Every time I hear the
Pledge of Allegiance, (keep in mind it has been 5 years since), I always think of a segment from
Joseph Heller's
Catch-22. This is a segment referring to when the Colonels
Cathcart and
Korn bring about a loyalty oath crusade:
"Whether they mean it or not is irrelevant. The important thing is to keep them pledging. That's why we have children reciting the pledge of allegiance before they know what 'pledge' and 'allegiance' mean."
Because of this nature of the pledge, there has been endless complaining and bickering by many people who believe that it's a ploy by the government to brainwash us all. But is it really so bad? A little nationalism never hurt anyone.
In the novel Catch-22, the loyalty oath crusade does nothing. Serivcemen sign the oaths so they can get their meals, not particularly caring what the piece of paper says. Kids recite the pledge of allegiance in the morning at school not out of their own free will, but really just to shut the administrators and teachers up. If there was ever a day that the school PA system failed to turn on and recite the pledge, I heavily doubt the children would take it upon themselves to stop everything and recite the pledge, or rather silently recite the pledge to themselves. Nobody cares, it's just a formality and a tradition.
When the Soviet Union was still around, the militarization of Soviet society required the recitation of nationalistic songs that make the pledge look like nothing. There is nothing in the pledge that says, "I will die for my country," or anything about buying into an official state ideology. All the pledge means is that 'I will be loyal and true to my country."
The complaint that people are pledging allegiance to a piece of cloth is misunderstood. The next line very explicitly states, "And to the republic for which it stands." Symbolism and tradition, that's all. In court, and everyone rises for the Judge, they're not rising for him, but rather standing to respect what his robes represent and stand for. That is the government and the society which is represented and protected through the law. When the Judge goes home, his or her family does not stand up for him when he enters his house, nor do people stand up when he enters a restaurant. Same reason, people don't respect and salute the flag because it's a colored piece of cloth, but rather for what it stands and represents.
So when everyone complains about American society and brainwashing, lets not forget that we are a nation that takes its civil liberties for granted. At least we're not China or North Korea, or worse yet a theocracy like Afghanistan. So from now on, give Uncle Sam a little break, he hasn't been so bad to us.