Friday, March 11, 2005

The Hitler Youth Revival Tour: Going Strong!

And this is just down the road from me!

So now it's disrespectful to soldiers and war and America and Bush and the flag to speak a language other than English. It's a given that teenagers aren't always the most stellar thinkers when it comes to reason, but I don't like the way this is going...

From the Miami Herald

Teen walks out of his school over multilingual pledge
A Maryland ninth-grader won't return to class until his school finishes its broadcasts of the Pledge of Allegiance in other languages for National Foreign Language Week.
By LIZ F. KAY
The Baltimore Sun


MILLERSVILLE, Md. - A Maryland teenager is protesting his high school's decision to broadcast the Pledge of Allegiance in languages other than English during National Foreign Language Week.

Patrick Linton, a ninth-grader at Old Mill High School in Millersville, said he and some other students sat down rather than stand when the pledge was read in Russian over the school's public address system.

The 15-year-old said his teacher told him if he had a problem, he should leave the room -- so he did. And, he said, he doesn't plan to return this week.

''This is America, and we got soldiers at war,'' he said. ``When you're saying the pledge in a different language which nobody understands, that's not OK.''

School system officials said the activity would continue -- though the English version of the pledge was to be read first last week.

''This is just a way to connect what's going on in the classroom and this daily activity where we say the Pledge of Allegiance,'' said school system spokesman Jonathan Brice. The pledge was to be read in Spanish, French, Latin, Russian and German.

But Charles Linton, Patrick's father, said the use of other languages is disrespectful to the United States.

''It's like wearing a cross upside down in a church,'' said Charles Linton, who lives in Glen Burnie.

Posted by crimnos @ 3:21 PM