The US Pledge-of-Allegiance Under the Microscope

Patriotism or Fascism or Something in Between?

A law was recently upheld in Nebraska establishing a mandatory period during the school day which will be devoted to reciting the United States of America's pledge-of-allegiance. Albeit mandatory, students are provided the option to abstain from actively participating. However, they must observe the mandatory pledge period in silence. Is this obligatory recital a benign form of collective patriotism or is it representative of state sanctioned paramilitary propaganda on line with the Young Pioneers of the former USSR?

When we consider the litany of American patriotic symbolism there are some unavoidable icons in that arsenal. Symbols like the affable Uncle Sam with his red white an blue tuxedo with tails and a stovepipe hat are emblematic of America throughout the world. The Statue of Liberty amid Liberty Island in the New York Harbor stands as an anchor to the American ideology of hope and fortune. As witnessed at the Olympic Games recently in London, the American Flag and American's corresponding national anthem help to define the elusive concept of Americanism. Those moments are when the ethnically and culturally diverse nooks of America are able to collectively participate in a benign form of patriotism. Americans engage in a national catharsis as the flag is hoisted into the rafters and the orchestra begins the first notes of the Star Spangled Banner.

Regardless of the symbolism employed or by which country, these are all forms of propaganda which engender national identity and a sense of otherness. The American pledge-of-allegiance is just another tool to propagate a unique and divergent national identity from others. However, the pledge-of-allegiance is rife with constitutional infringements and misguided ethical protocols.

The pledge-of-allegiance has not been with us since the inception of the flag which was purportedly sewn together by Betsy Ross. The pledge was originally drafted by the Baptist minister Francis Bellamy in 1892 to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' landfall in the Americas. As part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day the pledge was intended for children to recite and was published in the then popular magazine “The Youths Companion”. The pledge was finally officially adopted by Congress in 1942 as the world was at war and America's entrance into the fray looked imminent. However, the US Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that public schools could not make reciting the pledge-of-allegiance compulsory to their students.

The pledge-of-allegiance as it exists today has been an evolutionary process which has seen it undergo ideologically distinctive changes. The most significant alteration came in 1954 with the adoption of “under God” in the congressionally mandated verses. In 1951 the words “under God” were added by The Knights of Columbus which is coincidentally the worlds largest Catholic fraternal organization. A strange and befitting irony that in 1954 “God” would be attached to American patriotism as the country was fully embroiled in the Red Scare communist witch hunt know today more pejoratively as McCarthyism. The case could be made that McCarthyism ran roughshod over the 1^st Amendment of the US Constitution in much the same way the pledge-of-allegiance mandate is today.

Many affirm that the mandate of school recitals of pledge-of-allegiance is tantamount to negation and circumvention of the the right to free speech. The constitution holds basic tenets of dissent in its allowance and protection of free speech to every citizen which would also logically include standing and silent observation. Notwithstanding the possible ridicule and demonization of school children who invoke their right to dissent by not participating in saying the pledge-of-allegiance, there is a more insidious moral infringement on children which 1stAmendment supporters adduce.

Those who are most likely to recite the pledge most often (e.g. every day in public schools) are children. The advocates of 1^st Amendment rights claim that these K-12 students shouldn't be subjected to honoring the obligations put forth in the pledge. Furthermore, they cannot realistically comprehend what the pledge entails so giving their consent to something they don't understand is on par with brainwashing.

There must be a higher ethical code which doesn't manipulate children into subscribing to a myopic view of America patriotism while simultaneously aggrandizing a whole spectrum of American patriotism. Hopefully the US Supreme Court will be the next battleground between those in favor of the pledge-of-allegiance as it stands and advocates of upholding the integrity of 1^st Amendment.

Remembering to Forget: PTSD

The movie “Eternal Sunshine of aSpotless Mind” is essentially a morality play built around a common human desire to elevate painful memories by forgetting them. The movie ultimately finds its denouement by reuniting a couple who, through artificial precognition, have been exposed to the distressing memories of a relationship gone sour. Let's willing suspend our disbelief a bit longer and and attempt to separate the morality from the science. Would we still choose to forget? How could we forget? Ought it be modifying a memory, wiping a memory from the grey matter or cleansing a memory; which one is possible and which one would we choose? Bear in mind that every time we recall a memory it becomes tainted in comparison to the “pure” memory which was first implanted through experience. It follows in that logic, that people who suffer from amnesia retain the purist memories. Having no memories doesn't seem to be a valid alternative to unwanted memories. The inability to remember doesn't necessarily imply the total loss of memory. 

Oliver Sacks, the renowned neurologist, has shown that a man who was impaired by severe Alzheimer’s remembers little from his past and is, furthermore, is incapable of forming new memories. However, the man could recall with astounding accuracy the four individual parts of a whole host of songs he performed in his barbershop quartet. Two things are at play here. Firstly, it is the notion that portions of a memory are summoned from all parts of both hemispheres of the brain in order to make a new and unique recollection of a previous memory. In other words, the memory is altered each time we conjure up the scattered fragments, which, when pieced together again, is inevitably further from the “truth” of the initial memory. The second premise at play is tantamount to a persistent memory anchor. Regardless or despite brain trauma, which nullifies the construction of new memories or the ability to recollect vast swaths of old memories, there exists something innate in the brain which allows for highly particular memories to be recalled with vivid accuracy. Sacks sees this as a musical rudiment in the evolutionary hardwiring of the brain. He continues by stating that rhythm is the basal musical function which all humans have regardless of their shortfalls in more complex musical abilities like pitch and harmony. Taken even further, rhythm can be seen to be at the root of language which is our primary tool in group cohesion and social function. This is also evidenced in the Deaf who retain an inherent rhythmic tendency as witnessed by sign language communication which incorporates the same neural mechanics as spoken language. Steadfast memories garnered out of fear and trauma are the memories which we are most likely to want to forget in spite of how embedded they are in the human experience. Help may be just around the FDA approval corner. Scientists have discovered in the laboratory how these fear-eliciting and traumatic memories can be eroded away and possibly erased from our brains.

Here's how those scientists decoded the way in which trauma (i.e fear) works on memories and its subsequent erosion after the application of a particular chemical compound. During a two week period lab rats underwent intermittent acoustic stimulus followed by electroshocks (electrified metal floor in their cage) after the stimulus was introduced. The acoustic stimulus was introduced followed by a short delay after which the floor was provided a mild shock. The rats reacted to the stimulus by “freezing” in a catatonic state as they began to anticipate, in a Pavlovian behavioral way, the electroshock which was emanating from the floor. After the two weeks of applying the stimulus the rats were injected with Ibotenic acid in three areas of the brain; the lateral hypothalamic, midbrain grey region and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Although the local neurons were slightly damaged the fibrous passageways were left intact. The next phase for the scientists was to test the hypothesis. The rats were now subjected to the same conditioning from the acoustic stimuli of the previous two weeks. Amazingly, the rats did not “freeze” during the interim between the noise and the shocks. The memory of the electroshocks had apparently been erased from the rat brain. It seems reasonable to conclude that fear responses can be eroded from the original memory. The study also concluded that introducing the Ibotenic acid immediately after a traumatic event could be a way to more effectively, and possibly permanently, erase fear-eliciting memory.

Again two lines of extrapolation can be pursued if this method is applied to the human brain. On the one hand, despite the introduction of the chemical which led to the eroding of memory as witnessed in the lab rat study, a residue of memory lingers. This might be because the social and cultural parameters engender a solidifying function which aids in retaining the core attributes of the memory. Rituals, trauma, collective mores and norms, which are all shared by a community and reinforced more frequently, allow for the memories to endure complete erosion. Furthermore, it follows the logic postulated by Sacks that the memories which withstand the erosion process or the reoccurring evolution of the memories each time they are recollected are the ones tied most closely to rhythm. Perhaps the person recalling the memory invokes a series of symbolic phenoms and those in turn are what assist the memory in retaining its core attributes. In other words, the rhythmic quality of language is the keystone for holding on to the purist possible memory. This shouldn't be a social or scientific bulwark to unlocking the full potential of erasing traumatic memories for those who wish to forget.

How can one qualify oneself to affectively forget? In order to modify a preexisting memory it seems that two components are needed: Ibotenic acid and fear-eliciting trauma. Applying the chemical will be supportive in altering the traumatic memories which are recalled. What if we were to manufacture this drug and dispense it whenever unpleasant memories popped up in our mind's eye? Bad day at the office: gone. The nagging morose feelings associated with a romantic break up: gone. A particularly unscrupulous event perpetrated by local, state or federal government: gone. That last one might be in the realm of pulp science fiction but in theory the applications for erasing memory are as limitless as the human creativity. Imagine if such a drug was readily at hand to give to those of us with emotional memories like jealousy, rancor or anxiety. Maybe those of us harboring one or more out of a clinical laundry list of phobias could free ourselves from the memory of fear. Where should we begin? The military complex has a vast amount of cutting edge scientific discovery which flows out of government subsidized research into military applications. Once the military has tinkered around with the new technology it then releases the technology to the commercial and private sectors. The military could be spending time and resources to deal with a widespread and neglected aspect of its “peace keeping” efforts: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. All of us should encourage the federal government to invest in research which would aid our veterans of war in erasing the memories tied to their PTSD. The first stage in forgetting is remembering to help those who can't remember how to forget.

List of 5 Persistent Celtic Superstitions

Tikis, relics, talismans, lucky charms, omens or just a personal ritual to hedge your bets against bad fortune; they all are symbolic footholds in a chaotic unpredictable existence. The earliest temple yet discovered is Göbekli Tepe which is located in modern day Turkey. The in situ finds date the temple to it's earliest construction stage at 9000 BC. Preliminary evidence points to a codification of ritualized superstition in the form of animism as seen on the menacing statues of adorning many of the pillars found at the site. The people who built the temple complex were seemingly erecting a sacred area in which rituals could be preformed. Try envisioning the temple as a place where rituals were carried out as a “insurance policy” against possible malevolent supernatural forces which they were otherwise unable to abate or avoid. Both the animal paleozoological and paleobotanical finds at Göbekli Tepe indicate that the architects of this temple complex were still heavily dependent on hunting and gathering and not a fully developed sedentary farming society. 

The standard theories of the development of religion state that a stratified and complex religion (e.g. religious hierarchy) would not exist before a society adopted the technological fundamentals of neolithic revolution into their culture. Klaus Schmidt, the principle archeologist studying Göbekli Tepe, has said about the temple; "First came the temple, then the city". In other words, superstition came before religion. Several millenniums later these aspects of superstition along with technological and cultural traditions spread out over the Eurasian plate by peoples emanating from the edge of Fertile Crescent. The fertile crescent a.k.a the “bread basket of the world” or the “cradle of civilization” is seen by the archeological evidence to be the epicenter of the neolithic revolution which was can be viewed as the birth of the modern era. There were peoples who, like in the case of those who built Göbekli Tepe, were influenced by the advancements of the neolithic revolution but who didn't adopt the sedentary lifestyle needed to evolve into a complex and hierarchal society; i.e cities. 

This rudimentary process of influence from one culture to another is called diffusion. Diffusion is basically the transference of a cultural “artifact” from it's place of origin to another place. This process is manifested in such exchanges involving population migrations, trade, war or diplomatic contact. Often diffusion has an undertone of conquest as denoted by technological dominance. This anthropological theory has been altered and refined to become what it now deemed acculturation. Acculturation encompasses, therefore, the same mechanisms for adoption of new cultural traits from a dominant society interacting with a subordinate culture but with out an a priori malevolent intent.

One such group on the fringes of the neolithic European landscape was the ubiquitous but disparate category of people known collectively as the Celts. Celtic European occupancy traces back more than 2500 years and spans a territory from Eastern Europe, Greece, Spain, Northern Italy, Western Europe, England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Celts are considered to be the first major Indo-European peoples to spread across all of Europe. They apparently migrated begrudgingly due to pressures from other Indo-European groups such as the Germanic, Greek and Latin peoples. The Celts were a pre-literate society whose culture was preserved mainly through oral tradition. The sparse written accounts of the Celts are those of classical authors; chiefly the Greeks and Romans.

Accordingly, due to the late pacification and ensuing subjugation of Ireland and Scotland as well as other pockets of recalcitrant “pagans” in Europe, some vestiges of ancient celtic traditions in the form of superstition persisted. Some of those superstitions are so ingrained in our lives we neglect to realize the origin and meaning of the superstition. Here is a list of 5 Celtic Superstitions that have been with us for thousands of years and don't seem to be going away anytime soon. So, if the languid state of current world affairs has you in a pragmatic conundrum my advice would be to follow the Celt's lead.

Wishing Wells

The precise origins are obscured by history, yet there is archeological evidence to suggest that the practice of offering up money to water dates back to the period of the Roman occupation of Britain. The county of Northumberland is home to the Coventina Well where thousands of coins have been excavated. The minting dates on the coins range from the first through the fifth century AD. Due to the fact that the Coventina Well was discovered amidst apparent temple ruins the conclusion archeologists have drawn is that the offerings were made as part of a religious observance.

Mirrors

The superstition that ones soul could be absconded with by nefarious supernatural forces if ones reflection was seen in water predates the mirror. Accessing the original time frame of this superstition is almost impossible. Logic dictates that the superstition of a broken mirror's shards ensnaring the soul and the harbinger of bad luck is probably just a continuation of the aforementioned older superstition. The arbitrary length of time before the misfortunes are lifted comes from the Romans belief that seven years are needed for life to regenerate. This one is a superstition wrapped in a superstition.

Touch or Knock Wood

There are diverse explanations as to why touching or knocking wood developed into a superstition. The explanation which conforms to possible Celtic influence is the one discussed here. Celtic mythology held that faeries, pixies, brownies and other woodland little people used trees as their homes. Presumably, by knocking on the bark of a tree would awaken the slumbering faerie folk allowing them to hear your plea for a good favor. Simultaneously the knocking prevented the more malevolent and evil spirits of the woods from eavesdropping on your plea to the faeries and potentially sabotage it. The modern variation of touching or knocking wood to stave off ill fortune may have been adapted by the early Christians from the Celts. The early Christians attributed wood to being a symbol of the Cross on which one of their primary deities was sacrificed. Touching the Cross would imbue them through transference with the protection of their god.

Four Leaf Clover

Although the origins may be traced to the Celtic (Druid) priests throughout Europe, the survival of this superstition is chiefly due to its prevalence in modern Irish folklore. The scarcity of four leaf clovers contributed to their mystical quality among the Druids. The clovers were a viewed as tools to pry open the esoteric third-eye which allowed the Druid to initiate contact with the spirit world. Once in the spirit realm the Druid was able to consult the deities as a shaman on behalf of his people.

Rabbits Foot

Possessing a rabbit's foot talisman is so deeply engrained in Indo-European culture that assigning an origin to the superstition quickly becomes a fools errand. It is believed by some mythology scholars to have been practiced by Celts several thousand of years ago. This is only conjecture based on the Celtic belief that the rabbit or hare spent so much time underground allowing for more frequent contact with the underworld. Another explanation would be their association with fertility and rebirth. The Christian holy day of Easter has its roots planted in the ancient Celtic celebration of the birth of Spring. Rabbits, hares, chicks and eggs are all part of the rebirth symbolism connected to Spring and Easter. Furthermore, structural anthropologists deem the hare or rabbit as embodying a duality of good and bad which manifests itself in origin stories centered around twins. Claude Levi-Strauss, the late proponent of Structural Anthropology, states that the rabbit represents the twins because of its mouth being equally split down the middle: harelips. The twins in mythology emerging from the hare's mouth embark on different adventures one good and one bad. To possess the good (right) foot and to dismiss the bad (left) foot of a rabbit would garner the owner with symbolic power over the evil twin. 

Meditating on Moss

When you conjure up images of European medieval woodland landscapes, as depicted in fairy tales and hero's adventures, the scenery is often an iconic archetype. The mosaic of images probably contains languidly moving brooks flanked by dense arboreal vistas and most certainly there is a vibrant lush green carpet stretching in all directions on the forest floor. This expansive and luxuriant green blanket is composed of an interwoven series of a singular and amazing plant; moss. Moss comes in a host of varieties including color, texture, geometry and so forth. The moss of fairy tale panoramas is more than likely the long-fibered sphagnum moss better known as peat moss. Peat moss is not restricted to Europe it also has its North American and Asian counterparts. Moss has a lively and lavish history in the social, medical, spiritual, horticultural and even economic realms of peoples lives all over the world.

Sphagnum mosses are the taxonomical name given to living peat mosses but the more vernacular term “peat moss” or “bog moss” is what they are generically called. Peat moss is found predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere in peat bogs, moist tundra and conifer forests. Peat moss adapts to its environs by manipulating its own habitat. It retains up to 20 times its weight in moisture which means that the water is not draining away, thus, creating a bog and a vast network of mosses.

Horticulturists, botanists, weekend gardeners, and florists have recognized the multitude of benefits and applications which moss provides. Along with its exemplary quality of water retention it is also known for its anti-bacterial attributes. More recently the moss Physcomitrella patens is at the forefront of research into the medicinal and healing properties of all mosses. In 2007 a consortium of scientists were able to map the entire genome of Physcomitrella patens which will certainly pave the was for more extensive studies into the remarkable benefits of moss. 

Nonetheless, the history of bog moss in Europe is as insightful and it is inspirational. For example, The Battle of Clontarf in 1014 which saw the King of Leinster trying to assert more muscle in Ireland by ordering his men, including Viking mercenaries, to launch assault on Dublin. Brian Boru was the reigning “High King” of most of Ireland at the time which was a loose conglomerate of independent kingdoms. The battle was won by Brian Boru as he and his men staved off the King of Leinster but at a heavy bloody cost to both sides. A chronicler of the event noted bog moss being used in battlefield triage care; “...(they) stuffed their wounds with moss.” Furthermore, it's generally accepted that during the middle ages certain peat mosses were used more frequently by surgeons on the battlefield than was previously thought. The term Blood Moss alludes to its sponge-like absorption as it was used by Hospitallers during the Crusades to soak up and halt the flow of blood. While the Europeans were cultivating and codifying their pharmacopeia of mosses the Asia was nurturing their spiritual constitutions with all things moss.

The Japanese are notorious for their spectacularly manicured gardens. Theses gardens have a subtle and sensory captivating ability to lull one into a meditative state. It follows that these meditation gardens were seen as a respite from a hectic urban and or suburban life. Although Shintoism is the overarching religion of Japan, there are still remnants of Zen Buddhism which can be seen manifested in the meditation gardens. Seated meditation is one of the disciplines essential to effective zen meditation. The idea behind seated meditation is to calm both body and mind while concentrating inwardly which will bring upon insights leading to enlightenment. Japanese spiritual culture is intertwined with the ubiquity of the elemental forces like water, fire, earth, wind and “heaven” which are all part and parcel to meditation gardens.

Cultivating these elements or immersing oneself into in a serene environment is at the core of Japanese seated meditation. Some of the oldest meditation gardens in Japan are designed to incorporate moss as reoccurring and thus, calming theme. The most famous of those gardens is Saihō-ji, the Moss Garden, in Kyoto. Saihō-ji dates from around 1339 and its establishment is attributed Muso Soseki who was court politician, writer and obvious savvy organizer. Today the Moss Garden is so popular that access is limited to 90 minutes per visit and only after a lengthy period waiting for your request to be processed. This is a discernible testament to the spiritual importance of moss in the daily lives of the Japanese. Although not quite on par with zen meditation the western world has embraced the esthetic and pragmatic elegance of moss. 

Moss has become an indispensable gardening tool which is characteristically used today as a decorative moisture sponge which is clumped at the base of potted orchids and succulents. Any garden shop worth is salt liberally utilizes moss in their finished products. Moss is loved by florists and gardeners working with succulents and orchids because moss so readily soaks up and holds the water like a mini reservoir. This allows the orchids and succulents to access the moisture when needed while avoiding rotting issues.

Here's a list of some of those uses for peat moss:

• Soilless Planting – Succulents can grow directly in moss.
• Making Forms – Like succulent wreaths and topiaries.
• Securing Plants – Stuffing and tucking the space around the succulent and orchid roots with moss to hold it in place.
• Soil Conditioning – Provides moisture retention, drainage, and nourishment.
• Container Accent – it just looks luxurious.
  
  

Admittedly, growing sphagnum moss in your Florida garden can seem like a daunting task. Florida, especially in the Summer, is not the boreal climate suited to wild moss forests. There are some ways by which you can enjoy many aspects of moss while not having to compromise on esthetics. Planting a terrarium using long stemmed moss, succulents and or orchids is one way to cultivate beauty and serenity. Visit your local garden shop for tips and tricks and many more ideas on how to enjoy the wondrous green plant Moss.

A List of 5 Hominid Evolutionary Dead Ends or Kissing Cousins

In order to jump the line with your “fast pass” and enjoy the ride you'll need to check your intelligent design preconceptions with the hat check attendants. This bumpy ride is a headlong plunge into the evolutionary underbelly of the taxonomical hominid. This classification of the hominid, codified by the Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus, groups humans (homo) with the great apes in the same category. Since that time hominid has come to be reclaimed by anthropologists, primatologists, evolutionary biologists and paleontologists to mean, in a stricter sense, humans who aren't homo sapiens but closer to us than chimpanzees. Until now no missing link type of Rosetta Stone bone fragment or DNA sequence has been found which can delineate conclusively how modern homo sapiens arrived at the top of the food chain. Scientists, therefore, still have a multitude of erudite coffee klatch to bicker over in their quest to explain whence we homos came. A couple of the hominids on the list of evolutionary dead ends were in a Darwinistic sense predestined to ossify into the annals of prehistory. They were either out competed for resources or unable to adapt to climate changes or succumbed to a hitherto unknown disease. These hypotheses are affectionately called the “Kill, Chill or Ill” theories. Recently new DNA evidence has revealed that some ethnic populations around the world have residual DNA from these dead end hominids. The logical conclusion for those traces of extinct DNA must be an alarming rate of sexual interbreeding. In other words, sex, sex and more sex is the key understanding some of the evolutionary dead ends which helped get us on top of the modern food chain.

Homo floresiensis (hobbit)

Era:     95,000 – 17,000 years ago

Habitat:     Island of Flores, Indonesia

Major find:    Near complete female skeleton dating back about 18,000 years ago—in Liang Bua cave       on the island of Flores, Indonesia.

Sex or dead end:   No DNA has been extracted from floresiensis so sex is still an unknown. Best guess now is either kill or chill

Gigantopithecus

Era:     9 million years ago until roughly 100 thousand years ago

Habitat:     Primarily China, India and Vietnam

Major find:    German anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald found petrified teeth in a Chinese medicine apothecary in 1935

Sex or dead end:   No DNA has been extracted from Gigantopithecus so sex is unlikely. However, sex has been informally postulated because some forensic anthropologists claim Gigantopithecus to be the modern hominid mistaken for global bigfoot sightings.

Ardipithecus Ramidus

Era:     About 4.4 million years ago

Habitat:     Eastern Africa (Middle Awash and Gona, Ethiopia)

Major find:    First fossil remains were found in the Middle Awash area of Ethiopia between 1992 and 1994

Sex or dead end:   The pelvis seems to be designed for bipedalism which would suggest sex. Ardipithecus Ramidus is disinguished from the other Ardipitheci in this fact.

Paranthropus Aethiopicus

Era:     About 2.7 to 2.3 million years ago

Habitat:     Eastern Africa (Turkana basin of northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia)

Major find:    The “Black Skull" west of Lake Turkana in Kenya

Sex or dead end:   Too little is known about Paranthropus Aethiopicus to guess but sex seems to be the best fit. It is closely related to Australopithecus afarensis because it shares many attributes, or the other “robust” australopithecines like P. boisei, which many scientists claim might be a direct descendant of P. aethiopicus

Denisovan

Era:     41,000 years ago to present?

Habitat:     Central Asia, Siberia, Indonesia, Australia, Melanesia

Major find:    finger bone fragment of a juvenile female found in Denisova caves in Siberia

Sex or dead end:   Sex, Sex and more Sex. Much like the residual genes of Neanderthal which homo sapiens carry (e.g. red hair)so too Denisovan gene markers have been found in modern ethnic populations of Indonesia, Australia and Melanesia.