Fly your flags, like Bush asked...but UPSIDE DOWN

[Atman]

The symbol for distress. I think this is a GREAT way to show your disdain for this president and his policies which have put scores of thousands of our men and women in distress, along with our constitution and our entire system of government. Howard Zinn has some more words, from this month's Progressive...

---
The Scourge of Nationalism
By Howard Zinn
From the June 2005 Issue

I cannot get out of my mind the recent news photos of ordinary Americans sitting on chairs, guns on laps, standing unofficial guard on the Arizona border, to make sure no Mexicans cross over into the United States. There was something horrifying in the realization that, in this twenty-first century of what we call "civilization," we have carved up what we claim is one world into 200 artificially created entities we call "nations" and armed to apprehend or kill anyone who crosses a boundary.

Is not nationalism--that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder--one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred? These ways of thinking--cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on--have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.

National spirit can be benign in a country that is small and lacking both in military power and a hunger for expansion (Switzerland, Norway, Costa Rica, and many more). But in a nation like ours--huge, possessing thousands of weapons of mass destruction--what might have been harmless pride becomes an arrogant nationalism dangerous to others and to ourselves.

Our citizenry has been brought up to see our nation as different from others, an exception in the world, uniquely moral, expanding into other lands in order to bring civilization, liberty, democracy.

<snip>

http://progressive.org/?q=node/199

[DanCa]

1. What if i fly a pic of the chimp upside down

And burn a bush under neath said photo? Will they get t he message then?

[Kindigger]

3. HA

I trimmed all the bushes in my apartment complex. Old lady " * is my hero :loveya: ", was sitting on her porch watching. I smiled at her and said, "God I love trimming bushes! I so love thinking about lopping *'s head off with every swipe of the trimmer!"

I have a bush that needs to come out. I wonder if it's too close to the house to burn? :smoke:

[ClassWarrior]

2. Or at half-mast... then when someone asks, say...

..."SOMEBODY has to remember the brave Americans who died in Iraq. And Bush** sure ain't doing it."

NGU.

[one_true_leroy]

6. absodamnlutely!!

i'm flying mine at half-mast for that reason.

[paineinthearse]

4. Nominated....an action we all can participate in.

Every time I fly my flag or bring it to a demonstration, it is upside down. And will remain so as long as the US remains a fascist state.

[gratuitous]

5. Bush said I have to fly a flag?

But in the Church of the Brethren, we don't fly national flags mostly because too many folks get confused about that whole hierarchy when you say that you're loyal to God and country. A lot of people get it backwards, and place God in service to their country, or wrongly conflate the two, thinking that if their country is doing something then God must have ordained it.

Now, why would the President of the United States, who has sworn an oath (something else Brethren don't do) to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, urge me to violate my religious beliefs in contradiction of the First Amendment?

[ElectroPrincess]

7. Just a thought ...

I wouldn't fly Our Flag upside down (Dire Distress) because the Corporate Media Whores would spin it against us.

IMO it's best if you have a flagpole to fly it at half-mast.

Unfortunately the American Sheeple have been brainwashed to believe that an "upside down" American flag ONLY symbolizes American Hating, Liberal, Socialist, Democratic Communists, i.e., yeah, the logic escapes me but the sentiments are the same & very real.

Please consider NOT giving the Freepers any more ammunition to pan fry our true beliefs?

[Atman]

8. Don't let "them" frame our positions for us

The freepers can say whatever they want, and usually do. Truth is never an issue with them, they just make shit up. Therefore, NOTHING we do will ever sit right with them, so why bother? Do what is in your heart, not what you fear freepers would approve of. Freepers are the enemies of freedom of speech. Caving to their perceptions just reinforces their self-assigned "authority."

[ElectroPrincess]

9. You make a good point, but the Right Wing OWNs the media

so yes, it's unfortunate but it will be mis-understood if we fly Our USA Flag in "Dire Distress" mode.

No, I'm never into caving in to the Wingers. But now, more than ever we need to convince "the average American" that we are BY FAR MORE PATRIOTIC than the Right Wingers.

We care about the Troops and Veterans' Benefits.

Forgive me, and you have the right to disagree, but we will be falling into a trap that will be "spun with a frenzy" by the Corporate Media if we fly The USA Flag Upside Down.

Yes, I know it means no disrespect, but that we are in "dire distress." However, please also know that the "average American" will NOT be privy to that TRUTH.

Just my opinion - do what you think is right.

Peace, EP

[ClassWarrior]

11. It has less to do with "letting them frame us" than it does with...

...us choosing our words and actions carefully. We don't want to give them big honking openings, when another alternative could work just as well.

NGU.

[markus]

10. I want to suggest half-staff

Upside down is just going to be seen as disrespectful and piss people off unnecessarily.

I think half staff, perhaps with a bit of sheet with the current casualty count letters on it added to the halyard below the flag, might be better.

[demo dutch]

12. I don't believe in symbolism that's a republican thing...

I 'm refuse to fly anything until this war is over!