A Naperville family came back from a July 4th party to find that vandals had burned the American flag adorning their house. Worse, the ugly incident happened on the birthday of our nation's founding. Then the Naperville VFW came to the rescue and presented the family with a brand new Old Glory.
Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women have died in countless wars - both at home and abroad - to protect what the flag represents. Granted, this was a case of pure vandalism and is abhorrent, but it raises a bigger question. In a democracy like ours the ultimate symbol of freedom is the right to burn the American flag.
Indeed, it's hard to think of another country that would let its citizens get away with it, that's how democratic America is. So, the question is this: While in no way excusing the vandalism mentioned above, is it wrong in all cases to burn the flag, or are there instances where it's okay to do so as a form of political expression?
They got a new flag!
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I made a relevant blog post earlier today about this story (and the one relating to it from earlier in the month) which I TrackBacked to this entry to keep this comment purely on topic... but in regards to instances where it's OK to burn the American flag, whose responsibility is it to decide what is and isn't OK in regards to freedom of speech? That's the very nature of the beast, technically it's always OK to burn the flag.
But... I agree with Chris Magee's comment, burning the American flag is one of the strongest and most extreme political statements someone can make without resorting to physical violence. (And really, I think I'd rate most forms of physical violence lower on the extreme-o-meter than burning the flag.) The problem though is in this day and age, if your intentions were to rally people to the cause which leads you to burn a flag, you would most likely be accomplishing the opposite effect and drive people away.
The flag has come to stand for so much more in recent years after the attacks on September 11th. I don't meant to discredit past wars, conflicts, veterans, and everyone who has shed blood for our country because they're rolled up in to what the flag stands for as well- But the fact remains, September 11th, for the most part, is still fresh in everyone's mind.
By burning the flag, you're extending a big long middle finger to everyone I just listed. What possible cause exists in this world that requires quite literally disrespecting millions of people to prove a point?
I question the intent of burning the flag. Normally when you see someone burning an American flag, it's a crowd of people with AK-47s in a country that hates us. So to me it seems that for them, burning the U.S. flag equates to something like "death to America." I guess technically Americans have the right to hate their country, although it sticks in my craw. Still, if this isn't what they mean, and what they do mean is something like "I hate Bush" or "Pro-choice for everyone" then they should find a more appropriate form of protest that conveys the message they want to convey. Burning the flag is in the same vein as putting a cross in manure. It's going to make most Americans instinctively turn against you.