feed itself. The Mormons are the classic example.

              Catholics in America were a minority and there was bigotry directed at them. They were more inclined to keep separate—not so much now. In my town, the catholic school kids would have Catholic slurs shouted at them by the public school kids. These days the conservative Catholics are more or less allied with the evangelical Protestants.

  • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    Just a couple of judicious edits…

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men persons 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.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.

          • TherapyGary@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            12 days ago

            I understand that historically “men” was used to refer to humans in general, but language evolves, and it’s important to use terms that are explicitly inclusive. By saying “persons” instead of “men,” it ensures everyone feels represented/included, and reinforces that these rights apply to every individual (bc they used to not, and lots of folks still want them to only apply to cishet white men)

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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              12 days ago

              I understand that historically “men” was used to refer to humans in general

              Not just historically. It’s a literary term, but still a thing.

              Other than that, inclusivity is important, but inclusivity theater is just annoying. Literally nothing will change if you change that one word in the constitution.

              • TherapyGary@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                12 days ago

                I’m guessing you’re a cis man? It would actually be a meaningful change for a lot of women and nonbinary people, even if subconscious.

                Personally, I get a little bit annoyed every time I read/hear the general use of “men,” and that would change if we change that one word in the constitution, so not literally nothing

  • Granbo's Holy Hotrod@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    It’s about having pride in your community. Nothing wrong with an anthem. But this one does not reflect the values or even represent most of the community it’s meant to hype.

    Not my type of music, but Kendrick Lamar seem to have hit the right note this summer.

    • tea@lemmy.today
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      13 days ago

      The Pledge of Allegiance is what kids say, not the Star Spangled Banner. The Pledge is a little light on drama and more nationalist than patriotic imo. Not too terribly bad, except for the “under God” part they added in 1954.

  • lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    13 days ago

    Probably just the New Colossus poem enscribed beneath Lady Liberty.

    I actually feel a sense of patriotic pride when I read that.

    • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
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      13 days ago

      Same vein, make “This Land” the National Anthem.

      A lot more down to what music most Americans actually value in their day to day anyways.

  • bluGill@fedia.io
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    13 days ago

    Something based on the scout oath. “a scout is trustworthy, loyal, honest…” Except based on what an American should be. “An American values the opinions of others, is a safe shot with a gun, does not live with someone without their consent, keeps their property secure, demands due process of the law, uses a lawyer, believes in the jury trail, does not apply cruel punishment, believes there are rights we don’t know reserved to us, and believes in limited government” (you should find each article in the bill of rights above) Of course better wordsmiths than I should rewrite that, and we probably need a lot of debate.

    Note that I never pledge allegiance. As a christian my allegiance is to God and so it would be a lie to pledge allegiance to anything else. Thus making me recite the common pledge is a violation of the first amendment. (this is much clearer if you read the 12 amendments as originally proposed - for better or worse what actually passed isn’t as clear)