10 Year Old Kid Wont Pledge to the US
polycounter lvl 18
I just saw this kid on the Colbert Report... goddamn awesome! I love that a 10 year old kid can figure this out, but most American's are oblivious. :P
[ame]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOcAWn7Rp9s[/ame]
[ame]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOcAWn7Rp9s[/ame]This discussion has been closed.
Replies
Glad he can figure it out though for himself what adults can't figure out.
Maybe Arkansas is just behind the times but I was never required to say the pledge of allegiance in elementary school and that was like 15 years ago.
Yup, sounds like a future laywer to me.
He's just a bright, somewhat creepy kid. :P
Good on him for having an opinion at that age, I was just trying to touch boob.
Sadly I do think he'll be sitting down for a while though.
people will in one second use their kids for 5 minutes of fame. but again you can never really know.
i think its fucking sad that the kid got teased by his peers for being gay after, kids are like a magnifing glass of society in general as they dont have a cap on whats socially correct to say
Sounds like his parents have gay friends.
Of course, if he did that, he would no longer be allowed to attend public school. And at that point he won't have to worry about the peer pressure of reciting the pledge of allegiance.
You could use the exact same logic to attempt to further any political agenda or minority ideology. This is the laziest type of protest, and an obvious bid for attention. What a waste of time.
First off, he's 10,
2nd of all he did stand out of respect, but he didn't say it or place his hand over his heart.
3rd You did have to say it legally until the supreme court decided during WWII that it was unconstitutional to require it.
If he really wanted to make a difference he'd vote, oh wait he's 10. The most he can do is rally voters, and try to get his message out there (which he is doing, getting on cnn and what not).
Getting on television is not a laudable aspiration. I've seen some of the people that they show on television these days. No thank you.
And what is his message again? That not everyone gets "liberty and justice?" How does he come to this conclusion? Which minority in particular isn't granted basic civil liberties, or is denied justice? Who isn't being allowed to purchase property, get a fair trial by a jury of their peers, vote in general elections, etc...?
If an Arkansas youth wants to refuse to recite something, that is his right. Perhaps it wasn't his right back before WWII, but he hadn't even been born then. (rendering that bit of trivia moot in the current circumstances) No one is really denying him this right. And I don't really see any other basic rights being violated or ignored.
He would have a more defensible argument saying that he objects to the use of the word "indivisable," since it's use implies that state's don't have the right to secede.
Also, you can't say that children are more intelligent than we give them credit for, and then turn around and excuse this boy's lapse in logic because he's young. It's either one or the other.
Honestly, the kid is doing something I would have never thought to do until much later in childhood. To me, pledge of allegiance was empty and meaningless. I think back now, and wonder why it's such a big deal to have children recite the pledge on a daily basis, before they're taught the actual meaning of a pledge. It's not fully understood to their minds. I do remember in later grades, I simply didn't say the "under God" part.
And overall the kid is right. The US is a clusterfuck of issues, so much that even children can begin to see it behind the empty words.
People go day to day without fully analyzing the meanings of the words they say.
And kids are fucking harsh to anyone who is against the norm. Great job parents.
For American folks: http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2009/11/20/daily-show-mick-foley-pledges-allegiance-to-10-year-old-gay-rights-advocate/
The rest of us, I'm still searching
No actually, he refused to stand up showing that lack of respect, which was the whole issue in context of "Taking a stand by sitting down" I'm sure if he would have stood up and not said the pledge and it would have most likely been overlooked by the teacher. His refusal to stand with the rest of his class and lack of respect shown to the teacher is what got the little brat in trouble to begin with... The teacher asked him to stand and he told her with all due respect go jump off a bridge. Little shit needed to get paddled. Plain and simple.
The larger issue is the whole I'm not going to recite the pledge for equal rights is another facet to the story which the media is clinging on too, which is fine but the kid is still a little brat that needs to respect his elders a little more. You can still have your beliefs but for fucks sake show some respect and and lets not put this kid up on a fucking pedestal for gay/lesbian rights because he doesn't respect his elders.
And yes, the kid is still a precocious little smart-ass. Yes, he's more intelligent than your average 10-year old. But that certainly doesn't make his point valid. He just has an above-average vocabulary, and a belligerent desire to use it.
If he had actually been thoughtful, he would have waited to pull this particular stunt until his regular teacher returned. Putting a substitute teacher through a controversial publicity stunt is just cruel. And telling his substitute teacher that she could "jump off a bridge" was completely uncalled for. If he was so insistent on his stance, then he should have been more patient, and stuck to his guns.
I'm not saying that the name-calling he has endured is warranted. It should have been expected, this is grade school after all, but it is not warranted.
You'll notice that when asked to actually quantify his decision at the end of the interview, the boy has no answer. He has made a decision based on his exposure to other people and their opinions, but he hasn't actually put any thought into the stance he has taken. I already pointed out this flaw in his logic. Reasoning like his can be used to deny the pledge of allegiance based on any perceived slight. Where does it stop?
He's 10.
Cant wait for the news when he reads about the Waldens, or Clinton, both Arkansas spawn.
An excellent point, and certainly undeniable. But this only raises other questions.
1. Why on earth did this warrent a seven-minute news story on CNN?
2. Who are these homosexual friends he claims to have, and why are they pushing their political ideology on an impressionable 10 year old boy?
3. What kind of example does this set for today's youth?
What we are seeing here is the larval form of Jack Thompson. This is an entitled, self-righteous child who makes decisions without thinking about them, and then wages public campaigns in an effort to further a misguided agenda, and captuer attention. This kind of behaviour should not be encouraged.
At least it's giving people a moment to think about the pledge itself and what it's supposed to mean rather than taking it for granted as a meaningless memorized series of words.
The idea that this was some kind of conspiracy by his parents is so awesomely silly I don't even get how people are claiming it. That someone actually thinks that they would plan that their son sitting down during the pledge of allegiance because the inevitable end to doing so is getting on CNN is crazy.
Also, for respecting your elders... fuck that. Think for yourselves you retards, that's the kind of idiocy that causes these problems in the first place. This kid was refusing to do the pledge in class, for good reasons, and his teacher was trying to force him. For days. He had every right to tell the bitch where to go and what to do. Blindly following people because they are "elders" is an outdated, moronic viewpoint. Following people because they have earned respect is not, however even then it should not be blindly.
Finally, the kid seems to understand what he's saying well enough to me. Freedom and liberty for all... some people aren't free to marry, or in many states even be public about their sexual preference or who their love is. That is not freedom. Thus, a 10 year old kid has figured out and explained what some adults on these boards still can't. Sad. Very, very, sad guys.
This kid reminds me of someone else:
[ame="
the kid that interviewed Snoop dog was way more awesome
If my kid is in school I would expect him to respect his teachers, and those around him. He can disagree with the pledge and that's fine just don't say it. But if an adult asks your kid to do something reasonable, you do it. You don't have to make it a big issue. The issue was he didn't show respect to the teacher and then to top it off insulted her. The whole issue of the pledge not being fair to gays/lesbians is secondary fact of the kid not being respectful in the first place.
Way to go, insult those who don't agree with you as well. Jealous and retards... way to label those with views that differ then yours. You'll go far. Your parents must be proud.
Yes and I can agree with that, but asking the kid to stand up during the pledge doesn't affect his beliefs in any way... saying the actual pledge would. Either way the kid is rude and doesn't deserve an apology from the school.
Everyone knows gays are just as free as everyone else. They're free to shut up, free to go away, and free to not be allowed to marry. That right there is a whole lot of free. Asking for more free's is just plain rude. They have plenty of free's to begin with!
Allowing gays to marry would infringe on our god given right to prevent gays from marrying. This little gaywad is trying to take away our freedoms!
You know, there was a point in time where people thought black people should not be allowed the same rights as other people. Then, over time, people realized that belief was really fucking stupid and stopped believing it. We also thought women didn't deserve the same rights as men, and then we realized that's really fucking stupid and stopped believing it.
But if Americans are good at anything it's being completely incapable of learning from history, so clearly there is nothing wrong with restricting the rights of gays, and clearly this kid is just a rude and disrespectful punk who doesn't know what he's talking about. Clearly, standing upright is more important than the rights of gay people, because they're gay. If he was sitting down in protest of communism, that would be one thing, but sitting down to support gay people? Disrespectful!
And look where that got us.
Maybe if gay people weren't so gay they'd have rights too!
Nice post btw.
You don't salute during the National Anthem, which is what this footage is from, and while some people salute during the National Anthem, it's not required like during the pledge.
Seriously, I love (and by that I mean I'm amused by) people's idea that the pledge is something holy. The US is such a fucked up country, why the hell does it deserve mindless brainwashed support and respect by children? Should they salute the idea of the highest imprisonment percentage in the world? How about the foreign wars that are creating untold suffering and deaths without cause or reason. How about the still instituted racism, gender inequality, lack of basic housing, education, and healthcare. Should the salute the crooked government that rewards wall street, fucked up car companies, and health care companies while leaving the citizens high and dry?
I was forced to say the pledge as a kid, and I didn't know better like this kid obviously does. I'm so glad to escape that hellhole, and I'm glad this kid is in the news. It's more newsworthy than Sarah Palin, or her ghost written error riddled book.
Lol, look how dumb you are.
Wow, double dumb. How about the fact that blacks couldn't marry whites and were owned as property for a while in the good ol US of A within this century? How about the fact that gay, lesbian, and bi people cannot marry their preferred gender, which is indeed a right denied them, granted straight couples currently. Marriage is a legal contract in the US that's been hijacked by the church, and it carries legal rights with it that gay couples are currently denied, 1,400 legal rights in some states.
By the way, it's a rhetorical question. I lived there for 2 years, I know why.