A few years ago when credit card commercials of the same format were popular on television, my uncle told me a joke:
"Lighter: $2. American Flag: $10. A**hole catching his shirt on fire while trying to burn the American flag: priceless."
I honestly can not understand why this whole flag burning issue is even an issue to begin with. I can't believe the amendment banning the burning of the American flag didn't pass, and I fail to recognize its controversy. In what way would such an amendment be a restriction of free speech? How is speech even related to the physical, non-vocal action of burning a national symbol? In case you all forgot what exactly our flag is, here's a refresher. Our flag is not made out of a piece of fabric with some artificial dyes that probably come from China. Our flag is made of the blood of every soldier who died while defending this country since its birth. Our flag is made of human lives -- hundreds of thousands of human lives to be more specific. Burning the American flag is not merely destroying a rectangular piece of cloth, it is desecrating the memory of hundreds of thousands of dead American soldiers. No man has the right to do that, no matter how much he think he does. Not only is the flag made out of blood, but the flag represents American freedom -- it is the definitive symbol of liberty. When one burns the flag, he essentially burns the symbol of his freedom -- he burns and desecrates his own rights to free speech, free press, etc. If someone wants to burn up the symbol of their own freedom, why should they be given any of the freedoms associated with the symbol? It makes no sense. One can think of it as a contract. Burning an American flag is essentially equal to rejecting America and America's freedom -- therefore one rejects his freedoms when he burns a flag, so lock him up and throw away the key! This is a sickening debate that shames our soldiers living and dead, and I pray that the government will stop toying around with the issue and do something.
~Tribal~
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30 comments:
Lol. Dude, you're the only one who has posted on this blog since April.
Well Bro, you ask an interesting question. "How is speech even related
to the physical, non-vocal action of burning a national symbol?". I ask
you: What is speech? Is it solely vocal/verbal, as is implied by your
question, and the question before it? Or could it be that the concept
of "speach" or "speaking" is something broader? Indeed, even
Merriam-Webster defines 'Speak' as (among other things) "to indicate by other than verbal means". 'Speak' is also closely related to 'state' (v) defined as "to express the particulars of especially in words", from which we get 'statment' which is defined as (again, among other things) "an opinion, comment, or message conveyed indirectly usually by nonverbal means".
'Speak', 'Speech', 'State', and 'Statment', are all part of the broader concept of communication, and it has always been acknowledged, wether directly or implicitly, that spoken word is only one subset of communication. True, we call it the "Freedom of Speech", and if you were to take that completely literally, you could say that we only have the freedom to verbally speak out as we will... but again, man has long acknowledged that actions very often speak much louder than words, and man has proven that words are very often completely empty of all meaning. On top of that, to limit the Freedom of Speech to verbal communication, you remove the ablility to object in written form, or by "peaceful" demonstration -- both non-verbal forms of communication covered by the Freedom of Speech.
Thus we have established that actions can be another form of 'speech' and, as such, can be protected under the bill of rights. Yet we can not consider ALL actions as expressions of opinion or ideals. There is some difference between the freedom of dissent and the freedom of expression. For example, one might call a rape and expression of sexual frustration. Thats quite different from dissent. The freedom we speak of was created to keep the government from supressing dissent among their citizens. To do so would be an act against democracy, where the people have a say (theoretically) in what goes on in our country and our government. So careful consideration must be given to each case regarding the freedom in question. I'm unsure exactly what the procedure or guidelines regarding such consideration are, however. An interesting research project if I had the time.
So what about Flag burning? Do I agree or identify with those who would burn the flag? hardly. Do I believe that flag burning is a form of speech protected by the bill of rights? I'm usure. I do consider it a horrible thing to do considering the history behind the flag, and the men and women who have given their lives to protect it, and the rights of those who dissent, but they DO have the right to dissent. And because flag burning doesnt actually hurt anyone physically, it does lose a couple points in regards to the ban. Its a rather low, pathetic form of dissent... but it gains a whole lot of attention, which is what they are looking for. We're just retarded enough to pay a whole bunch of attention to their burning the flag, instead of listening to and dealing with what they have to say. Its kinda like the three year old who is a little terror simply because he wants to be heard. Granted, there are little three year olds who simply enjoy being a terror... but its usually the former rather than the latter...
Anyway, theres my rant for the month. cya tuesday.
-Joe
Thanks for commenting, few take the time to do so. I can agree with you on "freedom of speech" encompassing more than merely speaking, that was just a play on words. I still do not waiver from my original position, however. I am in NO way advocating the removal of the right to dissent. That single right, more than any other right we have in America, makes us unique from most of the world. Burning an American flag is different from merely dissenting, however. I don't have a problem with someone standing on the capitol steps in D.C. voicing negative views about the government. If they want to do that, by God, let them do it; it's their constitutional right. I DO have a problem with someone standing on the capitol steps burning a flag, however. There are ways to dissent without desacrating a national symbol and those who died to defend it. Look at it this way. Imagine you had a brother who served in the army, and that brother was killed in combat. Now, imagine someone standing on the capital steps burning the corpse of your brother...in protest of the nation he DIED to defend. That is essentialy the heart of what I am arguing here. You would not allow someone to burn your brother's dead body, so why would you allow someone to burn the very thing that your brother gave his life for in the first place? No one who I am aware of is advocating a limit on freedom with this amendment, they are advocating the protection of our nation's symbol -- the symbol of freedom all around the world -- and the memories of those who died so that loser burning that flag CAN legaly dissent. Thanks again for your comment.
~Tribal~
(P.S. -- We live in a Republic, not a Democracy.)
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