"I pledge allegiance to Queen Frag and her mighty state of hysteria"
Calvin and Hobbes


I’m reluctant to enter the fray here, because there’s already been so much predictably mindless knee-jerk outrage over this, but I’m feeling manipulated. The last time I felt quite like this was when Dubya’s dad began flying the banner of the flag-burning amendment, a similarly pointlessly incendiary non-issue. There the manipulation was clear and obvious, and his attempts were very successful in redirecting public attention away from important issues while he pumped up his standing as the true patriotic candidate. I imagine Dubya will use the pledge ruling in a similar way, and would you look at that! A week before independence day, the halo of patriotism and God bless America starting to wear off as people stop marching along long enough to notice that our civil rights are being eroded by the Bush administration under the guise of homeland security...it’s wag the dog all over again.

I'm mostly indifferent to the language change. It seems like a step in the right direction, in this era where creationism is being positioned as science and being pushed as an equivalent to evolutionary biology in high schools and even some colleges; where southern politicians advocate putting the ten commandments up on the courthouse walls; where John Ashcroft stands like Cotton Mather, draping nude statues of justice because they tittilate him and running prayer meetings over lunch. The religious right’s hold over our government has never seemed more blatant or offensive. This might help shake things up.

ACM provided a couple of useful references about the history of the pledge, which I'll offer here as well. Interesting that The Knights of Columbus were instrumental in adding the language in the first place. Especially since Eisenhower wasn't Catholic. Here is the ACLU's summary of the history, and this final look.



posted by MT at 10:50 AM |