What other ways are there to actually protest the national government? Lets see, we can have violent protests, yeah, that might be a good one... they could leave, that would defeat the purpose of them defiling the flag in any case but other countries dont care about you burning a US flag and you wont get attention or heard. Burning the flag is a safe, normally non-violent way of expressing ones hate for the US government unless its done out of respect for the flag, which US citizens DO have the right to do BFTP, tho it is recommended your bring it to a local military base or national guard, as said. I personally dont care if they burn it or not, it happens, it doesnt do anything to me personally and i believe in people voicing their opinions as long as it doesnt endanger another person, which flag burning doesnt. But honestly, the US as a whole is so pessimistic, we can try someone for burning a flag just because we TIHNK it was in disrespect for the flag, when it could have been a patriotic flag burning done by ex-military or a military on leave to come to his family. We always see the worst in things, we always cause ourselves chaos... oh, 2 building of ours were demolished and a few thousand people died, we should knock afghanistan off the planet (yes, iraq was invaded for saddam, not 9/11, afghanistan was invaded for 9/11). Death to any muslim on the street! Hell, bush even procided security for Osama's blood relatives in the states to assure the US citizens didnt kill them. We always look at the bad side of things, rarely do we look at the positive, i mean there are starving, hard working children in Bangledesh that work 9 hours aday in a feeble attempt to pay for their own food and rarely do and often times die that have a higher outlook on us and we have enough food to be the most obese country as far as percentages, we have the most developed country, we have basically the best structured government, the most allies, the biggest bombs, etc. I mean the US still is one of the most idealist nations in the world to be in and yet were all so much more negative than those that have so much less than we do, its sickening to see people having major concerns about the burning of our national flag.
smothering a flag with gasoline and setting it alite is non-violent ? lol.. do you know what a fire looks like ? or feels like ? expressing hate against the us government ?.. ..what about every single american that fought for that flag ? I'm not going to start a discussion over Iraq, because i don't know everything about the war.. neither do you i guess. Ehmmm, thats just wrong.
we have the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and a bunch of others. how does burning speak? burning flags being covered under freedom of speech is a terrible excuse. burning an american flag makes no sence. you are burning the flag of the very nation that allows you the "freedom" to do such acts of treason. yall flag burners should be sent to iran and see how ya like it there.
i love this thread, it unreasonable to burn the american flag but i didnt see threads complaining about denmark flags been set alight because of those cartoons
Flags of countries a re burnt all the time by people all over the world, how is burning an American flag any different?? It should be protected under freedom of speech, it doesn't hurt anybody.
are we talking about burning flags when they get old and tarnished (you are supposed to) or burning them on purpose to prove some kind of point?
You don't need to open your mouth to actually speak. Burning a flag doesn't hurt anybody, and how are you going to know if someone burns a flag? WHO CARES?
would you prefer i cover you in gasoline and light you on fire instead? would you prefer i light a material object on fire that is the symbol of our nation on fire, or would you prefer that some of the flag burners get drafted and load bullets into their own army to prove their point? nothing about burning a material object is violent. what about every soldier that was forced to fight for their country (you know, as in unwillingly?), have sympathy for them for the government forcing them to war? Thats a huge reason so many flags are burnt, because of drafts and the states forcing us to fight for something we may not want to fight against or fight for. and how is what i said wrong, name one part in that which is wrong, do me a favor and you go live in Bangledesh, dont pack anything, wear a shirt and some shorts and fly down to bangledesh for a year and come back and tell me how stupid it is when you look back and you were arguing over something as menial as burning a flag in desrespect for a nation. ive personally done it for a missionary trip for a religious group, and i can tell you that my views on alot have changed, you guys bicker about the stupidest things ever... stuff that doesnt even concern you... people in bangledesh look like they are all anarexic as they cant even get food to live, they die in their teens/twenties after multiple years of hunger and suffering and working all day long in an attempt to stay alive while your over here bickering about how your nations flag is being burnt by a few people who disagree with you. you can choose to hear what you want to hear, which is why when people often voice their opinion against the nation it goes unheard, no one wants to hear that their nation, you know, the most powerful country in the world, being bad mouthed by a bunch of people who disagree with drafting, disagree with a majority of the presidential elections and majority of decisions. actions speak louder than words, would you prefer people who burn flags to have that action revoked so they move to something more significant like... oh... abducting politicians family and flogging them (extremist, but very possible)? would you prefer we set soldiers on fire instead of flags? as of now its not illegal, just frowned upod, which is highly opinionated, as alot of people, such as myself, see nothing wrong wtih a flag being burned, not that i do it myself, but i dont care, some people like to express their views in other ways. you can choose to be ignorant to how they look at it or atleast try to see it from their view, which is why i hate so many of you people who claim muslims are bad for their religion, or that the ku klux klan is anti-christian when all it is is a differed belief. its like anything you dont agree with is automatically wrong and should be prohibited, its people like them who caused other ethnicities (mainly blacks) to be used as slaves. They were different, therefore they were frowned upon, therefore they were used as we saw fit.
@Dementia.. Okay, first things first.. could you please stay with the subject ? You're telling me how i should not focus on small problems like idiots burning flags.. well, somebody who burns my flag (Vlaamse Leeuw ~ Flemish Lion) should be punished. I know how many men, women and children died for that flag, and if i see a ----ing moron burning that flag that gets me upset. Hopefully i'll never see it happen. hmm, i don't know the facts but that would suprise me. Also, a flag isn't just an "object" , its a symbol of a nation... A nation that has fought hard for that flag, a nation who's proud of their flag. Don't get me wrong, I shouldn't get upset about "small(cough)" things like that.. But, i don't really, it just upsets me when people go and defend the idiots with the matches. hmmm, isn't it in our nature to look diffrently to another human being ? Your opinion is what it is.. I can't change that. well, you said, We have basically the best structured goverment.. Can you prove that ? One of the most idealist nations in the world ? please man, America has is one of the fattest nations in the world, one of the most violent nations (avarage of 25.000 killings a year) America has got more guns then parents.. ^^ Please don't change the subject anymore.. Burning a flag is an outrage and everybody who does it should be fined. Flags represent a nations history.. You can't disgrace that.
my grandpa, and great grandpa have both died in wars, my ex-g/fs father died in iraq, i know first hand how many people have died for that flag, but i also know how many of them unwillingly were sent out and died for this country by force, which i find as offensive as burning the flag. as far as condemning someone for their differences... well, are you a slave runner? because thats how they thought, black = inferior, we must use them to our advantage, thats how they thought. you mine as well be saying flag burners = inferior, we must use them to our own personal advantage. personally i dont judge a book by its cover, i get to know each and every person i come across if the oppurtunity presents itself and i judge each person individually (which technically is still judging, but atleast i know the person prior to judging their actions whether they were well intentioned or not). now for proving that our government is virtually the best structured government... considering our government is one of the most stable, most people friendly (as in the people can voice their opinions and, in the end, we as the people of the US have supreme power over what goes on, but it takes an accordance with atleast a majority for it to work, and normally more than 50% are on a positive side of things rather than a negative) governments i believe that speaks for itself, and a majority of the world WISHES they could be in your spot in america. also, im not going off topic, im putting you in the shoes of people who have it hundred times worse than you and where is your sympathy for them? you care more about a material possession that symbolizes ONE nation out of hundreds and is mass produced than you care about a human life in another country simply because the flag pertains more to yourself than the person does... we are THE most obese nation in the world, and we are fortunate enough to say that because the amount of food we eat in a day across the nation could feed a third world country for a week (or more, on average), sure its nothing to be proud of, but id rather be obese than have my bone structure being shown through my skin, by practically being bones and skin and no muscle. we are by far not the most violent nations (please, go to the orient, middle east, russia, go to any country run by a dictator or communist leader and the kill counts the dictator declares including who they themselves killed or had killed is greatly higher). also, weaponry is huge amongst any rich country... most military men will carry 5+ guns in their household, my ex-g/fs dad carried over 23 guns in his house, 12 handguns, 7 rifles, 4 shotgun, how many guns are in the states illegally or bought elsewhere tho? a majority of the believed guns in the states... as you said, an opinion is an opinion, and i am staying on topic, burning the flag is a material possession, it isnt the ONLY symbol of our nation in the entire world, its easily replacable, it is a non violent way of showing emotion, as i said, would you prefer they go off and cover a US soldier in gasoline and torch him and let him run around screaming in agony as he slowly dies or would you rather watch a flag burn when you can go out and replace it the next day same as it was? at the most you could consider it as a threat, oooo they burnt a flag, they must want to assassinate the government! oooo [/sarcasm] opinionated. flags can change at any time, that would technically mean that the nations entire history has been erased and is starting over from scratch according to you. its the people and the culture that are the rememberence of history. there are far worse things than burning a nations replacable flag.
Umm, guys, this was already decided 17 years ago. If you don't know, the Supreme Court's decision stands as a precedent. According to Texas v. Johnson, this is where the right to burn the flag is protected. The Supreme Court rarely over turns the precedents set before the court. Even though I'm a conservative, I support the right to burn the flag, though I won't do it. It's symbolic speech.
There's always a way out of everything in America. I don't see why this should be illegal but I don't see this as right. I mean if you don't like America, then leave!
Well that is pointless, if you are an American and you hate America so much that you burn the fricken flag, why the hell are you in America in the first place? I've seen a flag burning, it's horrible, its just a piece of cloth but that little piece of cloth represents everything millions of people have died for.
