The church ladies are restless.
I’m sure this has something to do with NBC’s silly decision to edit out the words “under God” from an airing of the pledge of allegiance during a golf tournament last week. Reaction on the right was immediate and harsh, and now the AOL uncles are forwarding shit like this.
I say shit advisedly, because to say “they no longer do that” is bullshit. They — we — very much still do that. Schoolchildren throughout the land continue to memorize and recite the pledge (including the words “under God”), just as our generation did, and no one anywhere has banned it “for fear of offending someone” — or for any other reason. Two seconds’ research on Google would confirm that, but the kind of people who forward ALL CAPS messages shoot first and ask questions later. If they ever ask questions at all.
I don’t have a problem with the pledge in its current form. Yes, I know the original version didn’t include the words “under God.” They were added by Congress in 1954 after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus. There’s a valid argument to be made that Congress violated the separation of church and state with that action. But it’s not an argument I’m passionate about. If Congress had added “under our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” instead of “under God,” well, that would be a different story.
You don’t have to say “under God” if you don’t believe. You don’t have to say the pledge of allegiance at all. I guess I wish more people knew that, but hey, I’m not going to lose a lot of sleep over it.
Obviously, though, I’m disturbed by this Facebook post, and you may well ask why. I commented on the post, pointing out that it was a lie. Within five minutes three people called me an atheist. Which I am, but what does that have to do with spreading lies on the internet?
What upsets me about cut & paste crap like the this is that it’s meant to stir up hatred against certain people: dirty hippies, liberals, and atheists. People like me. If it weren’t for people like me, NBC wouldn’t have edited the pledge of allegiance. If it weren’t for people like me, we’d have a white Republican president. If it weren’t for people like me, we’d have prayer in schools. If it weren’t for people like me, we could round up all those pesky Mexicans.
I’d like to ignore the church ladies and AOL uncles. But they’re feeling their oats these days, and if they get their way the United States will become a Christian version of the Islamic Caliphate, complete with a Christian version of Sharia Law. People like me will be stoned … and I’m not talking about reefer.
So I just have this to say to other people like me: keep your guard up.
Someone seems to have forgotten that we’re grown ups now and there are a lot of things we used to do in school that we don’t have to do anymore. Like raise our hands to go to the bathroom. Now, THAT was humiliating. Forget whether we said the pledge. When I grew up, we were told that, if we didn’t want to say the pledge, we should just stand quietly.
People like the one you cite wear their patriotism on their sleeves and, apparently, nowhere else. To me, patriotism is a vigorous defense of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech, because freedom of speech (as well as the freedom not to speak) is freedom of thought, which is the most fundamental American virtue of all.
When I went to school, we were constantly warned about the dangers of complacency. What they didn’t warn us about was how vicious some “patriots” could turn if you disagree with them. Damn, there’s that old freedom of speech issue again. And yes, the crazy Christian right seems determined to stamp out freedom of religion, as well. So, as insane and vicious as the Facebook post is, I may not agree with it, but I will defend to the death the codgy old bastard’s right to say it.
And another thing… Since when don’t we worry about offending people? I thought not offending people was the essence of good manners. So are we giving up good manners as well as freedom of speech? This is getting ugly.
I remember the loyalty oaths of the McCarthy days. Forced patriotism, with forced Christianity close behind. We have to speak up periodically, because the people who would force these things upon us never give up. When you’re calling spades spades you have to put politeness aside.