# Adults reciting the Pledge of Allegiance **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286 "2019-08-07T01:32:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/121 "2019-08-10T06:18:30Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > As an American who has lived for almost 30 years, correction, more than 30 years, overseas, the patriotism in America just seems strange As an American who has lived his entire life (almost 74 years) in the U.S., I agree. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/122 "2019-08-10T08:11:02Z")
I’m the ring announcer for the local pro wrestling promotion. We always begin our shows with the national anthem (in our case, “O Canada”), because we are, after all, an athletic contest, like hockey, baseball, or football. I’ve had a few fans tell me that I need to remind all fans to remove their hats and put their hands over their hearts during the national anthem. I tell them that section 2(b) of our Charter means that they don’t have to, that they can keep their hats on if they wish, and that “hands over their hearts” is an American thing, and that if they are proud Canadians, they would do no such thing. They would simply stand at attention. Most see our Constitution’s reasoning, and act as they see fit. Regardless, if some fans wish to do the American thing, as they are allowed to under our Constitution, I’m not going to comment. Displaying your patriotism in Canada is a lot different from displaying your patriotism in the US. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/123 "2019-08-10T12:21:45Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > they don’t have to, that they can keep their hats on if they wish, [Joe Cocker agrees.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMTu86K-IhI) ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/124 "2019-08-10T12:47:28Z")
> [@DaveRaver](#): > > At the beginning of every meeting at my condo, we are asked to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Although patriotic, this ritual seems childish since we were all compelled to recite this in school. The National Anthem is too long, and not everyone wants to sing. Is there something else we could say or do? Tai chi. When I was in Tokyo I saw the local supermarket staff doing their morning tai chi each morning. Tai chi is kind of slow anyway, but these guys did it in slow motion. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/125 "2019-08-10T14:56:49Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > [Joe Cocker agrees.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMTu86K-IhI) Ahem. Randy Newman. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G55cJrUs9VM) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/126 "2019-08-10T17:00:47Z")
Every time a person enters the condo, have the security guard at the condo’s foyer make them perform the pledge of allegiance. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/127 "2019-08-10T17:41:20Z")
> [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > Tai chi. > > When I was in Tokyo I saw the local supermarket staff doing their morning tai chi each morning. Tai chi is kind of slow anyway, but these guys did it in slow motion. I live in a twin-tower kind of building - two high rises that share a common entrance hall+ miserable token garden. Both are residential towers, but the one I don’t live in is basically leased in its entirety by the Chinese embassy to house their low-to-mid level personnel and their families. It will never cease to both puzzle and amuse me to come down in the evening to see 4 or 5 little old ladies powerwalking together in a circle in the entry hall to the rythm of a ghetto blaster softly playing horribly cliché Chinese restaurant covers of pop songs, while another old dude watches and encourages - I’ve always assumed he was the political commissar, but he could just be the chaperone :p. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/128 "2019-08-10T18:24:06Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > As to the OP…how about someone whip out a banjo and you all sing This Land is Your Land? Be sure to sing all the verses. 😃 > [@Spoons](#): > > I’m the ring announcer for the local pro wrestling promotion. We always begin our shows with the national anthem (in our case, “O Canada”), because we are, after all, an athletic contest . Canada does that too? I’ve never managed to figure out what athletic contests have to do with national anthems. That is, I guess I can see it at the Olympics, when it’s more or less the countries competing against each other; but what does it have to do with contests between teams from the same country? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/129 "2019-08-10T21:00:56Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > [Joe Cocker agrees.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMTu86K-IhI) [quote=“Acsenray, post:125, topic:838286”] Ahem. Randy Newman. [/QUOTE] “And then they each charged at the other, thrashing wildly, kicking, and spitting. I’ve never seen anything like that, Officer!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/130 "2019-08-10T21:04:14Z")
FWIW in the UK they used to have mass community singing at the (soccer) Cup Final, where the traditional highlight was the hymn Abide With Me (written in the 1840s by a clergyman who had just learnt he had cancer). I don’t know if your condo meeting might consider it"s in the position that “change and decay in all around I see” or that it needs the “help of the helpless” - but might that be a possibility? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/131 "2019-08-10T21:29:31Z")
I think we’d all enjoy singing [_On The Street Where You Live._](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0udu4KYv1zI) it’s an upbeat song that people like. Have you ever heard anyone say, "boy, I just _ **hate** _ that _On The Street Where You Live_ song!!¡? Me neither. Plus, people could show off a bit on the _and ohhhh, the towering feeling_ part, drawing out the ohhh as long as they are able. > [@](#): > > Are there lilac trees in the heart of town? > Can you hear a lark in any other part of town? > Does enchantment pour out of every door? > No, it’s just on the street where you live 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/132 "2019-08-10T21:52:00Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > The U.S. Senate begins every day’s session with a prayer and the Pledge. It’s hardly childish. The prayer is childish, no doubt. The pledge makes sense, hoping it reminds them of why they have their job in the first place. They still need to replace the “under god” crap with something meaningful. Like, “…one nation, NO FILIBUSTERING, indivisible…” ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/133 "2019-08-11T13:34:06Z")
It used to be “one nation indivisible”. The “under God” was added later, IIRC during the McCarthy era. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/134 "2019-08-11T14:45:05Z")
The whole enforced patriotism rituals thing is a PITA and it eventually (especially, as mentioned earlier, when you begin having it repeated across the event) makes it become background noise and a clue for a chance to hit the restroom or arrive 3 minutes late. Same for the opening invocations. However I do make very visible :rolleyes: if the invocator goes beyond “Yo, FSM, may thy noodly goodness guide us to make good decisions today” and instead begins to show off scripture-quoting prowess or delivering a current events homily. > [@Acsenray](#): > > Ahem. > > Randy Newman. However I and others share the belief that the Cocker/Basinger audiovisual version as linked by \*\*kayaker \*\*is one of humanity’s great achievements. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/135 "2019-08-11T20:51:54Z")
I would be on-board with a My Fair Lady tune as an anthem because my late mom looked just like Audrey Hepburn, only a redhead. I wish people would not use public gatherings to force other to participate in their beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/136 "2019-08-11T21:54:31Z")
> [@DaveRaver](#): > > At the beginning of every meeting at my condo, we are asked to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Although patriotic, this ritual seems childish since we were all compelled to recite this in school. The National Anthem is too long, and not everyone wants to sing. Is there something else we could say or do? I urge you to take the knee while reciting it. This is indeed childish. I don’t think I’ve had to recite it once since I was in sixth grade about 50 years ago. I would boycott he damned meetings myself. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/137 "2019-08-12T17:14:06Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Stuff like reciting the Pledge or even just singing the national anthem (with the possible exception of World Cup games) freaks me out. Just feels squicky. 😕 Baseball doesn’t have a World Cup… As to the Pledge of Allegiance, I don’t think I’ll ever be reciting it again. Unless one day I choose to renounce the one I gave originally, and later change my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/138 "2019-08-12T18:20:53Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Every time a person enters the condo, have the security guard at the condo’s foyer make them perform the pledge of allegiance. Except for Major Major Major Major. You can’t allow a guy who hasn’t recited the Pledge to recite the Pledge. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/139 "2019-08-13T00:47:06Z")
Then throw him out the back window. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286/140 "2019-08-13T16:43:40Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > The prayer is childish, no doubt. The pledge makes sense, hoping it reminds them of why they have their job in the first place. They still need to replace the “under god” crap with something meaningful. Like, “…one nation, NO FILIBUSTERING, indivisible…” > [@Irishman](#): > > It used to be “one nation indivisible”. The “under God” was added later, IIRC during the McCarthy era. I think it was Mike Myers who suggested "one nation, under Canada…’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-reciting-the-pledge-of-allegiance/838286.md?page=8)