# Do you care about disrespect to the flag? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354 "2013-03-19T15:02:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/41 "2013-03-19T22:44:13Z")
Weirdly I’m slightly irritated by people who attempt to display the flag respectfully and fuck it up (flying all night, touching the ground, ragged dirty flag), while someone burning the flag doesn’t bother me at all. That’s what you get from a grammar-nerd/civil libertarian I guess. ETA: . . . aaand now that I actually read the thread, I see I’m not at all unique in this. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/42 "2013-03-19T22:57:45Z")
Interesting…so would it be accurate for the majority to say that you’d be more annoyed at witnessing a flag displayed that looked like [this](http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_280/12137483023Dy085.jpg) than witnessing someone set light to a pristine flag? ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/43 "2013-03-19T23:57:54Z")
The psychologist Jonathan Haidt has shown that liberals and conservatives differ in this respect, which might explain why so few here are upset about flag desecration. Conservatives are much more likely to be perturbed by someone being disrespectful toward a flag since their moral framework places an emphasis on sanctity/purity: > **[Jonathan Haidt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt#Moral_Foundations_Theory)** > > Jonathan David Haidt (/haɪt/; born October 19, 1963) is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business. His main areas of study are the psychology of morality and moral emotions. > Haidt's main scientific contributions come from the psychological field of moral foundations theory, which attempts to explain the evolutionary origins of human moral reasoning on the basis of innate, gut feelings ... ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/44 "2013-03-20T00:07:55Z")
Maybe a low 1. I don’t really care; it’s a piece of cloth. I find American flag apparel offensive because it’s fugly and tacky, not because it’s the national flag. People getting upset over politicians not wearing American flag lapel pins really does bother me, though. Reminds me a little of mandatory Kim Il Sung buttons. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/45 "2013-03-20T00:08:06Z")
Don’t care one iota, it wouldn’t even register with me. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/46 "2013-03-20T00:47:16Z")
Giving a flag any special reverence is a form of idolatry which is forbidden by the majority religion in the country in which I reside. I would assume most followers of that religion would find giving a flag either respect or disrespect anathema. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/47 "2013-03-20T00:50:46Z")
It doesn’t bother me at all. Sometimes I do roll my eyes at people who mis-display a flag out of ignorance, but that’s not because it’s disrespectful, and a lot of the wrongness I see with flags comes from placing the US flag on _too high_ a pedestal. There’s an imported car dealership that flies the flags of the countries the cars come from, and the US flag is on a higher pole than the other flags. And some people believe that any flag has to be taken down whenever it rains, or that it has to be burned if it so much as grazes the ground for a split second. (That last one came from an elementary school teacher. I think it was the first thing that really made me realize that authority figures can say crazy-ass stuff that you shouldn’t listen to.) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/48 "2013-03-20T01:18:55Z")
Low miff. At least someone burning a flag can be presumed to be treating the flag as a significant object, although I think flag burning as a protest is a puerile act. Like many others, I’m more annoyed by people claiming to revere the flag and then using it for casual or commercial purposes without care. That’s why I made [this bumper sticker](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Gyrate/bumper1.jpg) several years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/49 "2013-03-20T01:53:42Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > To the extent that flags act as synecdoches for the country, and the country acts as a granfalloon for the people who comprise it, I actively dislike flags. A piece of cloth deserves no respect, nor does a nation. Respect belongs to people, not cloths or abstract ideas. This. I voted 0. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/50 "2013-03-20T05:32:13Z")
Back in the day, I came up with the idea of selling those little flags with poles about the size of a drinking straw, except mine would have a Bic lighter taped to the pole under the flag. So, no. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/51 "2013-03-20T05:34:46Z")
> [@Recusant](#): > > Zero. It’s a rag on a stick. Ha! Way to sum it up. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/52 "2013-03-20T05:40:47Z")
What is a lorry? Other than quite mad, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/53 "2013-03-20T05:42:10Z")
What is a lorry? Other than quite mad, apparently. ETA: As to the OP: nope. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/54 "2013-03-20T05:43:45Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Ha! Way to sum it up. “Kids! Bring Mama her washin’ stick!” ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/55 "2013-03-20T06:45:25Z")
Burning a worn, tattered flag in a simple ceremony is the proper way to dispose of it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/56 "2013-03-20T07:18:37Z")
Unless it’s a total fire ban day, or somebody’s home is at risk from the burning, I don’t give a monkey’s. I kind of understand that, as America doesn’t have a monarch, and their leader changes every 4-8 years, the flag has symbolically taken that place of highest respect. Nevertheless, it’s just a piece of cloth. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/57 "2013-03-20T07:20:40Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > What is a lorry? Other than quite mad, apparently. British term for a truck. I don’t think it refers to a specific kind of truck, though in my opinion it probably ought to. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/58 "2013-03-20T07:35:12Z")
Low miff. I’d like to see my country’s flag intact and snapping merrily in the breeze; but the local breeze is often quite strong. As such, local flags tatter quickly. If the local Legion, ANAF hall, etc., cannot afford to replace the flag four times a year, I understand. But it would be nice if it could replace it one time a year. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/59 "2013-03-20T07:42:44Z")
I voted “low miff”. As a South African, my jimmies are considerably more rustled by people who enthusiastically display the old apartheid-era flag. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354/60 "2013-03-20T07:54:53Z")
“Rag on a stick” pretty much sums it up. Except that after so many years of extremely unpleasant people waving it so hard, I have an actively negative feeling towards the American flag. Pavlovian conditioning. > [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Interesting…so would it be accurate for the majority to say that you’d be more annoyed at witnessing a flag displayed that looked like [this](http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_280/12137483023Dy085.jpg) than witnessing someone set light to a pristine flag? That sort of looks like the flag that America would fly after Cthulhu takes over…so yeah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-about-disrespect-to-the-flag/653354.md?page=4)