Monday, March 21, 2011

A Very Powerful Cartoon- Powerfully Stupid, That Is

Just spit in the nice soldier's face, why doncha, Kevin? Then pee on their graves when you're done with that!

The above is part of an email I was forwarded.

First of all, there are very acceptable reasons not to stand for the Pledge in American schools. Little Kevin there is clearly depicted as a douchebag tween, not standing because he's comfortable with his feet up and fuck America, anyway. Is there any teacher anywhere who would allow a student to sit with his feet up like that? No. I've only come across one exception to reciting the Pledge: religion. Certain religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, do not allow standing for the National Anthem or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. That's the level your refusal has to rise to: deeply held religious beliefs. "I don't feel like it" is not an acceptable reason.

Secondly, yes, okay, that soldier joined the Armed Forces to protect American freedoms.* Including the freedom to not stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. So why is it insulting to use the freedom said soldier so valiantly defended? That's the Mobius strip of logic. Really, this cartoon should have a second panel in which the soldier calls the teacher to task for (a) not understanding constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, and (b) using his disability as a shaming device on Kevin.

Anyway, here's the rest of the email, in all it's bold 36 pt sans serif font** glory:

Only 31 words -- Think about it!


I . . . what? I checked the email again. That's what comes directly after the cartoon. I have no idea.



Isn't life strange? I never met one Veteran who enlisted to fight for Socialism!


How many veterans (not capitalized) have you met, anyway? Also, "veteran" refers to any former soldier anywhere, so there are many veterans in countries other than the US who did enlist to fight for socialism. (Yes, there are countries other than ours.)

86% will send this on.
86% of what? I . . . did the intertubes eat half of this email? Were there originally sentences, now tragically missing, that enable one to understand this?

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!


Oh, those 31 words. (I pasted it into Word for a word count.)


If Muslims can pray on Madison Avenue, why are Christians banned from praying in public and from erecting religious displays on their holy days?


They're not. Christians pray in public all the damn time, and I swear my neighborhood can be seen from space for two months of the year. What are you talking about?

What happened to our National Day of Prayer? Muslims are allowed to block off Madison Ave., in N.Y.C., and pray in the middle of the street! And, it's a monthly ritual!


I literally have no idea what this person is talking about . . . oh, once a year (so easy to confuse once with twelve times) during the Muslim Day Parade activities. Mind you, I get to New York City every so often and every time I have been there, I have seen a parade. One time, I saw Sean Connery in full Scottish regalia! He was 20' away from me- wearing a kilt! And a shirt covered in lace! And a velvet coat! I swear, he looked right at me.


My point is, parades and such are normal occurrences in NYC, why shouldn't Muslims get one, too? This is America, if you can fill out a permit, you can have a parade. You know, liberty and justice for all? It's part of the 31 words.

Tell me, again, whose country is this? Ours or the Muslims?


That's not an either/or question, and I will again refer you to those 31 words you claim to love so much. Liberty and justice for all. FOR ALL. All includes you and Muslims, atheists and Christians, pagans and Jews, heterosexuals, homosexuals, everyone in between- ALL! What is so hard about ALL?!

I was asked to send this on if I agree, or delete if I don't.

It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God.


Yes, of course, Muslims would be counted in the 86% who believe in god. Also. Too.

Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having 'In God! We Trust' on our money and having 'God' in the Pledge of Allegiance.


Um . . . well, if 86% believe in God, 14% do not. ALL, motherfuckers! Never mind that those are additions from the Cold War era when we were all freaked out about the Russians and their nukes. (Remember that? Good times.)


Also, why the fuck is this aimed at Muslims? This should be aimed at atheists. Muslims believe in god. In fact, Muslims believe in the Abrahamic god of Christianity and Judaism.

I believe it's time we stand up for what we believe!

If you agree, pass this on; if not, delete.


Thank you


Or, you know, option no. 3, post it on your blog and mock me ruthlessly. Hee!






*I'm not saying the USAF have been used to defend freedom lately, but I'll not impugn individual soldiers' honor.

**I despise sans serif fonts. The Empire will have three fonts, all of them replete with serifs. In fact, the official font of Empire notices and mailings will be designed with 30% more serifs than Times New Roman.

15 comments:

  1. "why are Christians banned from praying in public and from erecting religious displays on their holy days?" - Pretty sure this is from the 'Don't let the Muslims/Atheists/Atheist Muslims ban Christmas!' chain email.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm not really sure. I think it's possible this started out as an antiatheist/ACLU chain email and was accidentally merged with a separate antimuslim email at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Is that a Batiuk cartoon, reminding us that the only thing that comes back from war are people crippled with mental, physical, or both handicaps. This is the future for every one, pain and suffering. Only the sweet sweet relief of death will save you and even then it might not.

    Stupid email is stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Not to mention that when it comes to younger kids, they are refusing to stand for the pledge because of instructions from their parents. Your average 10 year old didn't decide to become a Jehovah's Witness. He was indoctrinated into the religion from the time he learned to talk.

    Even if you disagree with indoctrinating children with religious beliefs -- which I do -- a kid refusing to stand for the pledge is doing a difficult and arguably even courageous thing, adhering in public to the principles his parents have instilled.

    The cartoon is completely idiotic. I hate when people forward me that sort of crap.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mind you, if I was going to send it, I'd actually proofread it first. There's an "either" in the first paragraph that needs removal, I apparently can't spell "religious" or "endorphins", and I'd reword some sentences (the final one in the first paragraph was a bit anti-climactic, for example)

    If anyone wants to actually send this out as a chain-email, please do.

    Here’s the fixed version:

    ...

    To all those who forward political, religious or otherwise highly-opinionated chain e-mails...

    Stop.

    No, seriously. You are irritating and alienating everyone on your address book who either doesn't share your opinion. You are exposing your own intellectual deficiencies when your target actually takes the time to look up the chain-emails claims on Snopes. Your ability to hit the forward button in your e-mail browser does not make you a part of a grass-roots movement, does not make you special, does not promote good-luck and does not increase your esteem in the eyes of your friends and co-workers.

    So, please. When you get the next chain e-mail, think for a moment before you forward it. "Am I going to offend people who disagree with this e-mail?" "Is expressing someone else’s opinion via this e-mail really worth clogging up my friends inbox?" "Is this story actually true, or am I passing on a ridiculously stupid lie just to feel good about my opinions?" "Am I really so pathetic I'm willing to ruin some poor OCD sufferers day by messing their perfectly filed inbox just for the short burst of endorphins clicking that little "send" button will produce in my brain?" If the answer to any of these is "no," then seriously, people: just delete that shit.

    If you agree, forward this email on to all of your friends!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gah! Eff you blogspot! Eff you to Haych! Right up the Gee-Tee, with a Gee-Dee Cee-Cee!*

    My first comment didn't appear, so my second comment makes no sense. First comment replicated below...

    ...

    I'm lucky. Between never bothering to check my gmail address and never giving anyone my work address, I don't get any stupid e-mails like this.

    My parents, on the other hand, recieve several every week from friends and colleages. We share religous and political views (I'm extremely lucky in that respect), so they sometimes show me them to get a laugh or a comment.

    It's extremely awkward reading an e-mail like this from someone you know personally. One family in particular, all of whom are really nice people, and who have never tried pushing religon or politics on us in any other format, keeps forwarding my parents some of the stupidest insano emails I've ever seen. I like
    these people, but there's no way a discussion on either of those subjects would be rewarding.

    Come to think of it, I have no idea if they think we agree with them, or are trying to make us agree with them, or are just sending it out to their entire address book.

    (And then there was a pre-proof-reading copy of the above hypothetical chain-email)

    ...

    *footnote: "Right up the Gastrointenstinal Tract with a Gently Developed Colonoscopy Camera."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Argh, first comment lost.

    1 The pledge was written by a socialist. Google it.
    2 It was promoted by a guy who wanted to sell flags to schools and by the people in charge of the Chicago World's Fair.

    I stopped saying the pledge altogether when I was 12. First, I stopped saying 'under god' since I was already well on my way toward atheism. Then I stopped pledging to the flag. Why would I allege myself to a piece of cloth? Then I started thing about all the bad things the US has done and decided that alleging myself to a government that condoned things like slavery, Japanese internment, segregation, etc was also a bad idea. So I stood with my hand over my heart muttering gibberish and a litany of things wrong with the country but not loud enough to be heard. Finally, the controversy over Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf gave me the courage to sit down altogether. I got a lot of shit from my teachers, especially my US history teacher. I told him a daily pledge sounded like something Nazis would do. Had an unpleasant lecture by the school guidance counselor. Never stood again.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Of course, we as Jehovah's Witnesses teach our children our beliefs. Don't you teach your children what you believe? As he becomes an adult he will decide if he believes it or not. BTW we don't just tell them " don't" we also tell them why. I know several 10 year old Witness kids and have a 10 year old nephew who is not a Witness. The Witness kids can tell you exactly why they don't say the pledge. My nephew just does what the rest of the class does.

    I was a substitute teacher for a few years and often had conversations with the high school students about the pledge. (No preaching they asked why I wasn't doing it and we discussed it) I would estimate that 3/4 students didn't have a reason why they said it. The rest said something along the lines of The US being the best country in the world. None had solid reasons to back up that statement. So in summary you have two groups who have been indoctrinated with a belief system. One can tell you why and can reason on the subject when questioned further. The other repeats something without knowing what it means or why they say it.

    Sorry if I got defensive when your intentions were good but you touched on a pet peeve of mine. Part of what we as parents leave our children with in hopes of them becoming good people is our belief system. Whether is us as Witnesses teaching our children to live life by Bible standards or an atheist teaching his child that in order to be a good person they must be focused on other people rather than a god figure we are not doing our job as parents if we do not teach them to the best of our ability how to be the type of person we think they should be.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Part of what we as parents leave our children with in hopes of them becoming good people is our belief system. Whether is us as Witnesses teaching our children to live life by Bible standards or an atheist teaching his child that in order to be a good person they must be focused on other people rather than a god figure we are not doing our job as parents if we do not teach them to the best of our ability how to be the type of person we think they should be. "

    I'm sorry, what? "Must be focused on other people rather than a god figure in order to be a good person"? I'm offended that you seem to think we're like that.

    I appreciate and respect that you are mere voicing your opinions here, but you seem to have an erronous view of what atheists in general teach their children. And if I was to assume, hypothetically, that the erronous elements of the above were derived from projecting your own child-raising methods on to us, then you are raising your children to demonise atheists. I trust you aren't doing this deliberately, (hopefully I'm mistaken, and you aren't doing this at all) but you might want to double-check that the inverse of the above sentence ("Must be focused on [a god figure] rather than [other people] in order to be a good person") can not be applied to you...

    Good people come in all shapes and sizes: kindness, generosity and other virtues are wholely independant of whether you belive in deities.

    Also, I've not met many atheists that try to imprint their kids with their atheism the way theists do. In my experience, most atheists promote critical thinking and skepticism: "Question everything". Notably:, "everything" includes atheism itself: question it, and if you find a better option, go for it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i sort of have to back up Quasar, here.

    my dad was the first atheist that i ever met, because he was an atheist before i was born.


    he's disappointed that i'm religious, but he never ONCE, when i was kid, tried to teach me
    anything about atheism. he'd answer my questions, but never went beyond that, until i was in my late TEENS.
    [he REALLY doesn't like that i'm religious. he's actually very bitter about it because i'm HIS daughter, and i'm "so very smart", and he thinks that smart people should be smart enough to not believe in god/dess[es]. and i only know THAT because i asked him, point blank, why he never joined any of the household discussions about Yule or Beltain or etc]

    ReplyDelete
  11. "I never met one Veteran who enlisted to fight for Socialism!"

    I forgot to mention that this comment cracked me up. The Armed Forces are the most socialized organization in America.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "Isn't life strange? I never met one Veteran who enlisted to fight for Socialism!"

    I never met him, but I have read his books...George Orwell. Suck it America

    ReplyDelete
  13. In the beginning of high school I did have to stand for the pledge but no teacher made me recite, in later high school I didn't have to stand or recite. This was my own decision, because I didn't like pledging anything to an inanimate object. I was not a douche bag and had/have a heap ton of gratitude for Veterans. I am glad you posted position to this email. I got the email and read it and sent your blog post in response. I am glad I am not the only person who thinks this kind of email is silly and incorrect. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Someone did an extended version where "Kevin" then proceeds to tell the teacher that (badly paraphrased) he's not standing for the pledge because the flag represents a country that thinks it can't afford to take care of veterans but can find the money to send them to war.

    Kevin also offers to shake the solider's hand.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Someone did an extended version where "Kevin" then proceeds to tell the teacher that (badly paraphrased) he's not standing for the pledge because the flag represents a country that thinks it can't afford to take care of veterans but can find the money to send them to war.

    Kevin also offers to shake the solider's hand.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are for you guys, not for me. Say what you will. Don't feel compelled to stay on topic, I enjoy it when comments enter Tangentville or veer off into Non Sequitur Town. Just keep it polite, okay?

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