i know it's a very touchy topic, but why should burning the flag be illegal? my blog friend lobster boy posted about it. he's a bit more conservative then me, and we don't always agree. but the flag burning thing baffles me. i don't want to piss anyone off and i know people get every heated on the topic. but when people say things like, "my father fought in a war to defend that flag", i think, why would anyone risk their lives for some colored bits of cloth sewn together? i mean, love your country, but don't die for a flag or a decal.and it seems to me that it goes against everything we have fought for in this country, things like freedom. to arrest anyone for burning a flag, unless it's stolen property, what are you arresting them for?
lobster boy quotes folks who say, "i'd never burn a flag, but other people should have the right to do so." and though we are coming from different sides of the debate, i tend to agree with his calling them cowards, but for different reasons. i say, "i might burn a flag someday, because i feel so strongly about having the freedom to do so."
the flag represents different things to different people. so how can you qualify that in a constitutional ammendment?
hhmmm.........besides my lobster pal, i am not sure what kind of responses i might get on this post. ah well....... let's see how this one goes. it could end up a heated debate like the sauerkraut in cabbage rolls blog a few months back!
15 comments:
having the choice to burn the flag is a perfect example of the freedom the very same flag represents. It is a little paradoxical in a sense, so I respect people's opinions that burning the flag should be illegal. I guess the best part of it all is we live in a country where we can talk about this and nobody gets arrested...yet
If burning the flag should be illegal, then so should "patriotic" acts I've also seen like leaving in on your flagpole to tatter in the rain, folding it artfully and stuffing it on the dashboard of your SUV to get dusty and faded in the sun, using it as a curtain, wearing it as boxer shorts, etc.
It's all so silly and exactly like the Sanctity of Marriage Acts, transparently designed to get people arguing so they forget what an incompetent, economically diastrous and morally bankrupt administration has done to our beloved country.
It's also like outlawing Gay Marriage in that it allows sanctimonious assholes to deny someone else a basic freedom in the name of a principle the assholes don't even honor themselves.
Devil's advocate-
There are so many things to be challenged, even our constitution is up for challenge. Why can we not have 1 representation of our country be off limits?
It has always be raised to symbolize America, so why would an American want to burn it? Question it, argue it, debate it, but why burn it?
How many thousands have people have wept to see that flag? Either to finally to be able to return home, or to be freed from injustice, such as Auschwitz.
Would the moon landing have been the same, if Neil Armstrong had just waived?
Thousands have given their lives to defend freedom, and that 1 symbol should not be destroyed, by the people who sit on their lazy butts and do nothing for freedom, except question it, and test its limits.
A little respect is not too much to ask.
"a little respect is not too much to ask"
can respect be forced? should i be legally required to respect an inanimate object?
what if i make my own flag, buy the cloth and sew it myself? am i legally required to respect that as well?
respect should not forced by a constitutional ammendment.
very controversial subject....If its a law not to burn the flag so be it....I really didn't have any plans...theres a lot more stupids laws on the books they need to change..I think its just what the flag represents (why it got to be so symbolic I don't know) thats makes people want to respect it...SO I say let em have their flag...but please don't bring up that other controversial subject..
I also believe that humans are capable of seeing a civic symbol in various ways in various settings.
The way an American feels seeing the Capitol mall full of Pro-life Marchers may either be uplifting or scary depending on your personal beliefs, but the state of the monument at the time does not affect its signifigance. If you asked, "Should people be able to trash the monument itself, or burn a flag sewn by Betsy Ross?" The answer would be no, obviously. A shitty Chinese produced Walmart Flag does not inspire the same awe in me, it gets the same respect as the campus curtains down at the frat house or Dog the Bounty Hunter's sweaty tank top. It is what it is in the context it is.
Again, I maintain the Repubs have brought this issue up as a slobbery tennis ball to call the dogs off their disastrous last term.
It may be viewed as disrespectful, but should not be illegal. It's a symbol. It has different meanings for different people (a Jihadist may have a different psychological reaction to the symbol than a member of the military, etc etc). But it is still a physical entity regardless. We destroy symbols every day and this case should be no different. If someone wants to burn his or her own flag because of what it either permanently or temporarily represents to that person, be it American, Canadian, or Iranian, that person should have that right. This controversy, though not new, seems to come up every now and again when a (usually) Republican and conservative administration wants to change the subject, which is the wrongdoing and non-doings of the administation. In that sense, I can see how it could actually cause otherwise non-destructive people to maybe want to burn the flag.
"Would the moon landing have been the same, if Neil Armstrong had just waived? "
Yeah, pretty much. The symbol at the time represented a victory of sorts over the Soviets at a high point in the cold war space race, not simple patriotism. Is the American flag waiving over the Guantanamo prison representing the exact same feeling that Armstrong had on the moon? It was and is still a symbol. I actually admire the flag, I just think prohibition of destroying a symbol and an individual's private property (even the symbol which supposedly represents the freedom to do such an act), being codified into law can lead us down a very slipery slope.
ok, now who is "unit"???? someone new to the blog? i have my suspicions....
Yah whos Unit? Makes a lot of sense though....
I'd burn the flag just as soon as look at it. That's what I say.
Actually, sds, the Repubs have brought it up nearly every year since they took control. This year was the closest it ever came to passing. The timing of it (around Flag Day) was just the usual political pandering stuff.
Glittergirl, was that cabbage roll debate ever resolved? What was the verdict?
I'm finally commenting your blog for a change. And I have to admit that I strongly agree with you on this one. A flag is a flag, be it from the nearest Tardmart or be it hand sewn by Mr. T himself. Burning a flag does not harm anyone, nor does it pose any threat to our country. It is simply saying "Hey, I think this country sucks but I don't really know why nor do I know how to express it in words that won't fit in big red letters on a posterboard. But fire is pretty cool and people notice when you wave burning cloth in city streets." Although I personally think that burning a flag is pointless since it has already been done so many times (and counterproductive if you are protesting high gas prices by dousing a flag in gasoline and burning it) but if people do not have the right to protest against something that is obviously harming them, things can only get worse. Freedom of speech can only really exist for me when you actually have the freedom to say something meaningful, even if it is simply "America blows".
wow, dylan finally posted on my blog, woo hoo!
tlm- the cabbage debate rages on....
can't we all just get along????
hahahaha!
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