As a staunch advocate for the continued freedom of speech in America, I fully support the right of anyone and everyone, here and abroad, to burn our flag as a political statement or protest. That said, as someone who's very proud of my country while at the same time a tremendous fan of ironic happenstance, I have to admit that I love these pictures. Don't be stupid.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Protest Fail
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2 comments:
I can't make real iron-clad arguments for this. In fact, it's not something I'm not even sure I've ever said before... or even put any thought into. But I think I am against the flag-burning. Let's be honest, if you're so pissed about something that you need to make a fire in protest, you should probably set ablaze to that particular thing. Whether it be W's cardboard head, a church, I don't know... burning the flag seems like you're just kind of casting your anger on the wrong thing.
I'm obviously no hardcore patriot, military guy or anything like that, but I know that our shredded flag was kind of a big deal back in Francis Scott Key's day. I guess it just seems like it should be one of those deals that's a bit untouchable. Don't burn your flag. That flag didn't do anything to you. Take out your anger on the source (at least in cardboard form). There's the guy who's sticking it to ya.
Like I said, though... I ain't marching through the streets of Philadelphia about this. It's a very lukewarm opinion. This and civil unions.
I've never burnt an American flag and I don't foresee a time when I will but I still believe that doing so is a legitimate form of free speech and political protest and I'd be extremely pissed off if our government ever tried to prosecute someone for doing so.
I love my country and the freedoms it affords me, and the American flag represents that country and those freedoms but that's all it is and all it does: it's a representation; it's merely a symbol that's destruction neither endangers my country nor threatens those freedoms.
Whether burning an American flag truly addresses the grudges you might have against a politician or our government or whatever, the freedom to commit such an act is the exact freedom that flag represents. That to me is the uniqueness of America: you (for the most part) have the freedom to do and say whatever you want as long as it doesn't harm anyone else (I won't go into the legal moralizing over drugs and sex our government engages in here).
So I guess my point is that the flag isn't America or the American people or even the American spirit; those things are just too strong for a simple conflagration to destroy.
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