dear usamerican high schoolers looking for a way to resist fascism: sit through the pledge of allegiance.
no getting up. no looking at the flag.
everyone will be looking at you. you’ll be sweating like a fucking hippopotamus. your teacher will sternly tell you to get up. you’ll feel stupid and that maybe its not worth it because you’re just a kid in a classroom. but I’m here to remind you that there are no real life consequences to detention. there are however real life consequences to resisting a thoughtless performance of nationalism.
not to talk tough but i have sat through every pledge of allegiance in my life, and that includes the bush administration’s hyper-patriotic war on terror.
you can NOT be compelled to say the pledge, and that also means you can’t be given the ‘choice’ of doing it or taking a punishment. being sent into the hall is a grey area.
if you are punishing for refusing, parents or a more sympathetic teacher (like say a history or english teacher) can step in to intercede with the principal. do not be afraid to escalate.
it is critical now of all times that you PRACTICE civil disobedience, starting small, sticking to it, and working up, this will help you learn how very much disobedience you can actually get away with in this life, which is actually a hell of a lot.
Remember that “three items from the store to make the cashier most uncomfortable” meme? Apparently I accidentally found a winning combo tonight at the corner store, one of the usual clerks shot me a really weird look when I was checking out with these
I have a client who was diagnosed with literal LIVER CANCER, aka one of the deadliest, and normally so hard to treat. Famously killed David Bowie and Alan Rickman both.
He was given MONTHS to live, but then ended up being one of the first people in the state to get a state of the art infusion therapy for his cancer.
It’s been over a year, and his tumors have shrunk so much they are no longer detectable.
