I Pledge Allegiance to the --Queen?

[Dayfish]

No, this is not me asking for journalism class help again. I already got my assignment done and turned it in. I didn't think I would actually care about this topic, but it turns out that I find this quite interesting!

The Prime Minister of Britain is proposing a new pledge of allegiance to their monarch. (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-11-britain-pledge_N.htm) My assignment was to get out there and ask local residents what they thought about the proposals. The prime minister also wants to create a new holiday to celebrate "Britishness" with their people, since they don't have something similar to the fourth of July or Australia Day.

When I asked people their thoughts, a very large number of them were completely apathetic to the topic, admitting that they just didn't care. I asked my mother about the pledge of allegiance in high schools in our state, and she said that most kids sit through it silently these days due to laziness and apathy. Most students would rather sit and finish up any homework they hadn't finished the night before, and when I asked a couple students their thoughts on the pledge, most didn't even know what it meant.

By the way, Pennsylvania is one of 33 states that require the pledge in schools. Only 7 of them have the option. Children are allowed, however, to opt out and sit through it if they wish. Thoughts on the subject?

I'm not sure what Britain's young people are like, and I know that my town is just a tiny speck on the map but if they think bringing in a pledge is going to make a huge difference I think they might be just a bit mistaken. But what are your opinions on the matter?

[Cacophany_cat]

Ok, first off I am not going to sugarcoat my feelings about this. So, if it offends, Im not going to applogise.

I have never and will never pledge my allegiance to the Queen. To something and someone who is a figurehead. She has no true power in this country, she has become a tourist attraction, something to parade and a face to place on the back of a coin.

The truth is pledging allegiance to the Queen is laughable. And the idea of creating a day to make us feel more British!? It's ridiculous, we have a day it's called St Georges Day, but we don't celebrate it. We'd much rather celebrate St Patricks Day, Diwali, Chinese New Year...

We can no longer identify with anything that makes us 'British' and by following the examples of other countries is not going to change that.

Britain is a nation that would rather identify with overpaid unintelligent football players as figues of Britishness than true influential historical figures. It was voted that the favourite food of the nation wasn't Fish and Chips, it wasn't a good British roast, it was a curry...an Indian curry. Something very basic sets the tone for (and with no exaggeration) the entire view of our culture.

We have lost touch with our true heritage. To be quite honest I feel some what ashamed to say that I am British. We are a nation that seems to only identify with the inanimate, beer, football, a curry, television, standing in queues and moaning about the weather.

[Dayfish]

Ok, first off I am not going to sugarcoat my feelings about this. So, if it offends, Im not going to applogise.

I have never and will never pledge my allegiance to the Queen. To something and someone who is a figurehead. She has no true power in this country, she has become a tourist attraction, something to parade and a face to place on the back of a coin.

The truth is pledging allegiance to the Queen is laughable. And the idea of creating a day to make us feel more British!? It's ridiculous, we have a day it's called St Georges Day, but we don't celebrate it. We'd much rather celebrate St Patricks Day, Diwali, Chinese New Year...

We can no longer identify with anything that makes us 'British' and by following the examples of other countries is not going to change that.

Britain is a nation that would rather identify with overpaid unintelligent football players as figues of Britishness than true influential historical figures. It was voted that the favourite food of the nation wasn't Fish and Chips, it wasn't a good British roast, it was a curry...an Indian curry. Something very basic sets the tone for (and with no exaggeration) the entire view of our culture.

We have lost touch with our true heritage. To be quite honest I feel some what ashamed to say that I am British. We are a nation that seems to only identify with the inanimate, beer, football, a curry, television, standing in queues and moaning about the weather.

I'm really glad you decided to respond to this, Jodie. I actually thought about you as I was doing my assignment but I had to interview "locals", heh.
I understand what you're saying. Many parts of the world are becoming this way and becoming a much, much smaller global community now. I was watching Samantha Brown on the travel channel (she's so cute, I love her)
and she was perplexed when she went to Dublin because everything was so Americanized. She had to really dig deep in order to undercover anything that was considered Dublin heritage, because the streets were littered with J.Crew, water ice and tourists snapping photos of everything.
One of the doorman at an old hotel said that everything was very cosmopolitan. It makes me sad, in the midst of all this change are we tossing out our true identities? I'm sorry that you sometimes feel ashamed that you're British, no one should have to feel that way. *hug*

My feelings on this are pretty clear...I think that it's going to take a lot more than a pledge of allegiance to make people happy, and I think that it might already be a bit too late for that.

[Jes-ka]

My older sister teaches highschool, and I guess this kind of issue came up. They were trying to include activities, whether it is saying the pledge in class or otherwise, that were patriotic.

I think the teachers decided that they would bring the pledge back during home room, but my sister decided to ask students in all of her classes what they thought. Not one period favored the pledge, and I think their reasoning made a lot of sense.

The main reason was that they felt apathetic about saying words to display patriotism. Basically, saying it does not make them feel patriotic.

Their suggestions for what would make them feel patriotic revolved more around discussion. Current events or even just taking the time to really understand something from the constitution... not in the way they experience it in normal classes, but in an open discussion where students would be able to talk about what they think it all means.

As far as making your citizens incorporate such things into their lives, it really doesn't make sense. Holidays like July 4th are good because people can celebrate in their own way. But I don't think forcing people to say a bunch of words that don't speak to them on a personal level is really a great idea.

I don't think you could make people feel anything by requiring them to perform some act because patriotism is too personal.

[Michael Ubaldi]

To any country in which I am governed only according to my own consent, and by which I protected from being governed otherwise; taxes and allegiance are good repayment.

But patriotism, like any vow, is best expressed spontaneously.