As a semi-followup to my distress over the ongoing disrespect to the national anthem, a great moment of respect for a better symbol of our nation: the flag.
As bad as the anthem disrespect is, it is less of a big deal in the sense that it’s only been the national anthem since about 1930 and we’re always talking about changing it. It’s a much more mutable symbol of our country than the flag. Disrespect for the flag, including burning it, seems to me far worse than bungling the anthem or twisting the purpose of singing it. I’m a big believer in free speech and I don’t think flag burning should be outlawed. But I think flag burners should feel the weight of our disapproval; as they have free speech, so do we. And these two bozos had the right to burn the flag, but not in that place and at that time. The way people responded to them is wonderful, just priceless. Ed Morrissey has a lot more about this at his post, Happy Flag Day.
Hey Laura,
I couldn’t find anything else on the Rick Monday flag incident. I thought about what you had said and tried to think about why this guy didn’t burn something else if he wasn’t trying to make a political statement about the USA. The only thing I could come up with is that people in distress don’t always act rationally. I just don’t see why he would commit such an extreme act and then not deliver some type of political statement about it if that were his intention. Also, I would imagine that the police would have commented in some way if they didn’t find his story credible (as insane as it all sounds). Again, I have no way of verifying that this was the truth. But if this guy were truly a political animal, considering the infamy of this act, I would think he would have been heard from again. But who knows? Your post got me thinking. Best, ML (Sorry. I left this post on a different thread before I saw this. I also agree with protecting the 1st Amendment when it comes to otherwise offensive speech.)