Flag Burning!

Who cares what the flag represents or what message you're sending by burning it?

If you live in a free country, you should be able to burn whatever the hell you want (with environmental and other restrictions of course)

It seems everyone so far has said that it should be legal so saying "free country" isn't really an argument in favor of whether flag burning is a good thing or not.
 
What sort of rational dissent is in response to a "good thing" instead of a reaction to a "bad thing"?

Given those circumstances, how is the simple destruction of a symbolic item such a "bad thing"?
 
Or anybody else who is trying to think of it as being a "good thing", or not.
 
Who is being threatened by the burning of a piece of cloth? Assuming that appropriate fire precautions are taken of course.
 
Who is being threatened by the burning of a piece of cloth? Assuming that appropriate fire precautions are taken of course.
Granted, symbolic gestures may be understood differently in different cultures or by different people.

Still, that´s about as good question as "who is being threatened by simply swiping a finger across one's neck in a cutting motion? Assuming fingernails aren't dangerously sharp, of course."
 
Nobody, if you're just making the gesture. It totally depends on the context you make it in. If someone is burning a flag with the obvious intention of conveying a threat, it might be actionable. But as an extreme form of political protest, I really don't see the problem.
 
I rather dislike the anti-intellectual overtones of the latter.
 
You have to love the consistency of book burners and cross burners who complain about burning flags.

http://www.kkkknights.com/us_in_the_news

Regarding the flag burning that took place at Occupy Charlotte's campsite on Old City Hall's lawn, Barker said, "I don't think you should have the right to burn the American flag." He also said that if people don’t like America, they should move, going on to say that prospective Klan members must take an oath that includes a promise “to be patriotic towards veterans, the flag and the country.”

I guess that doesn't include black, Catholic, Jewish, or Hispanic veterans...
 
I think we can all agree the KKK is a bunch of A-holes... is there a point to this?
 
That the KKK burns books and even crosses, but it never burns US flags?

That the Florida pastor who burned Korans likely feels exactly the same way?


Link to video.
 
I don't like people who say "If you don't love America, leave it!". It smacks of the idea that you shouldn't aim for improvement, a clearly bad idea.

The above comment is re:KKK guy, not any particular forum poster.
 
You have to love the consistency of book burners and cross burners who complain about burning flags.

http://www.kkkknights.com/us_in_the_news

I guess that doesn't include black, Catholic, Jewish, or Hispanic veterans...

There's something ironic about the intellectual offspring of secessionists and traitors talking about being patriotic.

Spoiler :
logo.33490712_std.jpg


^ All kinds of wrong.
 
I couldn't agree more. And that is even a black horse which is apparently trying to hide its true identity.
 
I'll try to play for the side of anti - flag burners and make an argument that flag burning is immoral.

1) A flag represents a nation.
2) A nation is more then "a patch of dirt". The land a nation inhabits in only one component of the nation. Its government, its people, and its culture are also components of the nation.
3) Therefore, burning a flag is a statement against not only the government, but also the people and the culture of the nation. Basically, it's an aggressive act against the ethnicity which flag is being burned.

Thoughts?
 
It seems everyone so far has said that it should be legal so saying "free country" isn't really an argument in favor of whether flag burning is a good thing or not.

I said "free country", because I'd expect a place that limited what symbols you can burn and which ones you can't to not be that free.
 
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