3 ms·

The Pledge of Allegiance lost a bit of it’s patriotic luster once I found out it was part of a marketing gimmick to sell magazine subscriptions.

• pjc50 7y ago
  Wait, what? (The pledge is one of those weird things that looks like it comes from a far more authoritarian-collectivist society than the US)
  • lonelappde 7y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance It was promoted in a popular magazine (not to sell the magazine), and it in fact did come from a famous pair of socialists , Betch and Bellamy.
    • pjc50 7y ago
      > As a socialist, he had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity[18] but decided against it, knowing that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans Ouch.
    • RandomBacon 7y ago
      Interesting. It doesn't ruin the pledge for me though. Things change. Bad things can become good, good things can become bad. Symbols of luck and divinity turn into symbols of hate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
    • joejerryronnie 7y ago
      https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/pledge-allegiance-pr-gimmick-patriotic-vow-180956332/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/pledge-allegiance-pr-... This article has a bit of a different viewpoint than the wiki page