How do you feel about the burning of the American flag?

[Ihnasir]

It's just a piece of cloth, it's also funny to see people get upset about it.

[derpkitteh]

don't care if they burn the flag.

they're powerless, burning the flag is the only way they'll ever be able to make a move against the US.

[Chetnik]

If you are outside, you stand still and wait for the music to end, even if you're in a car - people stop their cars and get out. The whole Base pauses for a moment to give our respect to the flag.

I take it you're on Ft. Hood? Besides the training bases (Jackson, Sill, Benning), that's the only base I ever went to where people not only stop, but block the road forcing others to stop during the flag raising/lowering. If you go to Lewis or Riley, the people that stop pull over to do so.

[Rafoel]

If that was a flag of my country I would be offended.

Also, it would be illegal here.

[Pengekaer]

It should be deemed as legally and irrevocably renouncing their US citizenship, but they should be allowed to do it.

Now now, I think you're being too tough on these good young idealists. In good ol' Europe, unpatriotic acts such as this would probably trigger a research grant. I think the US could learn a great deal from this by giving these fine young intelligent people a financial grant for an educational trip so that these students might visit their ideological comrades in Damaskus, Raqqa, Ismalabad, Ramallah Mogadishu and Kabul.

[Veyne]

How do I feel about it?

Largely indifferent. I have no concept of patriotism. I acknowledge I could be a hell of a lot worse off if I didn't live in this country, but I still have no particular attachments to it (not saying I hate this country or anything). If this is how the one's doing it feel best gets their message across, then go right ahead and do it.

[nextormento]

Whenever I burn a flag I try not to look like a lunatic.

[Deleted]

Can't say I care. I also wouldn't care if somebody burned the Swedish flag, spat and took a shit on it. Are we really going to be upset about someone burning a piece of cloth they purchased, an item that belongs to them?

Grow the fuck up.

[Chetnik]

No, Ive never been to Ft. Hood. I've lived at many Army Bases and they've all done this, though, no one is forcing others to also stop - people just always do it. Right now I'm on an Airforce Base and they do it as well.

Well, not always. If you go to Ft. Riley, KS or Ft. Lewis, WA, nobody stops. The only people that stop pull over to do so.

At Ft. Hood, not only do people force you to stop, but the MPs sometimes block entire intersections a few minutes before the flag comes down and force everyone to get out of their cars for the flag. While I was in, my thinking was: "I'm wearing the uniform. I don't think you can get any more patriotic than that. Why do I need to waste my time?" In the same way we shouldn't be wasting time making kids do the pledge of allegiance every morning after kindergarten. I think if it was a thing we did only every memorial/veterans day, it would mean a lot more than having to do it every day.

[Cthulhu 2020]

You're not allowed to use the constitution as an argument unless you also support the entirety of the constitution. I don't exactly see you standing up for gun rights in other threads.

It seems you've been bad at reading about my stance on gun rights. Perhaps you should learn to read before making yourself look silly?

There are plenty of people on this forum who revere the second amendment but seem to want the rest of the constitution to go.

[Kellhound]

Well, not always. If you go to Ft. Riley, KS or Ft. Lewis, WA, nobody stops. The only people that stop pull over to do so.

At Ft. Hood, not only do people force you to stop, but the MPs sometimes block entire intersections a few minutes before the flag comes down and force everyone to get out of their cars for the flag. While I was in, my thinking was: "I'm wearing the uniform. I don't think you can get any more patriotic than that. Why do I need to waste my time?" In the same way we shouldn't be wasting time making kids do the pledge of allegiance every morning after kindergarten. I think if it was a thing we did only every memorial/veterans day, it would mean a lot more than having to do it every day.

We generally stopped on the Navy bases I served in, but it has been awhile.

[McDeloud]

I support it as it creates job opportunities for flag vendors.

The winner is just right here.

Nothing illigal here. Just move on...

[hrugner]

It's a decent enough symbol, and I'm happy letting people damage symbols to express dissatisfaction with what it represents. It lets normal people know what's up and see if this flag-burner's problems are worth solving for them or just letting that group burn with their symbol.

It's a far cry from doing something, but I'd rather have a baby who cried than one who blows up buildings.

[bladeXcrasher]

Why do they cover their faces

[wowaccounttom]

when the blizzard comes and everyone is burning stuff to keep warm, no one will care if its a flag or a piece of paper...

[Pengekaer]

Can't say I care. I also wouldn't care if somebody burned the Swedish flag, spat and took a shit on it. Are we really going to be upset about someone burning a piece of cloth they purchased, an item that belongs to them?

Grow the fuck up.

The burning of the flag is a ritual, so to speak. It is not actually the burning of the flag that upsets people (I agree people shouln't be upset about it tbh...) but the notion that these young fellows are so incited by hatred against the values upon which their homeland is built that they are ready to literally torch it. So while the burning of the flag does not truly offend me, I am still puzzled what causes this primitive ape-like behavior in these young students? And what causes their hatred for the land they grew up in?

I am guessing these young people are angry at Americans, and the US as a nation, for being among the most advanced and successful on earth and for having wealth and power far above what is within reach for, say, the muslim countries. To them, such inequality is unfair, although they surely will not pass on a chance to enjoy the internet, the iPhone or to go the doctor should they fall ill. The hypocrisy is as dense as granite and the stupidity as deep as the Mariana Trench. And it is strange, IMO, that they don't show more gratitude for growing up in a good, functional country where they do not want for anything - this however, may be the very problem for these spoiled brats.

That is why there was some seriousness, actually, in my suggestion to offer (and I do mean offer, not force) these people an educational trip to the Middle East. To visit a place where all the values they take for granted are being pissed and shit upon in the name of Islam. Or to North Korea where they could see the wonders of their beloved communism unravel before their very eyes.

[buffalowbie]

You're supposed to dispose of the flag by burning it because it's considered "dignified". So, I tend to laugh to myself when people think burning it is offensive when they are giving it a "dignified" disposal.

(k) 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.

http://www.usflag.org/uscode36.html

[Deleted]

In Romania it's illegal to burn the country flag. Well in public, what you do in your home is your business.

[bladeXcrasher]

You're supposed to dispose of the flag by burning it because it's considered "dignified". So, I tend to laugh to myself when people think burning it is offensive when they are giving it a "dignified" disposal.


http://www.usflag.org/uscode36.html

You should read the code if you are going to link it. The manner in which the flag code is written and what happens in the video are vastly different...

[Zyster]

I believe in respect. The flag obviously represents importance to someone, and therefore shouldn't be burned. The fact that someone has to literally go out of their way to purposely offend someone doing this is disturbing.