Tuesday, March 11, 2008

I do not pledge allegiance ...

One of the things I have always thought rather sad and strange is the way the Americans pledge allegiance to their flag. I find it rather curious that they should feel the need to have such a public pledge to unity of the country.

Its almost as if they do it as a test to see who is un-american, anyone not pledging to the flag is clearly un-american and not one of the ubiquitous us. Quick fetch your pitch forks and flaming torches and lets chase them out of town.

Anyway today saw the punt of an idea for British school leavers to have a citizenship ceremony which may or may not include a pledge of allegiance to the country and/or the Queen.

Lets give this one a miss shall we, we don't need to make an empty public gesture. After all we don't need to establish that everyone pretends to be British. Teenagers will either rebel or just pretend to get it over with. It wont give them pride in their country or give them a greater understanding of what it is to be British.

If I was being particularly cynical I might even suggest that this has nothing to do with being British it is just appealing to the illusive middle class voter who in deepest Surrey will hear the news and say what a good idea it is and about time to.

3 comments:

eifionglyn said...

I'd say the illusive middle class Surrey voter would be mortified at the thought of Tariq and Manjula having their human rights violated and their cultural diversity devalued by being forced to pledge allegiance to their adopted country instead of their ancestral one.

No, this policy is not designed for them, it is more to keep White Van Man from the clutches of the BNP.

zephyrist said...

Ah but middle class, is all about belong and being part of the group. This will just be a way of proving how British they are.

Its too subtle for white man, you need something with flag waving for white man preferably wrapped round a girl in the sun.

Mark J Daniels said...

Jeremy Clarkson's latest article - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/jeremy_clarkson/article3558638.ece - pokes an amusing tongue-in-cheek look at this same subject.