O say did you see that?
I'm as patriotic as the next guy, but I don't get my shorts in a knot about people who use the American flag as some sort of protest or demonstration. That's what makes this country better than most. You can be ridiculed or criticized by fellow citizens if you burn the flag or wear it as a bandanna or do other weird things with it, but it's not against the law. In some other country, you'd be put in jail or worse if you somehow desecrated a national symbol.
But that's all a flag is, really. It's a national symbol. It doesn't necessarily reflect the strength or durability of a nation or even the character of its people.
I certainly don't agree with movements to make desecration of the flag a crime. In fact, using the flag to express dissent is fine with me. In one way, it can help illustrate the depth of feeling someone has about an issue. It's like saying this activity is so unAmerican, I'm going to abuse an American symbol to display the level of my disgust with it.
BUT .. I have a bigger problem with pure hypocrisy -- such as businesses or organizations that fly the flag just because they think it will increase their business.
I suppose that's their business. But the motivation becomes pretty transparent when a business flys a flag in tatters. That's been the case for a while now with the giant flag that flys at the $3 Car Wash on Telegraph Rd. near Quatros. If you haven't seen it lately, check it out.
It is shredded and there even are pieces of it missing. It probably resembles the battle-torn flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner.
Some veterans group ought to storm the place, take down the flag and destroy it, then leave them a nice note saying the next target will be the car wash itself. Or maybe the city should crack down on them under the sign ordinance or something. Really, coming into town it looks like something you'd see after a firefight in Baghdad.
But that's all a flag is, really. It's a national symbol. It doesn't necessarily reflect the strength or durability of a nation or even the character of its people.
I certainly don't agree with movements to make desecration of the flag a crime. In fact, using the flag to express dissent is fine with me. In one way, it can help illustrate the depth of feeling someone has about an issue. It's like saying this activity is so unAmerican, I'm going to abuse an American symbol to display the level of my disgust with it.
BUT .. I have a bigger problem with pure hypocrisy -- such as businesses or organizations that fly the flag just because they think it will increase their business.
I suppose that's their business. But the motivation becomes pretty transparent when a business flys a flag in tatters. That's been the case for a while now with the giant flag that flys at the $3 Car Wash on Telegraph Rd. near Quatros. If you haven't seen it lately, check it out.
It is shredded and there even are pieces of it missing. It probably resembles the battle-torn flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner.
Some veterans group ought to storm the place, take down the flag and destroy it, then leave them a nice note saying the next target will be the car wash itself. Or maybe the city should crack down on them under the sign ordinance or something. Really, coming into town it looks like something you'd see after a firefight in Baghdad.
posted by The Observer at 1/10/2008 02:37:00 PM
2 Comments:
Wouldn't it have to be in the city for them to have any say at all? Not that that would happen.
We veterans have done our duty. When we wished taller flagpoles for our new post we sought and were given a variance by the ZBA.
Why you just get of your duff and go to a judge and attempt to obtain a court order to have your grievance corrected.
We fought to uphold the law and civil order. If you wish to not follow due process, do it your self. Why don't you go to a biker bar and mouth off about what we veterans should do. Next morning county your teeth and broken bones.
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