Standing or Sitting Alone is NOT a crime

Colin Kaepernick refused to stand and place his hand over his heart and show his allegiance to the playing of the National Anthem. For this he is feeling considerable heat, as those who do enjoy such displays are very angry at him.

Others have felt such heat in the past - including literal heat as a punishment for not giving a public display of fealty to a patriotic image.

In the Book of Daniel, Chapter 3, verses 1-7 we read:

1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,

5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:

6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

In every age and nation, there are rituals of obedience to the ruler or ruling class. Be it Pope or People, Dictator or Democracy, President or Premier, King or Congress.

And there are some who - like Daniel and Colin Kaepernick - do not wish to give such fealty, obedience, worship, respect, or anything else you care to call it. Many knelt in the plains when they heard the music, but as the accompanying picture shows, three stood instead.

Some times it is a golden image of the current King. Sometimes a standard with SPQR (in the name of the Senate and People of Rome), often nowadays a flag. And while most in America stand when they hear the music of the Anthem, one - Colin - sat instead.

But in each case, it is not enough for us to see the image or flag, we are commanded by law or by custom, to show that outward sign of allegiance to the symbol, or suffer punishment from ostracism to prison to - in Bible times - that fiery furnace.

If others sit, we must sit. If they kneel we must kneel. And for Colin it is said, that when others stand - he MUST stand.

The outward signs are not relevant. Except that they must be shown. It could be standing up with your right arm stretched out in a Romish or Nazi salute. Or it could be ritualistically singing the praises of your King or your Country. It could be placing a hand over your heart, signifying that you do love Big Brother, or the Queen, or the Party or the Nation.

In all cases, those most in favor of it are those most insistent on it being mandatory. The fear is if some do not, then later still more may not. Soon, perhaps, none will. And where will that leave the few then laying in the dirt or trying to sing a two century old song?

Yet mandatory allegiance, mandatory worship, mandatory respect, are all oxymorons. There can be no allegiance, worship or respect where force or pressure is exerted to compel it.

Such things may only exist in an environment where it is possible to say "no" without suffering harmful consequences. Because where harmful consequences exist, how are we to know if the people are on their knees - or on their feet - out of true respect and homage, or fear of the mob or government?

So when we insult those who refuse to pledge allegiance to that which we feel they should, we're only confessing then that we do not think it is worth pledging to voluntarily. If we punish those who do not contort their bodies as we choose to or mouth the words that we enjoy, we prove our own lack of confidence in our ideals being voluntarily accepted.

Jehovah's Witnesses, a minor off-shoot faith of the 19th century American Restorationist movement won the right for everyone, quite some time ago, to NOT Pledge Allegiance to the Flag. The Supreme Court of the United States so ruled. The precedence stands.

It is in no way required to give allegiance, or to show a public display of submission or respect, to anyone or any thing except that which you choose.

Jehovah's Witnesses choose to reserve such for God. So do various others, usually of even less popular faiths. So do some few, not for religious reasons, but for not agreeing with various social, economic or political situations that they feel the nation they are in is not addressing appropriately.

At one point, many refused to stand or revere the anthem or flag while 58,000 teens were being sacrificed in a pointless undeclared war in Vietnam. They were vilified for that, yet history has shown them to have been correct.

Do not care then, at a football game of all things, if you see someone refuse to chant "Big Brother" or sing "God Save the Queen" or "Seig Heil" or place their hand over their heart. Give such allegiance and in such a matter as you care to, and be glad that none are stopping you.

Take that as enough, and don't force others to do as you do, for you'd sure not like them to force you to sit, or mock or jeer you for it.

Privatize the Public Schools

Privatize the public schools. At an average of $8,000 spent per pupil per year, those taxes could as easily pay each poor parent to hire a tutor for their kids!

The Goose and the Gander

Do you support the policy of the United States in drone bombing various "targets" around the world, even though we are not at war with those nations, nor have any trials been gave to those targeted?  Do you find movies like "Eye in Sky" a great portrayal of how so long as we wrestle with it a bit, it's okay to do what we got mad at the Japanese for doing in 1941?  

Here then for your review is a special treat.  I, your humble and amicable anarchist, have gone into the future, so I can bring back a news blurb from that time, and you can see if you find it to your taste. 

Here you go:

The Bruces.  Bringing the total drone bombed this year to 822.

5 AUG 2072 (Springfield, MwAD) - The latest in the ramped up series of drone bombings by the People's Republic of China killed four and injured five early this morning in Rochester, a poorer suburb of Springfield, the capitol of the Midwest Administrative District.  Beijing has released a statement saying that Tibetan Nationalist Choden Ho was discovered to be hiding in the suburban home only after months of intensive tracking of him.  "We take reports of collateral damage seriously, and regret the unfortunate loss of life.  Yet the assessment was made, at the highest levels, that this would be the only opportunity for bringing justice to the man most responsible for the Hong Kong Blinder Bomb last year."

The virus bomb was believed to be responsible for the deaths of 2,284 people in Hong Kong last May, and an additional 35,000 plus permanently disabled, in what is believed to be the largest single terrorist attack (using a virus) to date.  Significant parts of Hong Kong are yet quarantined, and 98% of the survivors of the deadly plague are blind and/or mentally impaired. 

A U.S. State Department spokesperson from the Arlington Capitol Zone released a statement saying, "We continue to deplore these unwarranted and unprovoked attacks upon our soil.  Since the Tehran Accords of '58, the United States as refrained from drone bombing any nation that we are not formally at war with.  It is high time that that the PRC signed that Accord."

Officials in Beijing have consistently maintained that they will never sign any accord or treaty that is in any way binding upon them when it comes to their national security.  That they "reserve the right to use any and all means to guard their interests at home and abroad".  

James Bruce, a robocar programmer, his wife Trisha Bruce, and their infant daughter Madison (six months old) were among those killed.  Several neighbors were also treated for minor injuries sustained from the blast damages done to their own unreinforced old-style homes.  Choden Ho was believed to have secured a position as a cook/gardener with the family.