More on xenophobia

[bunsen_h]

I was trying to remember why, in my last post, the Immigration Minister's idea seemed so familiar.  It just came to me:

"Back during World War I, they called it 'Loyalty Days,' and they made all the people of German extraction stand up in the middle of the town where everybody could see 'em.  Made 'em all stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the flag and everybody watched to make sure they weren't crossing their fingers, I guess.  Well, everybody goes through that sort of foolishness once in a while. Our country does it more often than most, but here we are." — Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days

Sadly familiar territory.

ETA: What do they do for somebody who can't speak?  There must be some provision for written oaths.
 

Comments

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Our grandparents and/or great-grandparents were/are likely to have been more familiar with such things. More's the pity that some of our own age cohort seem Hell-bent on reviving old stupidities as modern practice.