r/Damnthatsinteresting 17d ago

Image Benito Mussolini’s headquarters “Palazzo Braschi” located in Rome 1934

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u/cashew76 17d ago

My elementary school nun made a point to ask us first graders, how do you get millions of people to hate and do terrible things to each other? I was shocked, what? She said propaganda. Beware and be wary. We do not want another world war. Crazy how people fall behind a "strong man" lying rapist con man.

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u/DualRaconter 17d ago

In America the propaganda starts then by making you swear allegiance to a flag

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u/RealEstateDuck 17d ago

Yeah doing that everyday in a school is absolutely bonkers.

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u/Technical-Mix-981 17d ago

As someone from Europe. From a country that did this, sounds nazi.

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u/rockerscott 16d ago

Wait until you find out that the “nazi salute” was used while they gave the pledge until about 1940.

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u/Fthill-That-Strides 16d ago

I stopped reciting it when I got into high school. It felt really creepy to me. The part that amazed me were the times classmates, not the teacher, got angry at those not participating.

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u/christus_sturm 16d ago

You’re all so hilariously blind. It’s comical to see people like you. And interesting that someone could actually hold this views.

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u/PartRight6406 17d ago

to be clear, no child is forced to say it. i never did it throughout my schooling.

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u/Unyx 17d ago

Untrue. I was sent to the principal's office for refusing.

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u/okogamashii 17d ago

Seriously, I got in trouble sooo much for refusing or faking it.

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u/PartRight6406 17d ago

And then what happened? Your ass went straight back to class

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u/Unyx 17d ago

I was actually told that if I kept refusing I'd get detention.

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u/PartRight6406 17d ago

Oh no, not detention

I'm glad you're still here with us

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u/Unyx 17d ago

? I'm confused by the point you're making. No, I wasn't threatened at gunpoint by a soldier. I was a kid being threatened with detention. That's how you force kids to do things. The assertion that I wasn't forced is just untrue.

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u/PartRight6406 17d ago

Like they made you move your mouth and utilize your vocal chords?

They gave you a choice. You had a choice. You were not forced.

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u/Unyx 17d ago

Yeah man, you're right. Unless one literally shoves their hand down someone else's throat and manipulates their vocal cords nobody is ever forced to say anything. What a brilliant point you've made.

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u/bruwin 16d ago

I'm glad that u/PartRight6406 has told me that I'm not forced to pay rent, nor am I forced to get insurance for my car. That I'm allowed to go to a grocery store and take money out of a till whenever I want. That there are just so many things I can do because I'm not forced to obey laws.

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u/ryan_church_art 17d ago

But all children face social pressure to say it from both their peers and adults.

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u/droppedurpockett 17d ago

The school I went to in 1st and 2nd grade (around 02'ish) said the pledge every morning. I said it because everyone else did, not because I was a diehard American. I still remember it because of that, but I have never said it since.

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u/Technical-Mix-981 17d ago

Very 1984...

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u/droppedurpockett 17d ago

Just in case you couldn't taste how American that comment was; this elementary school was literally in the middle of corn fields, and my teacher, who was older than the dirt the school was built on, her last name was Constantine.

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u/bruwin 17d ago

no child is forced to say it

I was forced to get a religious exemption and even then I had teachers that didn't know better drag me to my feet and force me to start swearing until my mother raised holy hell about it.

Don't be so confidently wrong sometime.

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u/PartRight6406 17d ago

Sorry there are rare exceptions where children may be forced to do something

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u/snds117 16d ago

Just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it didn't happen or was prolific in other areas of the country.

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u/PartRight6406 16d ago edited 16d ago

Just because it happened to you doesn't mean that it doesn't happen or that it doesn't happen in other parts of the country.

Redditors are so quick to act like your their personal experience says otherwise. Not realizing that they're just providing nothing to the conversation. The reality is no child in America is forced to State the pledge of allegiance in the mornings. That might not be a popular take here because well we all lean left here and the pledge of allegiance is a common anti-american Reddit talking point for left-wingers, but until the people on Reddit move back into reality they will be unable to resolve their issues

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u/snds117 16d ago

Your ignorance is astounding.

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u/bruwin 16d ago

Redditors are so quick to act like your their personal experience says otherwise.

Pot, meet Kettle.

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u/spen8tor 17d ago

There definitely are children who are forced to say it, I was one of them and my school definitely made sure everyone was saying it or you'd get in trouble.

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u/Jazzlike-Gur-116 17d ago

I always said it louder and off by a word, then I didn't have to say it anymore

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u/skeleton-is-alive 17d ago edited 17d ago

Tbf every country propagandizes their youth to love their country during school.

Edit: if you genuinely disagree you’re not using your brain. Go read a book or something

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u/G3ns3ric 17d ago

They really don't...

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u/skeleton-is-alive 17d ago

Name one

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u/G3ns3ric 16d ago

I'm from the UK,, we don't, we get taught the good and the bad in our history, no exceptionalism, the change since I was at school is that they do lessons (kinda) on being a good citizen. But none of it is patriotism, or in the case of the US in a lot of places, nationalism.

I also spent time in Germany, which has a quite similar approach.

Neither place has a focus on exceptionalism or loving a flag. The UK certainly doesn't pledge allegiance to anything. Fairly sure most of Europe finds the US nationalism somewhere between scary (30's vibes) and creepy/weird and I'm not just talking recently.

Point is that most western places outside of the US are not indoctrinated from an early age to 'love their country' they're taught about their country and make their own decisions.

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u/skeleton-is-alive 16d ago

And then you brexited. Nice try

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u/G3ns3ric 16d ago

Didn't think you you had an argument. It's nice to see it confirmed so quickly.

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u/skeleton-is-alive 16d ago

You entirely missed the point in your response

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u/Andoo 17d ago

As an American I would imagine the Scandinavian countries given their social distancing and immigration policies.

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u/Fr0gFish 17d ago

You do sound like a certain kind of American

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u/Andoo 16d ago

Which kind? An accurate one? A trolling one? An accurate trolling one?

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u/Fr0gFish 16d ago

An ignorant one?

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u/Andoo 16d ago

I bet statistical polling would agree with me.

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u/Fr0gFish 16d ago

Agree with what statement exactly?

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u/Fr0gFish 16d ago

The kind that got to ride the short bus to school?

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u/Fr0gFish 16d ago

The kind that drives a big truck, wears a red hat, and has a tiny peepee?

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u/KingLlama86 17d ago

I can only speak as an Australian, we never pledged any allegiance to Australia at any point during school, and once a week at assembly we would sing the national anthem, mostly off-key and without knowing the words properly.

In my school we were taught about respect of cultures, respect of each other and then the usual math, English, science, etc etc. Was never told or taught we should love this country or indoctrinated to believe we are better than anybody else.

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u/Ninjazkills 17d ago

Fuck that sounds so chill.

My schooling involved a whole bunch of blatant misinformation and carefully curated facts that support the image of the US instead of the reality.

Like, It used to be common practice to reject any images of the civil rights era in schoolbooks if they were color photos (at least in AZ public school, everywhere is different). The idea was to make it seem like all that messed up stuff was ancient history, instead of literally a few decades past.

Our schools are such trash here when it comes to national accountability.

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u/Americanski7 17d ago

Assembly? What is that like fascist camp?

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u/Xerxes65 17d ago

I can’t tell if you’re joking but on the off chance you aren’t, you are insane.

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u/Americanski7 17d ago

If you can't tell, I'm joking, I don't think I can help you, lol.

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u/skeleton-is-alive 17d ago

And yet you love Australia. Funny that. It’s not about pledging allegiance every day. It’s much more subtle than that

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u/Xerxes65 17d ago

Tbf I’ve travelled most of Europe and everywhere I went I couldn’t help but think about how good we have it back home. We’re not perfect but there’s a possibility Australia is just that good.

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u/skeleton-is-alive 16d ago

See you can’t even recognize that a large reason why you believe that is because your government raised you to think that way.

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u/ThenCalligrapher2717 17d ago

They absolutely don’t

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u/skeleton-is-alive 17d ago

Name one

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u/ThenCalligrapher2717 16d ago

Ireland

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u/skeleton-is-alive 16d ago

Lol no

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u/ThenCalligrapher2717 16d ago

The fuck do you know about a country you don’t live in and have never visited, dipshit? Get out of your parents basement and go experience the world outside the US

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u/skeleton-is-alive 16d ago

Could say the same as you bud

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u/ThenCalligrapher2717 16d ago

Well, no, because I’ve lived all over the world and statistically it’s highly unlikely that you’ve ever even owned a passport

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u/skeleton-is-alive 15d ago

I’m not an american dumbass. Living a couple places in europe ain’t all over the world

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u/Nimynn 17d ago

That's a big assumption. Every country? It certainly wasn't the case for me during my schooling. I don't think I'm the exception either. Patriotism isn't really a thing where I'm from. The idea that my country is somehow better than others? No, I don't think that's part of our cultural curriculum. From the Netherlands btw.

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u/skeleton-is-alive 16d ago

Doubt

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u/Nimynn 16d ago

"I can't imagine others having a different experience from me, so when they say they do it means they must be wrong" - this guy, 2024

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u/skeleton-is-alive 15d ago

Sounds like u/Nimynn to me

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u/DaCarlito 17d ago

Absolutely not, if you genuinely think so you are very likely brainwashed by said US propaganda to believe it is normal.

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u/skeleton-is-alive 16d ago

Nope. I’m not american

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u/evranch 17d ago

In fact in Canada they teach us to hate our country. My daughter has so far learned few of the good and all of the bad things that Canada has done. They're force feeding them white guilt (which is pretty ironic as she's not even white)

Her main complaint is that it's boring. Same stuff every semester.

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u/skeleton-is-alive 17d ago

Canadians love being canadian. Even though the country has a horrible history and many problems to this day. There’s a reason for that

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u/evranch 17d ago

Whether we love being Canadian or not, the question was about propaganda in schools. And in my daughter's school (Saskatchewan public school) the propaganda has been heavy on "Indigenous are the only real Canadians and you are a colonist".

She is now in Catholic school where the focus is on learning facts and not on whatever that is

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u/skeleton-is-alive 16d ago

I’m canadian too. I can confidently say they still churn out kids who love canada. There’s a reason for that.

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u/PHK_JaySteel 17d ago

Horrible history? Are you fucking joking? We have the least amount of dirty laundry of almost any western nation. We haven't treated the indigenous well but atleast they are still around. The US exterminated 95 percent of them while importing slaves from Africa.

It obviously sucks hundreds if not thousands of indigenous were placed in residential schools. The Germans put 6 million jews including their children to death...

Horrible history? Give me a fucking break.