Should You Regard National Symbols As Sacred?

Ronna McDaniel, who is the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, writes that the national anthem “is a sacred symbol of our great country”.

Sacred’s main meaning is “connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose”. Neither the U.S. flag nor the anthem nor the pledge of allegiance are connected with God or religion. Since it’s anti-religious to suggest that the flag, the anthem or the pledge are holy, she cannot be expressing that meaning of sacred.

McDaniel can only mean they’re currently regarded and/or should be regarded reverently, which is also a meaning of sacred. She’s saying that the flag, the anthem and the pledge are or should be regarded with deep respect. We stand at attention before them as an expression of that deep admiration or we should stand before them.

You cannot be forced to respect any person, any god or God, any country, any symbol of a State, or indeed any thing whatsoever, shallowly or deeply, because respect is a feeling and your feelings belong to you. You can, however, be taught or influenced to feel such respect and you can be taught or influenced to exhibit such respect even when you do not feel it.

She may be right that most or many or a majority of Americans regard these symbols with reverence. Who really knows? But if they do, should they? Should you?

McDaniel associates these symbols with the military, with “the millions of Americans who have fought and died to protect our freedoms”, with “our country’s greatest victories and most beautiful moments,” and she mentions an NFL player who is “a former Army ranger”. To her, the flag represents heroic sacrifices. She writes of “the flag draped on the casket of a hero who made the ultimate sacrifice and is coming home to rest…”

We should, she is saying, bow down before the military and feel deep respect and admiration for it because it has preserved our freedoms. Should these national symbols be sacred? Should we regard them reverently? These are questions for each of us to answer, because feelings are personal. These are not simply questions having to do with what NFL players do or do not do, or with what NFL owners contract with their players to do or with what football fans prefer to see or not see.

McDaniel’s article is titled “Why I Stand for Our Flag”. The question her opinion piece raises is broad. One’s attitude toward these national symbols is a personal matter.

Should you stand out of respect for the military of the U.S.? Should you sing the anthem? Should you say the pledge? Should you feel positively toward the flag? Should you regard these actions as rituals, solemnly undertaken?

Not without ignoring multiple millions of deaths and casualties attributable to the U.S. and its military forces since World War 2. Was this really necessary “to protect our freedoms”? Who has started a war against this country since World War 2?

McDaniel is an establishment politician and a political operative. She’s blind to these deaths. She’s convinced it’s all for the good of Americans. Her ability to look at the facts objectively is turned off, shut down, inoperative at this time. Her rational facility is thwarted in favor of a false story she believes and is propagating.

You, however, do not have to turn yourself or allow yourself to be turned into a robot who worships the military or the State and who short circuits its own thinking with myths and propaganda. You can walk away from this and free yourself from it, because your feelings belong to you and you do have a will. You have no good reason to regard symbols of State with reverence. They really do not deserve it, and that’s being charitable.

Share

10:47 am on September 30, 2017