Teen Opinion on the "I Pledge Video"

Teen Opinion on the "I Pledge Video"
October 20th, 2009

One Utah teen is looking for purple in a red & blue world

by Savannah Turk

Davis elementary school began their year with a message of service. During the opening assembly, the PTA played a video featuring Barack Obama's agenda of change and many well known celebrities pledging to perform service in a field they are passionate about to promote a better country.

Five parents complained about this video biasing their children to left wing ideals. Soon after, the principal formally apologized for allowing the video (of our country's president!) to be seen and then sent permission slips home before the children were allowed to see the presidential educational address.

I watched the video to see what could be so offensive that parents fear for their children's ideals. And I must tell you, I was stunned.

There was nothing extremely political about it.

My fellow students, please look around you and tell me what you see. Because I see a new world of ignorance. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a place where parents are afraid their children will abandon everything they hold dear. Parents who fear for the morals of our generation so much that they blind their children.

How will we know where we stand unless we are given the opportunity to find it ourselves?

MySpace Celebrity and Katalyst present The Presidential Pledge

Presidential Pledge | MySpace Video

Whether you are for or against President Obama, there is a simple rule that I believe should be followed: our president deserves respect from our country. He represents us. He works to protect us. And he is undeniably dedicated to improving our country.

Right and left, let's make a straight line. Red and blue, let's make purple. Forget the party you subscribe to, and let's just be people looking toward the future.

The moment we start screening what politics our children can see, THEN we have reached propaganda and censorship. Do not underestimate the youth's ability to formulate our own opinions. Do not take that from us. This generation deserves more respect because I've seen the potential and the heights we can reach.

I think everyone should see this video, not because I'm a democrat, but because I like the message it's sending. We cannot idly sit in life. I refuse to. We are the change that everyone is waiting for. And that is the most exciting thing in the world! That we have the power to do something never done before. Or something good and right. Or something we are passionate about. Everyone has a voice and when we use them together, the world will hear us!

Reader Comments

Ben Jenkins

If you were able to watch that I Pledge Video and not see anything wrong with it, then you weren't paying attention to the end of the video where Demi says "I pledge to be a servant to our president".

IF you see nothing wrong with that statement, then you clearly do not understand the nature of the presidency or of America.

Obama is our servant. He is a public servant, but everything about his campaign has elevated him above the normal status.

I do agree that some parents went overboard when they wouldn't allow their kids to listen to Obama's educational address, because, as you said, how can our kids find out where we stand unless we are given the opportunity to find it ourselves.

With that being said, it woudl be naive and ignorant to pretend that the I Pledge video wasn't propaganda. It was filled with some great people saying some great things, but the culmination of the video, and ultimately, the final words that began the creepy chant at the end promoted the idea that citizens of this country should be in servitude to our president. If you don't think so, then look up the definition of servant.

They could have very easily said to serve our president, or to serve our country (both of which would be okay), but these people carefully crafted the words to say "to be a servant" to our president. That is something entirely different.

These parents had good reason to complain about a video that promotes the idea of servitude to the president of the united states no matter who the president was.

Some parents are especially sensitive to this after Obama has clearly stated that people attending town hall meetings and opposing his health care bill were mobs and liars. How do you think that makes parents feel when a school is teaching kids to be servants to a man who is acting irresponsibly with our countries resources, and calling us liars and mobs. On top of that, www.barackobama.com referred to town hall attenders and opponents to the health care bill as "right-wing domestic terrorists".

So...tell me what about that wasn't a good reason for parents to be upset about the I Pledge video?

The video was a bunch of Hollywood personalities who were using their influence and stardom to promote some great ideas of pledging to be better. They just should have left out the end when they all chanted together after the words "pledge to be a servant to our president".

p.s. Before going and so boldly asserting that there is nothing "political" in nature in that video, perhaps you should try to see things from someone else's perspective instead of just your own...especially when your words are reaching such a diverse audience.

Rich M

My question regarding this video and its mass distribution to public schools throughout America is: What makes celebrities so special that they should tell our children how to live? Why should children even care what they pledge? Are these people really the best examples of what makes the USA a great country? I found this video to be extremely annoying and it's really a demonstration of the ignorance of the Obama administration's beliefs regarding what will make the U.S. a better country. Ashton Cutcher pledges, "to end slavery". OK how Ashton? Are you going to sit on the Mexico U.S border with a machine gun and shoot down the human traffickers who are bringing slaves into this country? Or are you going to go under cover to places like Thailand and stop fathers who sell their daughters into the sex slave business? What Ashton are you going to do to honor your pledge?

This video sends the message to children that shallow words and pretty faces are all that matter. Backing up words with action, with due diligence, with a plan -- are less important.

I disagree with Ben that this is teaching children to pledge servitude to Obama. I don't believe that it is promoting any specific agenda that Obama has in mind. These actors are too dumb to understand what an agenda is.

Read the introduction to the October issue of Utah Stories Angels and Demons -- the demons that are protecting us and the angels who will kill you.