# Some kid says the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic, and out come the Crusaders **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 23, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733 "2015-03-23T00:42:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lemmytheseal2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lemmytheseal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemmytheseal2)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/1 "2015-03-23T00:42:46Z")
[In upstate New York, the class President passed the Pledge of Allegiance duties off to another student, apparently due to Foreign Language Week, and, well, the thread’s title speaks for itself.](http://www.salon.com/2015/03/20/its_not_unpatriotic_to_say_the_pledge_in_arabic/) Now, I despise Islam, like all superstition, and will fiercely oppose things like sex-segregation in university gyms and the like. Also, the Pledge is a silly thing with no legal standing, and the “Under God” line should have never been added anyway. All of this, however, is beside the point. This is just a language. A student used her mother tongue, and this provoked the “hatriots.” These are probably the same hayseeds who never considered that championing a war that toppled the secular regime in Iraq would imperil the area’s Christians. Not only does it piss me off that people are bullying kids, but crap like this just makes it harder to oppose retrograde Islamic prudishness when it arises. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/2 "2015-03-23T00:45:32Z")
That’s some dumb bullshit. Last school I taught at, Wednesdays were pledge-in-another-language day, and each month a different language was chosen, based primarily on the (very small) population of kids born in other countries at the school. We had Spanish, Pashtun, Russian, Mandarin, and a few others, but eventually had to reach to get things like Irish and French, based on parents who were willing to come in and pledge. Nobody, to the best of my knowledge, gave a crap. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/3 "2015-03-23T00:56:39Z")
But haven’t you heard? [Hearing the pledge said in Arabic will cause children to join ISIS!](http://mediamatters.org/video/2015/03/20/fox-guest-suggests-reciting-pledge-of-allegianc/202975) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/4 "2015-03-23T01:56:28Z")
Oh, come on! Pine Bush is Upstate NY now? It’s Orange County. I still say that’s downstate. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/5 "2015-03-23T01:59:25Z")
I was under the impression that everything that is not part of the five boroughs (plus Long Island) is upstate. ETA: Simplistic, I concede, but EASIER, which is the point. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/6 "2015-03-23T02:25:18Z")
This part in the OP’s linked news story is pure and utter BS from the principal: > [@](#): > > On Thursday, high school Principal Aaron Hopmayer addressed the incident in a school-wide announcement, apologizing to those who’d been offended. The principal should not have apologized. Rather, what he should have done is told the offenderati that they were the ones mistaken; not the school, not the student who normally recited the pledge, and certainly not the girl who recited the pledge in Arabic. In a perfect world, he could’ve told the morons to shove their stupidity. Heck, in a perfect world, he would’ve told those idiots that they’re the un-American ones! Why does this remind me so much of those idiots who flipped out ove rthe Coca-Cola commercial with America the Beautiful sung in a number of languages and those who flipped out where upset because they confused that song with the National Anthem? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/7 "2015-03-24T16:59:53Z")
New Rule: anyone who gets their panties in a twist over the pledge has to forfeit their voter ID as they clearly don’t grasp the essentials of American civics. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/8 "2015-03-24T17:17:36Z")
> [@](#): > > The accompanying feature, by the way, includes a photograph of a student’s car festooned with the message “We live in America: Speak English.” Perhaps they should have asked a Native American to recite the pledge. Then again, that wouldn’t be a foreign language… ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/9 "2015-03-24T18:50:47Z")
Well, requiring all those kids to say Pledge of Allegiance to the ISIS flag is just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/10 "2015-03-24T18:58:51Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Perhaps they should have asked a Native American to recite the pledge. Then again, that wouldn’t be a foreign language… Given that the US has no official language, just what languages _are_ foreign within its borders? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/11 "2015-03-24T19:10:13Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Given that the US has no official language, just what languages _are_ foreign within its borders? Apparently, in New York, they know them when they hear them… ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/12 "2015-03-24T19:22:39Z")
You know, there _are_ non-Muslims who speak Arabic. There are 10-20 million Coptic Christians who speak Arabic. [ISIS doesn’t like them, and I suspect the feeling is mutual](http://time.com/3718470/isis-copts-egypt/). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/13 "2015-03-24T19:27:49Z")
I heard there was one school in NY where they were using Arabic numerals in math class. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/14 "2015-03-24T19:43:11Z")
The school said it apologized because some parents of soldiers killed in Afghanistan were offended. Do you mean to tell me that after thirteen fucking years of war in Afghanistan that even those Americans who served there don’t know what language they speak? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/15 "2015-03-24T19:53:05Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > The school said it apologized because some parents of soldiers killed in Afghanistan were offended. > > Do you mean to tell me that after thirteen fucking years of war in Afghanistan that even those Americans who served there don’t know what language they speak? Oh, hell, yeah. Thirteen more years won’t do it. Maybe if the schools start having, oh, I don’t know, a Foreign Languages Awareness Week… oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/16 "2015-03-24T20:31:35Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > New Rule: anyone who gets their panties in a twist over the pledge has to forfeit their voter ID as they clearly don’t grasp the essentials of American civics. Can we extend this to a ‘must pass’ test for all people holding public office? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/17 "2015-03-24T20:39:34Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > The school said it apologized because some parents of soldiers killed in Afghanistan were offended. > > Do you mean to tell me that after thirteen fucking years of war in Afghanistan that even those Americans who served there don’t know what language they speak? Jeeeez. It really _is_ taking longer than we thought… ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/18 "2015-03-24T20:49:36Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > The school said it apologized because some parents of soldiers killed in Afghanistan were offended. > > Do you mean to tell me that after thirteen fucking years of war in Afghanistan that even those Americans who served there don’t know what language they speak? Well, my umpty-great-grandfather[sup]\*[/sup] was killed in the Revolutionary War, and I’m offended every time someone recites the Pledge in the language of our former monarchical oppressors. - not really - those relatives bugged out to Canada before the war started, and didn’t come back until after the Civil War ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/19 "2015-03-24T20:53:25Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I heard there was one school in NY where they were using Arabic numerals in math class. Doesn’t Ann Romney ride Arabians? Disloyal Muslim bitch. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733/20 "2015-03-24T21:04:35Z")
[Laura Ingraham: “What if the skinheads want to do the pledge of allegiance?”](http://www.salon.com/2015/03/20/laura_ingraham_compares_arabic_pledge_of_allegiance_to_skinhead_pledge_of_allegiance/) Then they would probably recite it in English, Ms. Ingraham. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-kid-says-the-pledge-of-allegiance-in-arabic-and-out-come-the-crusaders/715733.md?page=2)