I reject all appeals to “authority”, “divine command”, and “patriotism” to legitimize any body of knowledge, truth, and ethics…
In other words, I pledge allegiance to no man, no creed, and no flag.
I pledge allegiance only to the sincere pursuit of knowledge and truth… and to living a life of responsible freedom in accord with my innate sense of right and wrong.
Allegiance to anything less would be dishonest and cowardly. An abdication of responsibility. A rejection of my freedom and dignity.
For blind obedience to the powers that be and conformity with the herd are the very things that allow ignorance, fear, greed, racism, sexism, partisanship, religiosity, nationalism, poverty, and violence to fester–in so many vicious cycles as both causes and effects of each other.
My conscience will not allow me to be complicit in perpetuating the insanity of it all.
The featured image is of August Landmesser refusing to give the Nazi salute during Hitler’s visit to his factory in Hamburg in 1936.
No one could have said it better than you. I’m in full agreement, and everyone else with even a tiny bit of common sense in them should agree with this too. We shouldn’t blindly follow the masses of people, but we should follow that of truth and justice, etc. To follow what the majority is doing, without giving lots of thought to it, is just plain ignorant. You must be willing to seek the truth and do that which you know to be right, rather than blindly follow anything, or anyone, and end up doing that which is wrong and to which could harm others, including that of your ownself.
Thanks for the most kind words and for sharing your thoughts, KM. Your resonance is heartening… as it’s nice to know that freethinking and ethical people like you exist. All the best.
Always thought-provoking, Frank. You speak of your “innate sense” of right and wrong. I’d love to hear you expand on that. (Forgive me if you’ve written about this previously.) Though I feel my principles are largely due to my family, I know some people learn by their parents’ bad examples. One of the January 6 insurrectionists was turned in by his son. At any rate, how we develop our ethical codes is a valuable topic worth pondering.
The Landmesser photo was stirring; I’d never seen it before. I appreciated your candor in responding that you don’t know how you’d react in such circumstances. None of us who haven’t been tested knows, of course. Let’s hope we all do what we can to make sure we’re not confronted by anything remotely comparable!
Thank you for your always thoughtful commentary, Annie, and for your insightful question which really gets to the root of so much man-made suffering that plagues the world (and that holds the key to world peace).
Indulge me as I try and fail to give a sufficient answer to your deadly important question…
Most of my posts are an expression of my worldview in the present, but I’ve never outlined the tortuous and torturous trajectory it took to get there–both in terms of my upbringing and formative life experiences.
That said, I’ve reflected deeply on this trajectory over the years and have written extensively (for my eyes only) about the roles of nature and nurture in making me who I am today, but only in an attempt to make sense of my own messy life and to come to terms with the imperfections I inherited from my elders, society, and American culture at large.
I discovered that my sense of right and wrong was and still is grounded in freedom, responsibility, fairness, and compassion–in PRINCIPLE. I share more about this worldview in “What I Affirm” in the menu above. But translating “in PRINCIPLE” to “in PRACTICE” is a fraught with dilemmas and always rubs up against my human frailties, shortcomings, and so many harsh realities imposed by the universe.
But back to your question… I discovered that my sense of right and wrong was PRE-VERBAL. In other words, I knew and felt that responsible freedom, fairness, and compassion were in my DNA before I even had language to describe these things. I didn’t need a word for freedom to know that freedom was important to me. I didn’t need words for responsibility, fairness, and compassion to know what these values were good for all of us. Neither did I need anyone to teach me these things.
Despite being raised in a bubble defined by the “one true religion” in the “best country in the world” and with a materialistic vision of success, my innate sense of right and wrong survived. I take very little credit for this because I still had sufficient opportunities to pursue my freedom. I took full advantage of opportunities to read, go to school, learn new skills, travel to foreign lands, and do honorable things that scared me–exposing the many blinding and stifling myths of the narrow-minded bubble I was raised in. Importantly, I was fortunate that my innate sense of right and wrong was not completely beaten out of me as is the case in so many cults, theocracies, and police states.
PS. Thanks a million for your most profound question, Annie. Because you’ve inspired me to revisit my private reflections on the subject, to reconsider my thinking, and to entertain sharing them publicly in the hopes of doing some good. All the best.
After seeing that picture and reading this post, naturally I had to go in search of information about August Landmesser … sad, tragic story but interesting and I’m glad I found it. Thanks, Frank!
Heavy stuff indeed, Jill. Thanks for checking in and sharing your reaction. I trust that you know what and who I am really challenging in the present.
Frank, it’s wonderful if we could all hold such high ideals for ourselves and our nation. However, I do not consider it “blind obedience” when I pledge allegiance to my adopted country. I may not agree with all of our policies, laws, and regulations, but I continue to stand in solidarity with my collective American family.
Thanks for sharing, Rosaliene.
I think I’d seen that photo before, Frank, but I never knew the name of the man refusing to give the Hitler salute. The woman Landmesser wished to marry was Irma Eckler, a Jewish woman as you probably know. So says Wikipedia. I would take your pledge if I had more certainty that I would do as Landmesser and Eckler did under the same circumstances: violate the racial laws of the Third Reich. I have passed some of those unnamed tests the Stoics believed were essential to discover ourselves, but am not confident I would pass those I have not faced. I would like to think that you would from what you have written today and in the past. Thanks for what you’ve written.
Thank you for your always thoughtful commentary, Gerald. And for the vote of confidence.
To be clear, I don’t aspire to martyrdom. I’d rather live for a cause than die for one.
I also don’t know what my limits are or what I’d have done in Landmesser’s shoes. Fortunately, I can speak my mind and publicly reject the very things many Americans hold dear without much fear of backlash.
By coming out so to speak, my hope is that someone else will come out as well… creating a ripple effect that will put the unwarranted reverence for so many forms of divisive nonsense out of business. (imagine there’s no countries. And no religion too)
Shalom.