Reply #72: There's no right to burn other people's flags. [View All]

[Warren DeMontague]

And actually, I suspect that if people were burning flags in an area which had laws against open bonfires, they could be prosecuted for that.

But it's not the burning of the flag which folks are trying to legislate against- as has been pointed out time and again, that's the recommended method of respectful disposal for flags- it's the implied content of the speech communicated by burning one in protest. That's what pisses people off, that's what is considered offensive. That's what you think is worse than marching through Skokie with swastikas- Unless I am to assume that you would find the burning of any piece of cloth, under any circumstances, equally offensive. It's the symbolic message of burning the flag that is the problem. You know that, I know that. And if you're legislating against a message, then you're legislating against speech.

Capice?