tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post8966834263957263766..comments2023-10-24T04:29:23.693-06:00Comments on Atheist Ethicist: The Pledge Project: PrioritiesAlonzo Fyfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05687777216426347054noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-78616725601120588122011-09-14T01:50:53.799-06:002011-09-14T01:50:53.799-06:00I never believed in God and i never had a traumati...I never believed in God and i never had a traumatizing experience with thiest aggression. i always thought of them as a minor nuissence, an idiosyncrasy of american democracy that most people ignored. when i was a child i said the words "under god" along with the other students without a second thought. just like when i sang a song about purple singing dinasours i didnt bother with the truth value of the words but just read the lyrics like i would read the pledge<br /><br />when i got older i felt that saying "Under God" for me was a lie so instead i would just leave that part out. <br /><br />but in middle shcool i started sitting through the pledge not becuase of athiestic conviction but becuase the entire pledge struck me as wrong.<br /><br />the entire thing is a propaganda piece, aimed at children and that should not be allowed.<br /><br />"i pledge allegiance" this is a pledge of loyalty to a nation. this is something that people should think about before committing. what if you lived in Nanzi germany or current day iran? should you pledge your loyalty to those governements? "pledging allegiance" is something that should be left to adults who can understand what loyalty means. it could mean fighting, killing, and dying for that government. <br /><br />furthermore forcing people to say it everyday is indirectly calling every american a liar. how often does an honest man need to declare his loyalty? once. but it isnt about loyalty it is about indoctrinating children, which prevents their ability to think critically, which is something we should condemn.<br /><br />now that i have read this blog i am begining to see that the "under god" phrase is not trivial, as i had once thought, but is also something worth fighting against. but in the back of my mind i am worried about the underlying narrative.<br /><br />many groups like to see themselves as the poor underdog minority being victimised. But who are we really? on average we are white males with higher than average levels of education and higher than average salaries. we are not powerless victims. when a child punches an adult there is a reason for the adult to give a measured response instead of punching back.<br /><br />i think the lack of a large body of athiests getting whipped up over an issue is a good sign. when people get whipped up over anything they start making mistakes and stop using critical thinking. <br /><br />i agree that we need to do more to get involved, be more vocal and more organized. but we need to take care to do this in a measured and responisble way. it would be a shame to replace one bigotry with another.<br /><br />what a group advocates when they are a minority and what the same group advocates when they become a majority tend to be different and i think it is worth the effort (even if it dampens our initial response to injustice while we are a minority) to ensure that we don't become part of the problem when we become the majority. our numbers are growing rapidly and we need to set a foundation now that does not lend itself to abusing that power.<br /><br />that is what i particularly like about this blog that i dont find in many other atheist blogs. when athiests are fighting for the right cuase in the wrong way alonzo is quick to point that out, others are not.<br /><br />poeple often forget that in the civil rights era there were two movement a black power movement(malcom x) and an equality movement (MLK) as concerned athiests we need to make a concerted effort to weed out the athiest 'panthers' and to <b>only</b> promote the athiests with a 'dream'Kristopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08544209777124068097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16594468.post-82939627203486743682008-05-17T23:51:00.000-06:002008-05-17T23:51:00.000-06:00You might want to fix the typo in the title of you...You might want to fix the typo in the title of your post!Tommykeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14751182125861177379noreply@blogger.com