I know that most people say it is freedom of speech, but don't you think that flag burning is wrong?
2007-08-16 20:18:56 · 46 answers · asked by Dude #2369™ 4 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
I would burn a koran, a mexican flag, rainbow flag, or a white flag, but NEVER an American flag.. With the exception of the approved method of discarding a used and worn flag not suitable for use..
2007-08-16 21:03:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
Actually, I have to burn ours sometime soon. I was out having a cigarette, and the breeze blew it into the cherry of my smoke, and it burned not one but two holes in the flag. I have put the flag away until I can burn it.
Burning, and burying, and even, if you can believe it, folding the flag properly and putting it in the trash (inside another bag, so it doesn't touch the garbage) are all allowable and respectable methods of getting rid of a flag which is damaged or too old to fly anymore.
But I know you are talking about burning the flag as an act of protest. I personally would not burn the American flag, or the flag of any nation, for that matter, but I will tell you something. I LOVE living in a country where people are free to do so if they so choose. It isn't my cup of tea, but I am all for freedom, and if how people choose to express the freedom that flag represents is by burning it, so be it.
**EDIT**
Let me just add this. If I were at a protest rally for something I believed in strongly, and someone were to burn a flag, I would allow it, because it is their right. However, if they tried to change the flag, I wouldn't put up with it. Neo-Nazi skinheads have had several rallies where I live, and while I have never attended a counter-protest, a friend of mine did once, to protest against them. He said it all was pretty calm until they took out American flags that they had altered by sewing swastikas over the star field. They claimed it was because they are both Nazis and patriots who want to keep America clean. A small riot broke out when a bunch of bikers who happened to just be watching the whole affair saw the swastikas superimposed on the flag. Those flags were taken from them by force, and most of the guys holding them were beaten severely. There were a lot of arrests that day...
2007-08-16 20:26:58 · answer #2 · answered by Bronwen 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
It depends on where you are coming from. If you are American it is wrong to burn your own flag because whatever it is that made you burn the flag you are a part of it. A flag is a symbol of your patriotism to your country not the government not an individual. On the other hand if your not American, burning their flag is a symbol of how much you despise them. It might be wrong it might be right. It means that you don't approve what they are doing to your country. Burning the flag is a symbol of willingness to start a war with them in defence of your own country. Suffice to say don't burn your own flag cause you are subotaging yourself.
2007-08-16 20:26:10 · answer #3 · answered by Linda V 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
No I wouldn't,that said it is in my eyes as protected by the first amendment as any other form of speech. The only thing I find profound is how Illegal Alien marchers can burn American flags in the streets of American cities and it's considered free speech,but when one American citizen burned a Mexican flag in Phoenix to protest what the illegals were doing the police arrested him and charged him with arson.
AD
2007-08-16 23:35:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I haven't but I really do not see what all the fuss is about. No flag burning is no more wrong than simply voicing the same sentiment.
The only reason it has any impact at all is because people get so needlessly upset about it. If cons backed off and said they didn't really care if you burn the flag or not - people would probably stop doing it.
2007-08-16 21:07:51 · answer #5 · answered by Sageandscholar 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
No but I no not think we should outlaw it either. Sometimes a freedom is worth keeping even if its not popular. Land of the free, home of the brave - arrested for burning a flag in protest. Just doesn't fit
2007-08-16 20:53:28 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I have an older American Flag that I want to give away or otherwise dispose of. I would never burn it in disrespect or throw it in the trash because of all it represents. I'm thinking of giving it to a Boy Scout Troop to cerimoniously give it the retirement that it deserves. I absolutely have the utmost respect for Old Glory. God Bless the USA!
2007-08-16 20:46:45 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes, I would burn the American flag--as a means of proper disposal of a soiled or tattered flag, affording it the utmost of dignity in its disposal.
Your name is interesting. It was the title of a very controversial article in Foreign Affairs several years ago that centered on the Balkans. Actually, we should consider war, as it leads to peace--often more quickly than so-called peacekeeping or peacemaking operations that lend themselves to low-intensity conflicts that last years or even decades. War is disgusting and brutal, but typically quick. Accepting a full-intensity conflict is kind of like paying cash up front rather than making payments. It may be painful, but it is over with fast.
2007-08-16 20:30:22 · answer #8 · answered by James S 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The burning of the flag is a right of free people.
Denying people their rights is more wrong than the burning of a flag. If I bought and paid for the flag then it's mine and I'll burn my property if I want.
2007-08-16 20:27:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
The U.S. Flag Code states, "The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning".
That's the ONLY reason I'd ever burn a flag - and we fly ours daily. Properly lit, of course.
2007-08-16 20:27:00 · answer #10 · answered by Jadis 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋