Dear America:

Most countries don't do this shit. At all. It's weird and off putting

I stopped in elementary school.

At the time, it was because I was convinced that the pledge was essentially worshipping a false idol, and if I continued to do it, I would go to hell. Teachers couldn't fight that argument. Students didn't fuck with it either. I stood. I didn't cross my heart, and I didn't say it.

About 6th or 7th grade, I started challenging my "faith" and realized that the pledge was essentially swearing fealty to something that was supposed to serve the people, not the other way around. By highschool, I didn't even stand for it anymore. It was nationalism.

Fiest time I had to do the pledge, I just got to America from Taiwan and I honestly thought the pledge was a Christian/religion thing because of the "....under god" thing. So I told my teacher that my family is Buddhist and can't do the pledge.

This shit has always been creepy. Always. Greetings from Germany o/

Generally, the main problem with being "far left" is being ridiculed for being right earlier than everyone else.

I sat down every time and my teacher would get pissed. I finally told her that my grandpa fought in WWII for my right to protest and that shit her up real fast. I'm not going to pledge my aliegence to an inanimate object, I shouldn't have to prove my love for my country with a pledge.

This is the kind of shit that leads to nationalism over patriotism. Blindly teaching kids to pledge allegiance without teaching them what comes with that or why.

Americans are cultists

Pledge oft what? Eli5 pls

I get the sense Lemmy people are generally less likely to participate in this weird shit, as I also sat it out and we kind of select into this sort of "fuck you I won't do what you tell me" mindset by rejecting mainstream apps.

I didn't know it was an option in elementary, but as early as I remember I always adjusted the words to make it silly. I especially remember saying "under frog" when they got to the under God part, with liberty and French fries for all.

I have never once done the Pledge of Allegiance. Grew up a Jehovah's Witness, who think that giving allegiance to a country would mean putting that country over God. Even if any of my teachers didn't like this reasoning, they were obliged to keep quiet and accept it. There was a Supreme Court case about this exact issue.

Left JWs as an adult, so I never had to do it.

Being the person that won’t stand for the national anthem at a hockey game is fun too. You fully expect some asshole to give you shit but it hasn’t happened yet.

it me lmao

Link to the piece https://thehardtimes.net/culture/heartbreaking-annoying-kid-that-refused-to-do-pledge-of-allegiance-in-high-school-was-100-right/

Are we all in this meme?

Less of the annoying kid more of an annoying teacher, admin, and staff. Like peer pressure and desire to follow along made me do it but the teacher and the staff couldn't explain why we should and that made me question it and leading me to consider the kid right

I still have a feeling that me breaking down the whole classes in elementary school alone was a glimpse of genius and not some kind of sociopathy

In any case I am in the business for an article on how I was right all along, nurturing my indomitable rebellious spirit of America or something