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Flag Burning Amendment

Pyrrho

Man in Black
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Joined
Aug 1, 2001
Messages
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They keep wanting to do this, but it seems nobody's burning the flag:

http://www.cleveland.com/world/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1053941647262620.xml

Washington - With troops returning and patriotic fervor high, the House is poised for a new attempt at banning the burning or desecration of the U.S. flag, the nation's symbol of freedom.
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Passing this law will guarantee that more flags will be burned than otherwise would be.

A country's flag is more than just a flag. You can burn the cloth, but you cannot burn what it stands for. However, burning a country's flag is a statement of how one feels about what the flag stands for...and should remain protected speech in the United States.
 
Do you remember, in the days/weeks following the Florida election fiasco, the duelling press conferences from Bush & Gore, where each of them tried to out-do the other in terms of flags used in background? Letterman even parodied them on his show. Maybe it's just me, but using the flag as a knee-jerk patriotic prop cheapens the symbolic value of the flag. Burning it shows that you recognize the symbolic worth of the flag--why burn a meaningless scrap of cloth?

If a flag-desecration bill makes it to the floor of the house, I'm writing my reps to suggest that it include the insulting practice of politicians wrapping themselves in said flag. They didn't like it when Abbie Hoffman did it literally, let them show more respect symbolically. And before I get flamed, yes I recognize that this would be specifically protected political free speech. IMHO, so is flag-burning.
 
Mercutio said:
Do you remember, in the days/weeks following the Florida election fiasco, the duelling press conferences from Bush & Gore, where each of them tried to out-do the other in terms of flags used in background? Letterman even parodied them on his show. Maybe it's just me, but using the flag as a knee-jerk patriotic prop cheapens the symbolic value of the flag. Burning it shows that you recognize the symbolic worth of the flag--why burn a meaningless scrap of cloth?

If a flag-desecration bill makes it to the floor of the house, I'm writing my reps to suggest that it include the insulting practice of politicians wrapping themselves in said flag. They didn't like it when Abbie Hoffman did it literally, let them show more respect symbolically. And before I get flamed, yes I recognize that this would be specifically protected political free speech. IMHO, so is flag-burning.
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Maybe flag burning should only be allowed when a politician is wrapped in it? :D
 
Remember when amendments meant something? Freed an entire race, enfranchised an entire gender, guaranteed our personal freedoms?

Flag burning? Excuse me if I don't get too excited.
 
Would this law against burning flags apply only to cloth flags? Or would it also be illegal to burn flags printed on paper, for example? If so, then would burning (or desecrating) the front page of the Chicago Tribune newspaper also be illegal?

Is it against the rules of this forum to post a photo of a burning flag, even though I suspect some people here may find this extremely offensive?

flagburning2.jpg


[photo courtesy of University of Missouri - Kansas City - School of Law]

Would it be considered desecration to sit in a chair made from a flag?

americanflagchair.gif


[photo courtesy of All-Luminum Products Inc.]
 
I love this country.

That's why, if they ever make burning the flag illegal, I will be among the first to go to jail for doing so.

If the words "United States of America" no longer convey the important meaning of freedom of expression, we have lost ourselves.

We will have become the enemy we claim to fight.
 
Another thing that chaps my hide is all the people wearing flag patches on their clothes and uniforms. I'm not talking about the military, I'm talking about baseball players, racecar drivers, etc. If anything desecrates the flag more than that, it certainly is not burning it.

I got into a little trouble refusing to wear a coach's jacket because it had a flag sewn into it, and the hat which also had a flag on it.

Danng!
 
Whoracle said:
Might as well just burn the constitution with it while we're at it.
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That's exactly what this proposed amendmentwill do - render the actual protector of our freedoms meaningless while protecting the symbol. But then, no polititian ever got a good photo-op by surrounding himself w/ the Constitution.
 
Another thing that annoys me about the people who want to make flag desecration a crime, is that often they know nothing about flag etiquette themselves. Here's some of the flag no-nos that I see our "patriots" regularly engaging in.
  • Flying a flag after dark (unless lit by a spot light)
  • Allowing a flag to become ragged
  • Displaying a flag with any other image or text overlain on it.
  • Allowing a flag to touch the ground.
  • Throwing an old flag away (the only proper method to dispose of an American flag is to burn it. Ironic, isn't it?)

It is abundantly clear that the people pushing a flag-burning amendment care nothing for what the flag stands for, and know virtualy nothing about respect for a flag.
 
Flags and pride in general are the root of all evil. They divide the people, create boundaries and, eventually, conflicts.

...

Ok, I might have exaggerated but anyway, you get my drift.
 
I never understood the whole "flag burning" bruhaha. Is this really a burning (sorry) political issue? How many flags are burned in the US every year? One might as well amend the constitution to explicitly forbid having sex with hamsters in public. Happens about as often, I suppose.

What I find odd about the American relation to their flag is that they put the flag on EVERYTHING, including disposable garbage cans and bumper stickers, or display it without the least regard to the official manner it should be done (e.g., flying it after dark, lower than other flags, with the stars on the right, etc.) This, I think, is far more dangerous to the dignity of the flag than the occassional, rare burning.
 
I think the whole flag burning amendment is not about entirely about making burning flags illegal. It's as much a political attempt to define the differences between us and them, part of the with us or against us mentality. I wonder if some of those supporting the amendment secretly hope it never passes. That way they can trot out this idea every so often to rally their base and point out how patriotic they are, and use it in their political campaigns.
 
Making flag burning illegal only increases the level of protest when it is done. If it was legal and nobody cared then doing it would be virtually meaningless.

I think attachment to the flag and other symbols to be quite silly and sometimes even dangerous. Now, burning a bald eagle would really be a bad thing. Probably illegal too.
 
How many flags are burned in the US every year? One might as well amend the constitution to explicitly forbid having sex with hamsters in public. Happens about as often, I suppose.
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Generally there isn't much flag burning going on, except when the governemnent is considering banning flag burning. If these idiots really want to stop flag burning, then they should just ignore it. If such a law ever passes, the amount of flag burning will most likely increase dramatically.
 
I guess my biggest gripe is that congressmen waste time with this garbage when there are real problems out there.
 
Well said Corplinx, 'my opponent would not even defend the flag our soldiers died for!".

We have a vet in town who offend people by removing the ragged and worn out flags people continue to display.

Peace
 
Personally I woulnd't burn a flag, for the same reason I wouldn't burn just about anything in a protest.

However I very much believe another has a right to. It's his/her freedom of speech and his/her property. If they wanted to spend the five bucks or whatever on a flag just to burn it, whatever. No skin off my ass.

And it is proctected via the constitution. I value freedom of speech, such is a core american value and if it thus demands we allow people to do stupid things like burn Dixie Chick CDs or burn flags: so be it.
 
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