It's called "plegde of allegiance". In front of every school there's a giant pole with a US flag on it, and every morning, for their entire education, from seven to eighteen years old, they have to gather in front of it and recite their loyalty to the flag. If they don't, they get punished. Might not be allowed into class, that's an accepted and pretty standard form of punishment.
So if a child consistently doesn't want to declare loyalty to the flag, it's a waiting game until that child realises they're not going to graduate and breaks, or, well, doesn't graduate and also breaks, only in a different way. This includes migrant children and kids obviously being actively mistreated by "the flag", like Black teens that get pretty consistently killed in the street.
(I know that's another shocking phrase, so - USA has a persistent murdererer-cop problem. Incidents when a Black man, teenager or even boy gets shot dead walking down the street for "looking suspicious" happen regularly, about a 100 every year. So one every 3-4 days. An 11 year old playing in the park was killed that way a few years back. Cops who do that are typically not punished by the law and continue to be cops.)
(Jesus, it doesn't sound real, does it. I know all this and putting it so plainly shocked me anyway. But it's true, there's a non-exhaustive list of those killed here:
(I tried to find the name of that boy from the park, because I couldn't remember, and it turns out a different 11 year old had been recently shot by police — in his home, after calling 911 for help. Also an 8 year old girl, and a 15 year old kindapped boy they were supposed to be rescuing. The one I was thinking about was Tamir Rice, apparently he was 12. Also there was Trayvon Martin, who was hunted down by his white neighbor, who wasn't a cop. He wasn't punished by the law either. Those are just (some of) the famous cases, and only the young ones. That list from wiki gives a better idea - 2023: January 3, January 7, January 17...)
Generally, if you ask "how bad is it?" about USA, the answer is almost always "worse."
This is also why I have some compassion for US soldiers — they have military representatives visit (poor) high schools, convincing them to sign up. You only have to be 17 to write off your life in a legally binding contract and be sent to either kill or die. Funnily enough, you have to be 21 in USA to drink.
USA is predatory about it to the point of military units having PR and movie departaments.
And the army is pretty much controlling what can be in all the other movies, too. To make a movie about the army you need the army, so they get to read the scripts and edit them as they please. You have to be VERY determined (and rich) to make anything but hero-worship about them in Hollywood.
Re: Foggy prepares defence for Matt
It's called "plegde of allegiance". In front of every school there's a giant pole with a US flag on it, and every morning, for their entire education, from seven to eighteen years old, they have to gather in front of it and recite their loyalty to the flag. If they don't, they get punished. Might not be allowed into class, that's an accepted and pretty standard form of punishment.
So if a child consistently doesn't want to declare loyalty to the flag, it's a waiting game until that child realises they're not going to graduate and breaks, or, well, doesn't graduate and also breaks, only in a different way. This includes migrant children and kids obviously being actively mistreated by "the flag", like Black teens that get pretty consistently killed in the street.
(I know that's another shocking phrase, so - USA has a persistent murdererer-cop problem. Incidents when a Black man, teenager or even boy gets shot dead walking down the street for "looking suspicious" happen regularly, about a 100 every year. So one every 3-4 days. An 11 year old playing in the park was killed that way a few years back. Cops who do that are typically not punished by the law and continue to be cops.)
(Jesus, it doesn't sound real, does it. I know all this and putting it so plainly shocked me anyway. But it's true, there's a non-exhaustive list of those killed here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unarmed_African_Americans_killed_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States)
(I tried to find the name of that boy from the park, because I couldn't remember, and it turns out a different 11 year old had been recently shot by police — in his home, after calling 911 for help. Also an 8 year old girl, and a 15 year old kindapped boy they were supposed to be rescuing. The one I was thinking about was Tamir Rice, apparently he was 12. Also there was Trayvon Martin, who was hunted down by his white neighbor, who wasn't a cop. He wasn't punished by the law either. Those are just (some of) the famous cases, and only the young ones. That list from wiki gives a better idea - 2023: January 3, January 7, January 17...)
Generally, if you ask "how bad is it?" about USA, the answer is almost always "worse."
This is also why I have some compassion for US soldiers — they have military representatives visit (poor) high schools, convincing them to sign up. You only have to be 17 to write off your life in a legally binding contract and be sent to either kill or die. Funnily enough, you have to be 21 in USA to drink.
USA is predatory about it to the point of military units having PR and movie departaments.
And the army is pretty much controlling what can be in all the other movies, too. To make a movie about the army you need the army, so they get to read the scripts and edit them as they please. You have to be VERY determined (and rich) to make anything but hero-worship about them in Hollywood.