Flag Burning!

Putting aside the moral/legal question of flag burning, if your a movement who wants change and needs support from others, burning your own flag is probably the worst thing you can do before getting into criminal acts. It is completely counterproductive.
That really depends on who you're trying to get support from. Anyone who is actually going to recoil in horror because they see a small group of people burning a flag was always going to line up squarely behind the dixiefash, and anyone likely to take serious interest in OWS is probably gong to be able to overlook this one incident. There are a million and one more counter-productive things that OWS could do, and they're probably doing at least a few of them already, they're just not the sort of thing that provoke the same sort of public discussion.
 
In point of fact, burning is considered the most honorable way to dispose of a flag.

I think.

You are correct. In fact, according to military protocol, burning is the only acceptable way of disposing of a flag.
 
Putting aside the moral/legal question of flag burning, if your a movement who wants change and needs support from others, burning your own flag is probably the worst thing you can do before getting into criminal acts. It is completely counterproductive.

All publicity is good publicity, and all that...
 
That's not true at all. Look what happened to the Republican candidates for President in 2012.

Fixed.

God, what a mudbath that turned into.
 
Uh huh, but that's not what the thread's about.

This thread isn't about flag-burning? In that case, it should be renamed.
 
What about burning EPA permits?
 
Now you are starting to sound suspiciously like those who "hate America".
 
And how exactly is burning a piece of cloth equivalent to either of those?
Look, I understand this is apparently culture-specific.

But when I see someone burning a flag, I don't get it as saying "we disapprove of this recent statement made by the Minister/President/Ambassador of country x and we would like to express our strong disappointment"
I get it as saying "We hate country x with a passion, as they are utter scum. Unfortunately, we couldn´t catch any of their nationals/representatives, so for now we are merely burning their flag as the next best thing."

YMMV.
 
Do you interpret everything in the worst possible light, or just flag-related things?
 
I get it as saying "We hate country x with a passion, as they are utter scum. Unfortunately, we couldn´t catch any of their nationals/representatives, so for now we are merely burning their flag as the next best thing."

YMMV.

And that's your prerogative to interpret it as such. You can also interpret the eating of a ham sandwich as a prelude to cannibalism; it doesn't change the fact that such extreme "what if?" interpretations don't really add anything to the conversation.
 
There is no doubt that some who have burned American flags after numerous women and children were killed in "collateral damage" in Iraq and Afghanistan would have likely attacked any innocent American who happened to walk by at the wrong time. But I doubt even all but a tiny number of them "hate America", instead of protesting the acts of a government which allows so many of these travesties to occur, typically just to reduce the risk to NATO ground troops.

But that becomes even more outlandish when you consider the US servicemen who have burned American flags in response to specific incidents in the past, as I documented earlier in this thread.

Burning a flag is clearly a last resort sort of dissent which is intended to provoke a strong emotional reaction from those who support and defend whatever governmental activity, or lack thereof, is being protested. I doubt I would ever do so myself no matter the circumstances. But I certainly support and defend the right of others to do so under the First Amendment of the Constitution. I think any other sort of stance is clearly not "patriotic" and is contrary to the basic tenets of this country, as it would be in any other country which claims to have a free democratic society.
 
It's a valid form of protest, and can be quite effective in certain situations.

In this case, however, it seems unnecessarily divisive. I'm sure the 1% don't give a damn about flag burning, but it's clear that a fair proportion of the 99% do. And you can bet that the former will use such instances to try and convince the latter that these protests are just an extension of the culture wars, thus helping to keep the greater mass of people conveniently divided on partisan lines.

Let me put it this way: if you were greedy and selfish and making stacks of money off our current economic arrangements, would you be worried or pleased by an outbreak of flag-burning amongst the Occupy protesters? Personally, I'd be laughing all the way to the bank.
 
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