Overheard my neighbor saying the pledge of allegiance is just nationalism, not patriotism

I was at a block party last Saturday and this guy I barely know was arguing that saying the pledge every day in schools is basically training kids to put country over everything else, like a cult. I never really thought about it that way, but I grew up saying it every morning in elementary school in Ohio without question. My takeaway was that maybe there's a difference between loving your country and blindly following symbols, but I also feel like traditions mean something to people. He brought up how other countries don't do this stuff and they turn out fine, which got me thinking. Do you think the pledge is more about respect for veterans and history, or is it pushing a political agenda on kids? I'm curious how others here draw the line between healthy patriotism and the kind of nationalism he was talking about.

2 comments

2 Comments

nancy_davis16d ago

Did you ever try talking to him more about it?

the_riley16d ago

Oh man, I tried. I literally sat him down after he left his dirty socks on the couch for the third time that week and said "hey, we need to talk" and he just nodded and said "yeah sure" while scrolling through his phone the whole time. So I got up and put the socks on his pillow as a prank and he didn't even notice them until he went to bed that night. Then he had the audacity to get mad at ME for being passive aggressive. Like buddy, I've been straight up telling you for months lol. Some people just operate on a different wavelength I guess.