Talk:US flag burning amendment approved by House

I wrote my congressmen, I think he voted against this measure. I sure hope the Senate doesn't approve it, or if they do, that the states don't.

ARGH, He did vote for it!

Flag Fetish

The American symbol fetish (come on now, how many countries have a national bird?) I find truly bizarre.

Perhaps this is an compensatory outcome of Americans lacking any genuine commonal heritage, as in other countries, whose citizens can identify with a common ethnic, cultural or historic background..

Burners Must Go

To burn the flag is a statement of disgust, or even hatred, toward America. It's one thing to write your congressman and another to go torching the symbol that represents a history of blood, sweat, and tears that formed and preserved this great land. If you burn the flag you obviously don't agree with what this country stands for.

This begs the question why someone who feels that way would want to stay? Probably because they don't want to forfeit the privileges that come from citizenship here. The irony is the very principles they oppose are what offers them those privileges.

Also, why would you take the time to openly burn the flag? If the US doesn't fit your lifestyle just move on. Find another country to live in. Start your own. What good comes from disrespecting our country, or any country for that matter? Just leave.

Basically flag-burners are bitter people with personal agendas freeloading off our country. Thus this law should pass. And the charge for breaking the law should be deportation. - Sandog 15:39, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC).

Yes, and basically peace-lovers are bitter people has a with personal agendas freeloading off our country. :) NGerda 22:51, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)

In my country, I have the freedom to burn, or not to burn, a flag as an expression of my support, or non-support, of the government. 99.9% of the people in my country do not burn the flag, because they support the government. But it is this very freedom to speak out which makes my country free. But my government is deciding whether or not I can express myself in this manner. What else are they going to decide for me? - Amgine/^talk 22:44, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

In response to "Basically flag-burners are bitter people with personal agendas freeloading off our country.", I think that flag burners are people with a piece of cloth to burn. I don't think it's the job of the government to regulate which pieces of cloth we are or are not allowed to burn.

The flag is of course a symbol. But it means different things to different people. Just like a Christian cross may mean your religion to some, and the religion of your oppressors to others. A country is a very random construct, a consequence of only the last five hundred years of innovation in social structures. I don't think that a country carries as much weight in people's minds as does their ethnicity, nationality, race. To select a sacred symbol — a flag — and forbid its desecration is a foolish attempt to prove that patriotism is somehow more important than these other, more innate, features of a person.

The people who burn a flag make a statement, but it's not a statement that one can interpret easily. Do they hate the design pattern? Do they think the current administration is doing something wrong? Do they dislike a particular policy? One doesn't know, just from watching a flag burn. Indeed, had the burner used almost any other means of communication, they would have said more about what they mean. They could have spoken, sung, drawn, typed, emailed, faxed, whispered, proselethyzed. But they choose to simply burn some symbolistic cloth.

So who is it that burns a flag? And why do they do it? To show us they hate America? Well, if they hated it, they would leave. But they don't leave, and that's because they want to make the US a better place. They want to make changes that they believe will bring a positive change, in their eyes.

The US is a pluralistic country. We are built upon the notion that sometimes there are just different opinions, and we must agree to live with these different opinions. Indeed, this is what makes places like Wikipedia work: you agree on a common set of notions that allow you to carry out your lives, and leave the differences to be resolved elsewhere or later. Flag burning is such a difference: it is a way for some people to express dissatisfaction, and to make a call for change. I don't think they're any different than those writing "I want change" on a letter to the editor, or in an email to their senator. They are just more visible. But they are still in the US, and that's to be encouraged. Burners must burn, and they must stay, even if you really disagree with their message. -- IlyaHaykinson 02:46, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Way to go America! One more step towards the police state! -- <anon>

a duck!

As hilarious as i thought the duck comment was, is it really NPOV? ;)

Not deleted because i didn't know how and didn't want to mess up the page.

Flags on Napkins, clothes, towels, bumper stickers?

Proper flag etiquette does not allow for the image of the flag to be on clothing, towels, napkins, shoes,paper cups, tableclothes, etc.... Although improper but popular, how does this amendment affect these items?

If passed, the amendment would read: "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." So presumably Congress would have the power to prohibit this as well if they want, though I doubt they would. Wouldn't be very popular with the "patriots" who want the amendment in the first place. - TalkHard 03:14, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)