• CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I remember everyone kind of half-assing the forced pledge in school. Many of us didn’t even move our lips most of the time. Some smart-asses would sub in various swear words at times, too.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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      5 months ago

      I was an extremely un-rebellious kid and I used to not say the “under God” part.

      People aren’t stupid. Of this kind of stuff is backed up with violent repression of dissent, it can kind of work. Not really. If it’s just “everybody stand up and say the words,” I think it instills more cynicism than anything else.

      Of course, they want to bring in the violent repression, and they like for the citizens to be cynical as it plays into some of their bad faith tactics, so I definitely won’t say this is harmless.