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.
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 than witnessing someone set light to a pristine flag?
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:
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.
Don’t care one iota, it wouldn’t even register with me.
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.
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.)
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 several years ago.
This. I voted 0.
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.
Ha! Way to sum it up.
What is a lorry? Other than quite mad, apparently.
What is a lorry? Other than quite mad, apparently.
ETA: As to the OP: nope.
“Kids! Bring Mama her washin’ stick!”
Burning a worn, tattered flag in a simple ceremony is the proper way to dispose of it.
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.
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.
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.
I voted “low miff”. As a South African, my jimmies are considerably more rustled by people who enthusiastically display the old apartheid-era flag.
“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.
That sort of looks like the flag that America would fly after Cthulhu takes over…so yeah.
