Whats your position on flag burning?

The USA can close to amending its Constitution in the summer of 2006 actually, (shock!) when the amendment was turned down and lost by just 1 vote to make it a crime to burn any type of American flag.

Check it out and read up on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Desecration_Amendment

 

< close to making it a crime in the bloody Constitution of America.

 

I just wish we could limit what we considered a crime. If burning a flag is illegal or immoral, it would have to be because the fire touched someone or burned some property down. Making something illegal because it makes hurts to see in a purely sentimental way, is akin to banning gay marriage, since it hurts the christian right to see it.

Being offended by these things is not a reasonable, informed act. It's a psychological reflex. The same area of the brain that makes you offended to see a flag burning, is tha same area that makes you wince and cover your nose when you smell something bad. It's also the same area that fires when a religious person is confronted with the idea of gay marriage or premarital sex. These should not be considerations in the law-making process.

 

i recommend never burning a plastic flag while holding it....

 

Supreme Court rulings have upheld that peaceful flag desecration is a form of political speech that should be protected by our Constitution:


"It is firmly settled that under our Constitution the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers." Moreover, appellant did not impose his ideas upon a captive audience. Anyone who might have been offended could easily have avoided the display. See Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971).Nor may appellant be punished for failing to show proper respect for our national emblem.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/spence.html



To anyone offended by an American citizens' right to free speech as it pertains to peaceful flag burning, the Supreme Court has issued a ruling ... go away, don't look.


I'm not offended when you fly a goddamn piece of cloth, why should you be offended when I burn a goddamn piece of cloth.

 

---I'm not offended when you fly a goddamn piece of cloth, why should you be offended when I burn a goddamn piece of cloth.---

i'm going to have to remember that one, brilliant!

[apart from the carbon-release thing]

 

hahahahahahhaa^

 

I don't think he was saying that you don't have the right to do it. I think just because you have the right to do something, doesn't mean you won't get your ass kicked for doing it.

 

^ so is he also saying that the vigilant, violent consequence of flag burning is just as valid as a peaceful, legal one?

 

oppressing other people's freedom of speech by "kicking their ass" isn't any better than what dictators and the KKK do. if I want to burn a flag, I shouldn't have to worry about violent, stupid red necks getting all butthurt and threatening my life.

 

oppressing other people's freedom of speech by "kicking their ass" isn't any better than what dictators and the KKK do. if I want to burn a flag, I shouldn't have to worry about violent, stupid red necks getting all butthurt and threatening my life.

Redneck? LOLOLOL that is funny. What a mental giant.

 

I've been trying to tell people this for so long...
Free speech isn't about anarchy, though. A smart person would have a point to it. Personally, I don't see any problem with burning a flag as a demonstration, because it says something, as in: "this country used to stand for something, but now it's all falling apart, and I don't believe in what this flag represents anymore so it's meaningless to me". It's about calling for change. Talking about it doesn't get the point across. It doesn't mean we literally want to burn the country to the ground. It means we destroyed it a long time ago, things are only getting worse, and it's time to fix it.

 

I didn't vote for either. There was no in between option. My view is that it's rude and disrespectful, but should in no way be outlawed...it's a freedom we should have.
Burning of the flag represents disrespect of your country, not just your government; that's why I would never do it

 

i have no respect for my country or yours or anyones

respect people not nations

 

I love you.

 

i don't think it's completely wrong but I do think it's disrespectful

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF2iX2VG6e4

No, it shouldn't be illegal. It's protected speech, and symbols are very important to people. I don't know if I'd go to the extent of saying it's a 'good' method of protest.

 

I was just thinking about that... Thanks for posting.

 

If you are going to burn your own country's flag, you better wrap yourself in it.

 

oh that's really mature. So you hate people's rights too? So you suggest they burn themselves to death? Really nice.
To burn a flag is someone's right. You're disagree with someone's freedom of speech, and that's fine, but to oppress them and make violent, ignorant comments like that is just closeminded.
To each their own.