Allegiance and flag burning
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by M Parrott
Article ID: 1219
“On my honour, I promise that I will do my best, to do my duty to God and to the Queen”
- Boy Scout promise, United Kingdom
“I … swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.”
- Oath of Allegiance for MPs on induction to British parliament
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
- Pledge of Allegiance, United States
Each one of these promises allegiance to the state or head of state. That’s the first problem with allegiance: who you promise your allegiance to. Allegiance in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Allegiance has brought about civil war, parliamentary change and many other things. But the problem comes when you swear allegiance – unchangeable allegiance. What if that system or person becomes corrupt? Then you have a dilemma. What do you do? You stop your allegiance. But you’ve sworn unchangeable allegiance, so how is it that you can now break your oath? Because you know they’re wrong.
You know that the allegiance is not to the person, or the government, but to the idea. That makes the difference. Why swear allegiance to a person or governmental system when in actual fact you are only attached to their ideas, and ideas change? Imagine this scenario: you’ve just sworn allegiance to your government and they decide they want to kill half of your country. Do you stick to that allegiance? NO!
Allegiance is made for two reasons. One, personal gain, often found in business. Two, societal gain. If that person or system changes so it no longer benefits you, you’ll no longer stand by that allegiance. Maybe it’s better to have allegiance to an idea, or better yet, people.
This brings us to patriotism. Patriotism seemingly flows from the British media’s mainstream attention of the supposed patriotic American society. This is from the fear created by supposed foreign threats (even though 7/7 had British bombers).
British patriots want an oath of allegiance sworn on the British flag, similar to that of the pledge of allegiance in the USA. This would entail unquestionable following of any government policy or whatever the government decided upon. “Unquestioning”? Doesn’t that seem a bit stupid to you? To blindly follow your government, without doubt, is stupid. It defies the freedoms your country is based upon. America is based upon the liberty won when the Founding Fathers questioned the rule of the British. Modern England is based upon Oliver Cromwell and others questioning the prerogative of Charles I and rebelling, later chopping off Charles’s head.
The basis of Western society (not just America and Britain) is questioning your government. To say you shouldn’t question your government is stupid. What about having allegiance to an item, or a symbol? See the video below where Penn & Teller do an act in their show where they burn an American flag. Penn says a very important thing:
“What if we were to burn the flag not in disgust, not in protest of anything, but in celebration of the very freedoms that flag symbolizes.”
Allegiance to a symbol is stupid. Allegiance should be given to what that symbol represents, the freedoms and the rights. The freedoms and rights are given to you so you can burn that flag.
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