Pledges and the like

[javasaurus]

I'm of two minds on a particular issue, that being the recitation of the pledge. I'm not referring to the "under God" issue. That, in my mind at least, seems clear, and it is discussed enough elsewhere. My current interior monologue is about whether the pledge should be said at all. One the one hand, we who are citizens of this country, can be said to owe allegience to this country as a responsibility associated with our citizenship. That part of my mind says, "Don't want to be loyal to the country? Then give up the citizenship!"

The other part of my mind responds, "True loyalty is gained by being worthy, not by indoctrination and pledges and contracts. The government should spend more time on being worthy, and displaying that worth, rather than arguing over pledges."

Then the first side says, "That may be true, but this is the government we have, the citizenship you have, and the price for keeping that citizenship."

And so on. Very distracting. Thoughts?

Oh, I want to point out, that being loyal to a country or to the ideal of its leadership, is not the same as being loyal to the people currently holding those positions. It is possible to respect the office of the president, for example, without respecting the person holding that office.

Comments

an episode of MASH

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

had a nice bit between two re-occurring characters (Sidney and Flagg), where Flagg was going to oust Sidney from the service because he didn't sign his "loyalty oath" (theoretically required to be an officer) and thus was a pinko commie.

Sidney's reply: if I was a communist trying to infiltrate the army and cause disruptions, do you think I would have even hesitated to sign it?

Re: an episode of MASH

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

Sidney is always great. In most episodes, I think of Hawkeye as being the "author's voice," i.e., the character that represents the author, portraying the author's beliefs, etc. However, Hawkeye speaks from the heart, from gut feelings, from morals. Sometimes the "author" needs a more logical, thinking voice, and in comes Sidney, whom I think of as the author's brain's voice.

Of course, the episodes where Sidney is working with Hawkeye are great. Need to spend more time watching MASH.