While I would never desecrate a US flag, I defend your right to do so!

[Lunabell]

I think I just got blocked by an old high school friend on Facebook. She had a stupid meme about respecting the flag and about many soldiers who died for that flag. I told her that #1 no one die for a flag. That if they did fight in our armed forces, that they fought, in their minds, for American freedom. #2 that the Supreme court already upheld "desecrating" the flag as free speech.(Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989)) and #3 most importantly didn't she respect the US Constitution?

I guess I pissed her off. LOL, America.Her idea of patriotism? America. Love it or leave it. Get the fuck out she said. I just don't understand how that is freedom.

[GGJohn]

1. Yup.

I may abhor the speech/message, but I'll defend the right to express it.

[gwheezie]

2. I have no feelings about the flag

I don't care if people wear it as a hat. I do have neighbors with the racist flag and the serpent flag.they'd shoot if you messed with their yard decor. Its damn nuts.

[Lunabell]

5. I agree

It's pretty stupid if you asked me.

[Lunabell]

8. And I absolutely adore Shirley Chishom.

In 72, I innocently told my right wing prejudiced dad that he should vote for her. I wonder if he even remembers that. I thought even then she had wonderful ideas!

[merrily]

3. In the Pledge of Allegiance, the flag comes first, the nation symbolized by the flag second.

That seems odd. That said, I just bought a set of tumblers, each bearing the US flag, for use on our patriotic holidays. I guess the pledge said daily during my formative years sunk in to one degree or another.

Whether you are burning them or drinking from them, what you do with flags is speech. Restricting speech is inconsistent with the freedom for which so many have fought.

Just say no to legislation prohibiting disrespect of the flag, including burning. It's RW.

[Lunabell]

6. Agreed

Freedom is a concept that a lot of people don't get.

[dballance]

10. That does seem like the wrong order.

I just love telling RW-ers that the original salute to the flag, the "Bellamy Salute" was pretty much the same as the Nazi salute. And, the "Under God" was a very late addition to the pledge. During the horrible McCarthy Commie witch hunts. Oh, and that Bellamy, the writer of the pledge was a socialist. It's so fun to watch heads explode.

Original salute:

[merrily]

12. That looks as though it could be the Boston Hatch Shell, where our July 4 concert occurs.

[bvf]

15. That never occurred to me,

but it's an interesting point.

[merrily]

17. Yes, a piece of cloth, based on the British flag, whose design has changed many times since 1776.

Before the Republic that it symbolizes. And zero mention of the 350 million people in the nation.

It's quite something, especially after the addition by dear leader Ike of "under God."

[backscatter712]

4. I like Arundhati Roy's quote on flags:

“Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s minds & then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.”

[Lunabell]

7. That is a sad truth.

[merrily]

18. Wow.

[Lunabell]

9. Works for me.

http://www.inquisitr.com/2057205/social-media-challenge-flag/

[msongs]

11. and here I thought their bibles said idolatry is bad. oh well :-) nt

[merrily]

20. In fairness,

they also say not to make a public display of religiosity. And, I for one, interpret the "render until Caesar" bit as a statement about separation of church and state. I very much doubt that a neo theo would agree with me on that, though.

[DreamGypsy]

13. The Torn Flag...by Pete Seeger...

...Words and Music by Pete Seeger:

Malcolm X once debated another black man as to whether they could call themselves Americans. "I'm not an American," said Malcolm, "Why do you think you are?" "I'm an American because I was born here," said the other. "Well, you could put a shoe in an oven and that wouldn't make it a biscuit," was Malcolm's retort.

I'm afraid I have no such choice. My light-skinned ancestors participated fully in the decisions, good and bad, which formed this nation. I've spent a lifetime fighting the blacklisters who tried to make me feel like an outcast in my own home. "I had an uncle who wrote a poem with the lines: "I have a rendezvous with death / At midnight in some flaming town. . ." So I made some new verses. I don't have a regular tune for it yet — I kind of chant it to an improvised modal melody." — Pete Seeger

At midnight in a flaming angry town
I saw my country's flag lying torn upon the ground.
I ran in and dodged among the crowd,
And scooped it up, and scampered out to safety.

And then I took this striped old piece of cloth
And tried my best to wash the garbage off.
But I found it had been used for wrapping lies.
It smelled and stank and attracted all the flies.

...

As performed by John Trudell:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. "Patriotism is the passion of fools and the most foolish of passions." Arthur Schopenhauer

[bvf]

16. Good quote.

Why should an accident of birth be held sacred?

[merrily]

21. Part of getting young people to be willing, some eager, to fight and die for "their"

plutocrats government du jour country?

Cui bono and "Follow the money" are excellent words to live by when trying to parse politics.

[cali]

19. A flag is not a person. It cannot bleed or weep.

It means something to many people- but it doesn't mean the same thing. A flag is an object that can be easily replicated.

[wyldwolf]

22. depends

If it's YOUR flag, more power to you.

If it's a flag on federal property (one on display there, not your personal flag), or your purpose is to intimidate someone by desecrating a flag or if you're desecrating someone else's flag, then I have problem with it.

[Ms. Yertle]

23. Did you ever read

"The Longest Day" by Cornelius Ryan? It's about D-Day. I read it a very long time ago, and the only thing I really remember about the book is an episode where a soldier swims to a sinking ship just to save the American flag. this image in my mind is so poignant. That guy literally did risk his life to save the flag.

Flag desecration is protected speech, but I can understand why people are offended.

[Ichingcarpenter]

24. The Flag Protection Act of 2005

The Flag Protection Act of 2005 was a proposed United States federal law introduced by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Robert Bennett. The law would have outlawed flag burning, and called for a punishment of one year in jail and a fine of $100,000.

It did not pass


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Protection_Act_of_2005