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Frontrunner For City Council Speaker Refused To Recite Pledge Of Allegiance
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 12, 2013
Modified Nov 12, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 12, 2013
Modified Nov 12, 2013
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Flags rank high among the human species' ugliest symbols, up there with peeing Calvin and colorful dancing bears. Designed by ruling classes to divide the masses and turn them against each other in paroxysms of nationalism and war, flags are nasty reminders of our deeply-entrenched intellectual enslavement to an imposed Identity. And then there's God—America's Pledge of Allegiance, written by a Christian Socialist, has featured the LORD prominently since 1954. All things considered, it's a weird, ritualistic incantation that makes many individuals uncomfortable, including, it seems, City Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito.
On the heels of a NY Post story insinuating that Mark-Viverito is unfit to be City Council Speaker because she visited Bolivia, Capital New York has something today about how she didn't recite the Pledge of the Allegiance for a long time. Mark-Viverito, who is originally from the unincorporated U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, was known for standing when the pledge was recited but not chanting the magical oath along with the Real Patriots.
"I have always stood for the Pledge of Allegiance," Mark-Viverito said in a statement. "I love this country and I love this city. Growing up in Puerto Rico, my dream was to come to New York because I knew it was the greatest city in the world."
Mark-Viverito's spokesman has not yet explained to us why the Councilmember stood but stayed silent. Does the Councilmember hate America, or just God? Could this be a cunning ploy to assuage Godless liberal New Yorkers? Whatever the case may be, she has since started bleating the oath along with the others, according to Will Sweeney, one of the Councilmember's "unpaid supporters."
Sweeney said another member approached Mark-Viverito "a few months ago," and the two had a frank conversation during which the member expressed her discontent, and Mark-Viverito realized her actions were being misinterpreted. At that point, Sweeney said, she decided to begin reciting the pledge.
We were really pulling for Mark-Viverito to be the next Speaker, but this sudden pivot toward nationalistic conformity is a huge turnoff. What's next? Is she going to tell us that she doesn't stay up late with Bolivian socialists, cutting out lines with their ACLU cards atop frayed first editions of the Marx-Engels Reader? New York's liberals are really losing their edge.
Tagged
idiocracy
melissa mark-viverito
Politics
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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