Alright let’s give five minutes to the kid who won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance because of perceived injustices in America.  I was going to let this one pass in silence, but the media keeps recycling it.  My guess is that they’re either out of news for the moment or that they’re hoping this catches on and the boy becomes some kind of movement poster child.  My first (and second) instinct is that this has a lot less to do with gay and minority issues than what he and everyone else is trying to make of it.     So I won’t go there.  It looks like a red herring.  Although what the boy is doing isn’t juvenile delinquency, it smacks of juvenile issue making.  I would know, because I’ve done some of it myself.  That is, out of boredom or sheer adolescent whim, you do something or write something related to adult issues and then watch the amusing result as the grown-ups around you get hot and bothered and heap attention upon you.  Suddenly you become a socially enlightened prodigy.  Adults talk about you, some criticize you, others defend you.  In this case the kid in question got a spot on CNN.  Good work.  I didn’t score that big on my best days, but then I didn’t have gay rights as my hood ornament, either.  Setting everything else aside for a minute, there’s a deeper current that I find annoying in the midst of this whole affair.   (more…)

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