We’ll make a deal: we’ll stop desecrating the flag and the Pledge of Allegiance when they stop desecrating the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Star Trek pledge of allegiance gets kid suspended: “Cory Doctorow:
A young Star Trek fan was suspended from school for reciting his own version of the Pledge of Allegiance, in which he pledged to the United Federation of Planets. His mom has posted the hilarious story:‘So, anyway. What did he do?’ I picked at the hem of my sweatshirt, looked just to the right of her face. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I felt nervous. I felt underdressed. I wondered where 8 was.
So she told me what he did. And as she told me, I started to laugh. I didn’t laugh a little, either, but I belly-laughed and grabbed my stomach. My son stood with his class this morning, put small right hand over heart, faced the American flag, and recited his own personal pledge of allegiance:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Federation of Planets, and to the galaxy for which it stands, one universe, under everybody, with liberty and justice for all species.
‘Mrs. Jaworski. This isn’t humorous. The Pledge is an extremely important and patriotic moment each morning in the classroom. I am ashamed of your son’s behavior, and I hope you are, too.’
Link“
(Via Boing Boing.)
• 
So, I wonder what would happen if he said the real Pledge, but without “under god” in it.
They’d probably tie the kid up to a stake and burn him alive.
This country truly does disgust me any more.
Maybe the teacher was more of a Star Wars person.
I can’t help thinking there was a better way for the school to handle this, but I don’t see any real reason for them to encourage being a class clown. (I don’t particularly see the Pledge as something that’s inviolable, but I think a protest should’ve been more along the lines of refusing to participate.)
Though, I’m all for respecting the Bill of Rights. I suggest that they start with the 2nd Amendment.
That’s wonderful! And scary.
Well, there’s a connection between this story and the flag burning amendment.
Over-reliance on the formalities in both cases. And it actually encourages MORE cynicism and MORE disrespect for authority in the end; why respect people and procedures who get way too hung up over the superficial surfaces while ignoring the substance of the law and princples.
‘Mrs. Jaworski. This isn’t humorous. The Pledge is an extremely important and patriotic moment each morning in the classroom.”
Please. Everytime we had to say the pledge when I was in school, it was an intense struggle to get everyone to STAND UP, let alone say the dámņ thing. It is actually kind of disturbing when you think about it. All over the US, every morning, children pledge their “Allegience” to a symbol. In essence, they say that they will always be loyal to the flag, even up to dying for it. Most 3-5 graders don’t even know what allegience IS let alone why they should be pledging it. I don’t see why, in a public building in a country with freedom of speech, you can’t exercise your right to freedom of expression by NOT pledging allegience, or by simply saying whatever the hëll you want.
I’m waiting for the Snopes report on this. Might be true. I have no doubt it could happen in any school in any state. It’s just all I have seen is the post on the blog, and the BoingBoing link to that post on a blog. No reason for me to believe, or disbelieve.
The blogger is selling tshirts with the Star Trek pledge printed on it. This isn’t evidence for either possibility, and is Capitalism at its finest either way.
That is actually quite funny. If i had kid who did that. I’d prolly laugh too. I mean sure the pledge of allegiance is a serious thing. But then again i remember when I was a kid and I’d always get the thing wrong. Hëll I remember seeing a comedian say that how kids usually say it. “I Pwedge allegiance to the republic, four midget’s stand.” or something.
Still I think the school couldv handled it better then suspending the kid. He’s 8. What do you expect an 8 year old to do? follow the rules and do what their told? lol
Kids dont understand what the Pledge is for. And they most likely wont tell they are in middle school or high school.
Robin Sizemore says: “but I don’t see any real reason for them to encourage being a class clown.”
In her comments, Birdie pointed out that he didn’t say it to be “cute” or to cause trouble — he said it because he *believed* in it. I have to give kudos to Birdie for standing up for her son’s sincerity, and jeers to the teacher, principal, and the other parent who *ratted him out* for taking a crap on another kid’s deeply held beliefs.
If you think about it that way, this is almost a freedom of religion issue…
Wildcat
Kids dont understand what the Pledge is for. And they most likely wont tell they are in middle school or high school.
Which is what I find most amusing because my wife and I, having grown up in different parts of the country, as well as having attended middle/junior & high school year in different states than our elementary years, both distinctly remember saying the Pledge in elementary school.
But never after elementary school.
Maybe somebody realized you couldn’t indoctrinate middle/high schoolers as well? I dunno.
Otherwise, yeah, an 8 year old has no concept of what the Pledge is supposed to mean, if they even know how to say it.
“This country truly does disgust me.”
————–
Right on!
Because one person somewhere did something stupid, AMERICA SUCKS!
Way to be!
“The Pledge is an extremely important and patriotic moment each morning in the classroom.”
And we will force you to be patriotic even if we have to beat you with this here “Freedom Stick”!
Sometime in 9th grade I decided I wasn’t going to recite the pledge in the morning anymore because I didn’t believe in this blind, mindless recitation of patriotism.
Our class SGA representative was HORRIFIED, but I told her they couldn’t force it.
I respected the concept and would still stand during its recital… if anything so the teacher’s couldn’t yell at me for a) being lazy or b) trying to incite something.
And every once in a while, I’d feel motivated to actually say it – when it really meant something.
I wish more people would realize the pledge doesn’t mean anything if you require everyone to say it.
Isn’t being made to recite a pledge pretty much an accusation of treason? “Say the pledge and prove you’re not a traitor!” It gives you an image of being EXTREMELY paranoid.
But, ummm… didn’t Kirk himself say the Pledge, in that episode about The Holy Aypledjalee?
Wouldn’t it be ironic if, twenty five or thirty years from now this kid became an astronaut or scientist that would make a world changing discovery that would change our current view of traveling in space?
I usually just omitted “under God” when required to stand for the Pledge in Catholic school.
But, ummm… didn’t Kirk himself say the Pledge, in that episode about The Holy Aypledjalee?
Nat, Nat, Nat… Kirk was reciting the Preamble to the Constitution, and it was in “The Omega Glory”.
Your fanboy license is hereby suspended.
I got in trouble doing the pledge of allegance the old fashion way, in second grade.
http://rexcurry.net/pledgesoutherners.html
Craig J. Ries: This country truly does disgust me any more.
X-Ray: Right on! Because one person somewhere did something stupid, AMERICA SUCKS! Way to be!
Luigi Novi: I agree. Characterizing the country by one isolated incident, and judging the 296,000,000 people in this country using an example of one a silly bit of reasoning, Craig.
Oh dear Lord. Someone gave XRay a chance to look smart. This is one of the signs of the apocalypse, right?
kk49, I i was turned off by your web site (if not yours, the one you linked to) once I got to the phrase “War of Northern Aggression,” but I managed to soldier through the rest of that tripe before writing this response: it’s remarkably stupid. “Fans of the Confederacy are owed an apology by people who blame racism and segregation on the South. The Confederate flag is sometimes criticized. How does it compare with the U.S. flag?” Well, let’s see here, which one was carried by General Sherman, and which was carried by Nathan Bedford Forrest? And which of those worthies founded the Klan? Hmm. Blaming institutional racism on the socialist tendencies of the post-Reconstruction Federal government, as exemplified by the Pledge of Allegiance, isn’t bad history; that argument doesn’t demonstrate enough historical understanding to qualify as bad history. (Classic put-down: “Not even wrong.”) However, the difficulty with the website is not merely a fact of a disturbing misunderstanding history; that could be corrected. The worse thing is that it demonstrates a frightening world-view when it excoriates these proto-national-socialists who “loved the military and the War of Northern Aggression against southern independence. The pledge memorializes their view, especially the phrase “one nation, indivisible.”” You’re dámņ right it’s one nation, indivisible. Let’s get something straight: I live in North Carolina, I’ve spent 27 of my almost 32 years living North Carolina and Virginia, and in all likelihood I’ll spend the rest of my life in the South. I have never been able to stomach this Lost Cause nonsense. (TWL couldn’t figure out why I went postal at the suggestion of Americans leaving the country after a Republican President was elected on largely regional voting lines; this is why.) To quote a bumper sticker I have, “you lost, get over it.” Let’s stop confusing regional pride with Confederate nostalgia. The Civil War was a horrible period, but not because of Yankee aggression; it was horrible because it married our national shame, slavery, with treason, and caused 600,000 deaths. That is the heritage of the Confederacy: death, slavery, and treason. You’re welcome to it.
And I don’t want to know what the Ks stand for.
Maybe I missed it somewhere along the way, but can someone please tell me when America became a religion? I can’t help but think back to that ST:Classic with the war between the Comms and the Yangs.
“Freedom? That is a worship word! You will not speak it!”
Periodically, when the Pldge of Allegiance comes up in the news because of some kid refusing to say it or whatever, i am reminded of this “Life in Hëll” strip: http://home.earthlink.net/%7Eericnp/images/life_in_hell.jpg
This strip ran two weeks after Frank Zappa’s death)
>> But, ummm… didn’t Kirk himself say the
>> Pledge, in that episode about The Holy
>> Aypledjalee?
“The Omega Glory” by Gene Roddenberry. It was one of the candidate scripts for the second pilot of the series, along with “Mudd’s Women” by Stephen Kandel, and of course, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” by Samuel A. Peeples.
> Nat, Nat, Nat… Kirk was reciting the
> Preamble to the Constitution….
>
> Your fanboy license is hereby suspended.
Yes, Kirk recited the Preamble to the Constitution, but what gave him the clue as to what the “E Pleb Neesta” was was when the Yangs recited the Pledge of Allegiance to a United States flag, speaking it in Latin.
(Quasi-quoting from failing memory here:)
“Important words, proud words, written tall so as to emphasize their special importance, WE THE PEOPLE…of the United States….”
As silly as it sounds (and this episode is not in my own personal “canon” of the series as I find it impossible to suspend disbelief while watching it), nonetheless my throat always catches and my pulse quickens when William Shatner reads the Preamble.
And the story of what has happened to this boy for his pledge hurts my heart.
> “Freedom? That is a worship word! You will
> not speak it!”
Because Cloud William thought Kirk was one of the double-speaking Comm, who undoubtedly routinely misused the language to convey propaganda rather than truth as the Communists of the ’60s did, and the power structure in Washington does today.
It wasn’t that Kirk was speaking the “worship word” per se which upset Cloud William, but the general misuse of the worship words.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United Federation of Planets, and to the galaxy for which it stands, one universe, under everybody, with liberty and justice for all species.”
I can almost see The Simpsons getting an episode out of that…
I am so anti-social. I can remember in the nice school that served Mc donalds for lunch the first Religious school my parents could afford the “bad-boy ” thing to do was make up words to the pledge of allegiance. Nothing “unpatriotic” just enough to break up the monotony.
School sucks as you can tell by my spelling and grammer I wasnt in long enough. =0
Heh. When I had to do that %^$^ing Pledge, I CONSTANTLY found ways to twist it around, including quoting a Calvin and Hobbes strip. It got to the point where they realized I was NEVER going to do it right and made me stand in the hallway until AFTER it was finished.
“I pledge allegiance, to the Janitor, and his mighty mop of clenliness. And to the toilets, that he must scrub, one cleanser, under his cart, with plungers, and scrubbers, for all.”
This country truly does disgust me any more.
Give me a break. Open your eyes, women getting shot in the head in soccer fields under the Taliban and other atrocities happening around the world and some teacher getting carried away makes you disgusted. You my friend are the Anti-X-Ray, differnt sides of the same coin.
Craig J. Ries: This country truly does disgust me any more.
X-Ray: Right on! Because one person somewhere did something stupid, AMERICA SUCKS! Way to be!
Luigi Novi: I agree. Characterizing the country by one isolated incident, and judging the 296,000,000 people in this country using an example of one a silly bit of reasoning, Craig.
Does no one accept the possibility Craig’s comment was a summation of his feelings after reading numerous incidents which stretch the limits of credulity — most of them manufactured in the USA? PAD’s website lists example after example of such items. Perhaps this incident was one of many (the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”) prompting Craig to submit his comment.
I’m a raging conservative, but this teacher needs to be fired, or at least serious repremanded. How bloody assinine (sp?).
Chip
I’m not sure who’s a bigger idiot here, the teacher or the student who thinks Trek is real.
Okay, it’s the teacher. I’ve noticed an interesting political trend: The more the government moves to trample on the ideals of liberty that this country was founded upon, the more social pressure is put on citizens to make outward displays of patriotism.
And I’m still waiting for that apology, Mr. Santorum.
I used to omit “Under God,” and change the word “with” to the word “seeking,” as in
“seeking liberty and justice for all.”
The theory being that America is far from having liberty and justice for all, but that it remains the ideal we strive for.
Once got in trouble for it. Refused to change. Was sent to the principal’s office. He knew me well — I was sent there often. On this occasion, however, he listened to my reasoning, told me I was entitled to say it the way I wanted, and sent me back to the classroom, with a note to the teacher that I was not to be hassled on this issue.
While I agree the teacher went overboard…
…the cynicism, infantile rebellion, and arrogance demonstrated by us all (I cut up on the Pledge, too) are just some of the many ridiculous things our country protects and WHY my country gets my pledge of allegiance.
And all I can say for those who think an 8 year old is incapable of understanding the Pledge of Allegiance are two words: Public School.
My kids, 7, 8, and 10, know and understand the Pledge, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independance. Home School rocks!
> …the cynicism, infantile rebellion, and
> arrogance demonstrated by us all (I cut up
> on the Pledge, too)….
>
> And all I can say for those who think an 8
> year old is incapable of understanding the
> Pledge of Allegiance are two words: Public
> School.
Read the original story. This young man was not cutting up on the pledge, and it is clear that he did understand it, which is why he changed it for himself, to reflect the ideals which he truly believes.
I notice three things in the story. First, and most frightening to me, is a school that doesn’t know how to handle one of their students expressing some individuality and forming their own beliefs. “No, you can’t be unique! We weren’t trained for that!” Makes me think even more about home schooling Brian all the time. Second, in “upholding” the “sanctity” of these symbols, the officials (the school, Congress, et al) show just how far from reality they are. “Let’s go halfway around the planet, bomb the crap out of people and then build them schools! Maybe nobody’s going to notice that schools HERE are falling apart and woefully behind the times!” And third, most Americans speak of equality and liberty, but if they were made to recite the pledge according to their actions it would be “With Liberty and Justice Just For Everyone That Thinks Like ME!”
And people wonder why the Greys haven’t done that landing on the White House lawn thing….
What you have to realize is that teachers today look for any signs of individuality in children and stamp them out as quickly as possible. If your children show signs that they are capable of forming opinions contrary to that of the teacher or that you’re child shows signs that he or she is smarter than your teacher, you will soon receive a recommendation to put your kid on ritalin.
Apparently, having an El. Ed. degree qualifies a person to diagnose ADHD.
>>Wouldn’t it be ironic if, twenty five or thirty years from now this kid became an astronaut or scientist that would make a world changing discovery that would change our current view of traveling in space?
Hmmm….I’m not sure it would ironic, at least not under a pre-Alanis definition. It would, however, be AWESOME
*The Captain of POW!*
(who knows he shouldn’t come off like a Literature Professor when his War of the Worlds post reads like it got C- in fourth grade composition)
I like the UFP version better. ;>
Luigi Novi: I agree. Characterizing the country by one isolated incident, and judging the 296,000,000 people in this country using an example of one a silly bit of reasoning, Craig.
For one, X-Ray said one person, not one incident.
There’s obviously more than one person because more than 200 of those jáçkáššëš in the House that voted for this.
And, this isn’t one isolated incident: in Eagle County, Colorado, a city councilman (iirc) was recalled in an election because he refused to say the Pledge.
This “silly bit of reasoning” is happening every day. PAD has posted more than a few of these disgusting incidents, yet they keep happening.
So, until this country wakes the f*ck up, then, yes, it will continue to disgust me.
“What you have to realize is that teachers today look for any signs of individuality in children and stamp them out as quickly as possible. If your children show signs that they are capable of forming opinions contrary to that of the teacher or that you’re child shows signs that he or she is smarter than your teacher, you will soon receive a recommendation to put your kid on ritalin.”
Harry Chapin did a FANTASTIC song along those lines–based, I understand, on an actual incident with this son–in which a little boy starts off kindergarten and he’s coloring roses with a dozen different colors. And the teacher intones:
“Flowers are red, young man, and green leaves are green,
And there’s no need to see flowers any other way than the way they always have been seen…
But the little boy said
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in a flower
And I see every one.”
And basically the teacher winds up stomping the creativity out of him. The punchline is that he winds up moving to another school, gets a teacher who tries to encourage him to use his imagination, and it’s too late: It’s been stomped out of him as he quietly colors the roses red and green and that’s it.
PAD
Give me a break. Open your eyes, women getting shot in the head in soccer fields under the Taliban and other atrocities happening around the world and some teacher getting carried away makes you disgusted.
Yeah, not to mention the homeless, jobless, and the millions without health care in this country.
But, one principal has a 2×4 shoved up her ášš to get upset over the Pledge, the House votes to make flag burning illegal, and *I* have no dámņ reason to be disgusted?
Maybe it’s time YOU wake the hëll up and take a look around for once and realize there’s more important things that bìŧçhìņg and moaning over a pledge or a flag.
And people wonder why the Greys haven’t done that landing on the White House lawn thing….
When someone asks me if I believe/think that there’s life in outer space, I usually reply ‘I hope so. I’d hate to think that the universe stopped trying to create intelligent life after only one attempt’. This opinion is proven every time someone doesn’t get what I say.
—————
As to the creativity stomping, am I the only one who think real life is resembling The Simpsons more & more all the time?
I said: “but I don’t see any real reason for them to encourage being a class clown.”
Wildcat replied: “I have to give kudos to Birdie for standing up for her son’s sincerity, and jeers to the teacher, principal, and the other parent who *ratted him out* for taking a crap on another kid’s deeply held beliefs.
If you think about it that way, this is almost a freedom of religion issue…”
In that case, shouldn’t the ACLU be here to tell him that he only has the right to say such things if he does so quietly and doesn’t let anyone else hear him? (Not even other students who believe the same way, because by getting together with like-minded students, you’re effectively making the others feel left out.)
Seriously, though, I don’t much care for the idea of the Pledge of Allegience. As others have pointed out, the kids don’t really understand what they’re saying, and besides, it smacks of indoctrination. BUT, letting all the students stand up and say what they truly believe is a recipe for at least a few minutes of chaos, and probably a lot worse than that, given kids’ tendency to actively TRY to hurt each others feelings.
David Van Domelen wrote: I usually just omitted “under God” when required to stand for the Pledge in Catholic school.
I always used to say under dog and only got caught once… when somebody thought I was referring to a Jay Ward cartoon.
We should take up collection and buy this kid a full-fledged official Starfleet uniform to wear to class.
Undoubtedly, his teacher would scold him for wearing such an outfit, particularly in light of his earlier “offense.” At this point the kid should pauser, press his communicator badge, and in deadpan fashion say:
“Beam me up Scottie, there’s no intelligent life here.”
What do you say PAD?
*The Captain of POW!*
(the communicator badge will of course make an authentic Trek beep)
Klingons. No bloody sense of humor.
I was brought to mind of the Calvin and Hobbes strip as well: “I pledge allegiance to Queen Frag and her mighty state of hysteria.”
As for the Pledge itself, it was always my experience in the schools I went to always had the option to stand quietly during the Pledge if for whatever reason (be it religious, philosophical, being an exchange student, etc.) they did not want to say it. As for the rest of us, we’d say it in our usual sleepy monotone droning.
At the risk of being the unpopular one here, the teacher was within her rights to discipline the child, although I think suspension might be a little severe and perhaps a stern talking-to, or at the very most an office referral might have been more in keeping with the transgression.
Still, given that public schools are governmentally-funded, you have as much of a right to “ad lib” the Pledge of Allegiance as you do to walk into a church and shouting “JESUS SUCKS!” over and over again during prayer or replacing the lyrics of the hymn you’re singing with those of your favorite Marilyn Manson ditty or some vintage Metallica. You also have the right to reap the repurcussions of those actions.
I also think that the mother was well within her rights to laugh, because, heck, it *was* effin’ funny. 🙂
It reminds me of one of my best friends in middle school who was the most Trek-obsessed guy I know. I mean to the point of acting like he was Captain of the Enterprise and designating his friends as particular crew members. I was the designated Riker, and after I had lent him my copy of the Next Gen novel “A Rock and a Hard Place”, he took perverse glee in referring to me as “Thunderball” at random and embarrassingly frequent intervals.
Gee, thanks, PAD. Thank you *ever* so much. :p
David Klaus,
I wasn’t commenting about the kid, I was commenting on US, the people on this thread.