Flag Burning
I think the whole issue is stupid.
If you burn the flag, you are burning the symbol of freedom that allows you to burn the flag.
If you ban flag-burning, then you are limiting the freedom that the flag represents.
American flag burners are stupid because the flag pretty much never represents the people or things they are protesting. If it’s done just to get a rise out of people, it’s still stupid because it rarely if ever gets the kind of attention that helps their cause.
Americans who want to ban flag burning are stupid because they either don’t understand freedom or they are trying to score points politically, which may not be stupid but it is dishonest.
The best solution: ignore flag burners. Which is not too hard, because there are so damned few of them. Problem solved.
Flame away.
You make a good point – allowing the burning of flags is the same kind of freedom given to people in a free society as is the ability to print such things as those “infamous” cartoons of the Prophet.
Does it demean the symbol? No – because any sane rational person can interpret it in the context it is given – a protest on foreign policy or a expression of religeous intollerance that borders on the fanatical (in certain places).
Initially, I believe burning the flag was a statement of political protest against U.S. actions, e.g., the Vietnam war. In such cases, to the extent that the flag represented the country, burning it was a way of showing disapproval of that country’s actions. This is rarely the case these days and this is largely because of the discussion of prohibiting flag burning.
This has been noted by many others in various arenas before but I’ll note it here, the only time people burn the flag these days is to oppose the flag-burning amendment.
The issue isn’t really about the flag or burning it. It’s limit-testing tolerance and the extent of freedom. In this regard, it does serve a purpose. If you can’t exercise a freedom without censure, then it isn’t a freedom you truly possess.
Unfortunately, it has become about patriotism because it has been politicized. This is an issue near and dear to Republican hearts and, if ‘liberals’, ‘hippies’ and ‘malcontents’ didn’t burn them, they’s probably hire someone do do it for them so they could whip out some smoke and mirrors come election time. Like the Pledge of Allegiance, this is an issue created to distract the public from more important issues.
When flags can be burned in the U.S. and there are people who are able to simply ignore it, then there will no longer be a need to burn flags as the mindset of the public and politicians will finally match the freedom granted us in the constitution.
Good point. Limit-testing is a valid reason. OK, they’re not stupid. But everyone else still is.