Pledge

An employee in my school district sent an email out to more than a thousand fellow employees. The subject line implored both Democrats and Republicans to read the message inside, though its contents were hardly non-partisan. First, it has the text to a speech by John McCain about how, as a veteran, ey understands the importance of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Next, the email presents the words to the Pledge, with the phrase "under God" in bolded, larger red text. Then, the email shows a picture of several people with their hands over their hearts, declaring that Barack Obama is clearly not patriotic since ey won't even place a hand over eir heart during the Pledge. To conclude, the email urges people to remember this photo on Election Day.


It's all propaganda, and old propaganda at that. This minor controversy was debunked in 2007, before this email even hit our inboxes: the photograph was taken during the singing of the National Anthem, a custom which does not dictate putting a hand over the heart. Naturally, the photograph has been appropriated as part of a smear campaign against Obama, which distorts the facts to make Obama look like a bad American. Apparently, however, most people weren't familiar with this controversy and they responded in exactly the bigoted, uninformed way I would expect from the largely conservative/religious population with whom I work. Examples of the reply-all messages include "GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!" "Thanks for showing us the truth" and "A good reminder why we should vote for a real American."

At last, a Media teacher from another school decided to bring some facts to the table, providing a link to a video of the event proving that it occurred during the Anthem, not the Pledge. Additionally, the Media teacher chastised the educators for so quickly jumping on a bandwagon to attack someone based on a photograph when we should be aware that the media has the ability to manipulate reality and be taken out of context. From there, the teacher urged everyone to question images the media presents and to verify sources before disseminating misinformation further, then reminded eir coworkers that we should be teaching our students to do the same.

I was proud to see an articulate argument put forth and figured it would put an end to the mass debate. Alas, the messages continued coming: "God bless John McCain," "I won't forget this photo," and a great argument to the Media teacher "Well if everyone else was covering their heart [sic] Obama should too!" Last I checked, the United States was founded on the principle of its people doing exactly what everyone else is doing. Conformity is patriotic, and don't you forget it.

The debate did come to an end within a few days, however, when multiple people requested that their coworkers stop cluttering their email boxes. Someone even pointed out that this dialogue was not appropriate for the workplace -- who knows why it took so long for someone to proclaim what should be obvious etiquette?

I might have sent an email to share a piece of mind, too, were I not preoccupied with keeping my right hand over my heart. I'd hate it if a photo were taken of me and construed as a moment of non-patriotism.