I think the Obama thing about the anthem is amazingly stupid. I can't even stand saying the pledge anymore, and not because I don't love this country, but because of the moronic jingoistic stupidity that goes along with such pledges. Any Nazi can put his or her hand over his or her chest and pledge- what we really need is people who love their countries freely and independently, and who don't pledge blindly, and who don't follow the herd like sheep (and I don't believe in God, so why on Earth would I want to say a pledge in words I would never use, invoking a deity which has all the reality of the Easter Bunny for me).
My dad, a real American war hero (and not the kind who would brag about it, or even tell you he was a marine), was not a pledger. He found nationalistic excesses disgusting, and he would have thought that trying to judge another man's love for his country, was about as silly and officious as trying to judge another man's internal religious state. It's pretty revolting to see the way the sides of our political debate judge each other. You can love your country whether you choose to pledge to a piece of cloth or not, and whether you choose to cover your heart when a song is sung. Most people don't even think about what they're doing- they just do it because they're "supposed to" or because everyone else is doing it. Give me the man who at least thinks about it, any old day, over the sheeple who just follow along blindly. |
