Should Flag Burning Be Illegal?

[lordmatthias]

While burning a flag is a deplorable action (depending on the circumstances), it is protected free speech and as such should NOT be illegal.

[kyoloco]

only if it is a Saiyan flag

[Deleted]

It should not be legal. It's a symbol of your god damn country. If you hate your country so much I think you should leave.

[Ghrog]

As a veteran who fought and bled for the freedoms that that flag represents, it should not be illegal to burn it.

To make it illegal is to spit on every man and woman that died to protect the rights of Americans.

Is it a deplorable act usually done by idiots and vile people? Yep.

But freedom of speech must apply to all, even those that we vehemently disagree with... ESPECIALLY those that we vehemently disagree with.

[Vynny]

So long as it's your flag that you're burning, then it's completely legal, and it should remain that way because it's your right.

On a side note, doesn't this kind of act just preach to the choir more than anyone else? I mean, I've never know anyone to be convinced by a flag burning demonstration because it's a shallow act that conveys the demonstrators lack of respect or any actual substantive message more than anything else.

[Daethz]

Yes. If a immigrant burns a flag with citizenship their citizenship should be voided and immediately deported.
Burning the flag in protest should be considered a revoke of citizenship

[Reivur]

It should not be legal. It's a symbol of your god damn country. If you hate your country so much I think you should leave.

Not that I'm in this position or share that sentiment, but I've always found that response to be rather disingenuous. If it were that easy to just 'leave' and go to another Country without any consequences or issues, immigration wouldn't be such a hot button topic in the first place. And that's true for anywhere.

Anyway if you bought the flag and you're burning your property, so be it. That just means you went out and were a consumer and contributed to the economy. If you stole someone else's flag or property or burned it, you should be arrested.

[AlphaOut]

You own your mailbox but it's illegal for you to destroy it.
Why? It's government property. It'd be nice if there was a provision in our laws to treat our flag the same way.

[Deleted]

You own your mailbox but it's illegal for you to destroy it.
Why? It's government property. It'd be nice if there was a provision in our laws to treat our flag the same way.

Why? Anyone can make a flag. Mailboxes aren't really the same thing.

[AlphaOut]

Why? Anyone can make a flag. Mailboxes aren't really the same thing.

Anyone can make a mailbox. You own your mailbox. Hell, i made my own box because I live on property and the one the prior owners haf was trash. But I made it yet it's illegal for me to destroy it. So it's actually the same thing if the US flag was deemed government (federal) property.

[Poopymonster]

No it shouldn't.

You can do it because you can. I don't need to give any logical reason or rationale for it, I can do it if I want. It's covered by a amendment in the constitution, been interpreted by the Supreme Court, and is protected. The founding fathers, in their eternal wisdom, thought it would be needed at some point for the country. Oh wait, this logic only applies to the second amendment. Carry on.

[Kaeth]

That mailbox law appears to be just as stupid as prohibiting flag burning would be.

The mailbox law exists to protect the integrity and security of the US postal system. It's a practical measure; if mailbox bashing was a simple misdemeanor, your private postal correspondence would cease to be truly secure.

The flag burning thing is just stupid. It's a piece of cloth. A "symbol" of your country is just that: a symbol. If I sketch a bald eagle on a piece of paper, should it become a felony to damage or destroy that drawing because it's a depiction of the national bird?

Mail needs to remain secure. Talk of criminalizing flag burning is just recurring bait to evoke outrage from a segment of the US population when it's convenient to direct their attention away from issues which actually matter.

[Deleted]

You own your mailbox but it's illegal for you to destroy it.
Why? It's government property. It'd be nice if there was a provision in our laws to treat our flag the same way.

Yesh, a country should totally lessen the freedom of it citizens because you get triggered by something. Next thing up, the ban on fat people in tight "fitting" cloths.

[Pickynerd]

The mailbox law exists to protect the integrity and security of the US postal system. It's a practical measure; if mailbox bashing was a simple misdemeanor, your private postal correspondence would cease to be truly secure.

The flag burning thing is just stupid. It's a piece of cloth. A "symbol" of your country is just that: a symbol. If I sketch a bald eagle on a piece of paper, should it become a felony to damage or destroy that drawing because it's a depiction of the national bird?

Mail needs to remain secure. Talk of criminalizing flag burning is just recurring bait to evoke outrage from a segment of the US population when it's convenient to direct their attention away from issues which actually matter.

Its always been offensive to a majority of people and military, that is why it is done. Nothing more than adults trying to get attention, like the children they are.

[JohnBrown1917]

yeah

if you burn a flag i hope you choke and die from smoke inhalation

if you don't like this country then get the fuck out and go join al qaeda or something

Encouraging people to join a terror organization in response to not liking everything about the US.


'Murica!

[Deleted]

Not that I'm in this position or share that sentiment, but I've always found that response to be rather disingenuous. If it were that easy to just 'leave' and go to another Country without any consequences or issues, immigration wouldn't be such a hot button topic in the first place. And that's true for anywhere.

Anyway if you bought the flag and you're burning your property, so be it. That just means you went out and were a consumer and contributed to the economy. If you stole someone else's flag or property or burned it, you should be arrested.

I bet you wouldn't say the same thing about burning Koran, would you? Even if you bought it yourself.

[JohnBrown1917]

I bet you wouldn't say the same thing about burning Koran, would you? Even if you bought it yourself.

What are you basing this on?

[Deleted]

What are you basing this on?

Basing it on the case that both are symbols but burning an USA flag is politically correct while burning koran is not.

[Zolaris192]

No, it's protected by, next to the second amendment, our most important amendment lol

But burning one does make you an incredibly shitty person

Unless our government was to go completely sideways and bring us back to the third world (which it was on track to doing)

[Shadowferal]

if you don't like this country then get the fuck out and go join al qaeda or something

Maybe you should grow up and learn that valid protests and the ideals of this country are part of the same thing.

It should not be legal. It's a symbol of your god damn country. If you hate your country so much I think you should leave.

As I posted earlier, if the ideals represented by a symbol have lost all meaning then the symbol itself is no longer....symbolic.
The flag becomes no more than a piece of cloth. And one that is then ripe for burning.
One cannot respect a symbol when the ideals it once represented no longer exist.

I think some people need a course in the US Constitution and its history.
If you posit a symbol over the Law of the Land then you're priorities are seriously fucked up.
Especially when the symbol means little these days.