I stand corrected, but my mom professionally vexillologied for the federal government when I was a kid.
Is he a buddy? “Dude, you shouldn’t fly the US flag below yours - they should be the same height. Just swap out every day - its awesome that you have both.”
Have I never talked to him - assume that he is trying to do the right thing, but doesn’t know the rules. Not worth it to explain to him.
I agree with the dumb bitches, niggers, spics, wops, crackers, kikes and faggots in this thread that this is America, we have freedom of speech in this nation and you should not get upset over a symbol or just some words.
Because lord knows, the police officer’s most important role in society is educating immigrants on flag etiquette.
Seriously, why the hell would a police precinct send a squad car around because some crank called to say that a flag was being “disrepected” at the neighbor’s house. I would seriously question the priorities of any law enforcement agency who responded to a call like that.
Just out of curiosity, could you explain why you think it would be any of your business or why you would find it necessary to try to waste the cops’ time like that (not that I believe they’d bother to respond).
The Flag Code is just a bunch of suggestions. It’s not actually the law, and not anything that anyone is obligated to pay the slightest attention to. Since this is a scenario that would not involve your property or any injury to you personally (or anyone or anything else, for that matter), could you explain why you would feel the need to involve either yourself or law enforcement?
I would introduce myself, if I didn’t know him already, and politely tell him that it’s considered disrespectful to fly any country’s flag over any other country’s flag on the same pole, as that suggests that the lower is subordinate to the higher. I’d suggest that he fly the Elbonian and U.S. flags on separate poles, or just fly one at a time. If he understood me but refused to change what he was doing, I would make a mental note that he’s an idjit and have nothing further to do with him, if I could avoid it.
But I wouldn’t get all medieval on his ass, or call the cops.
Actually, it is the law, and has been since 1942. But there are no criminal penalties associated with it, and the First Amendment right of free expression trumps it: United States Flag Code - Wikipedia
Which means it’s not the law.
Why do YOU think it would be any of your business what somebody else does with his own strips of fabric?
To answer the original question, I don’t care about flags.
Oakminster, how would you respond if Rizlamade a paper printed with the American Flag? (And thus their customers burn the flag every time they smoke.)
Flat out wrong. The Flag Code is codified at 4 U.S.C. 1
It is most definitely and inarguably law. If you acknowledge your blatant error, I’m willing to continue this conversation. Otherwise, not.
As you see, it’s part of the U.S. Code, which means it’s the law. Congress passed it and the President signed it, making it a law. Those “strips of fabric” have a symbolic and time-honored meaning which are of great concern to many people, and the Flag Code reflects that. It provides suggested methods of displaying and handling the flag while acknowledging that, in a democracy, people are ultimately free to do as they please with their flags.
Sure it is. It just isn’t enforceable law.
I’d consider it vulgar and indicative of low breeding, but otherwise constitutionally protected expression. Which, incidentally, is the same way I view the improper display of the U.S. Flag. However, with the flag, there is valid law on the books regarding how the flag should be displayed. I live deep in the rural South. We don’t really have a crime wave going on in this area. Cops will respond to non-emergency calls when they can. And something like this would likely draw a response from them. I’d expect them to send an officer over to talk to the improper flag displayer, and educate them on the proper way to display the flag. They are not going to arrest anybody, and if the guy makes it clear that he knows what he’s doing, and he’s making some kind of political statement, the cops will go away.
It’s an advisory code, not a mandatory one, so even if you want to call it a law, it’s still not a law that mandates anything. I don’t see how it makes much sense to say you can have a law that people “should” do something (which is the language of the Flag Code).
I will acknowledge no error. If you want to use that as an excuse to avoid answering my questions, I can’t stop you.
Exactly, so why would anybody feel the need to involve themselves in what somebody else was peaceably doing with his own property?
You said it was not law. I cited the fucking statute where it is clearly, obviously, and undeniably law. You are wrong. Completely, utterly, and blatantly wrong. Either acknowledge it, and if you want to be classy, apologize for talking out of your ass about something you do not know anything about, or this conversation is over.
It’s not a law that you have to do anything in the Flag Code even according to the Flag Code. The Flag Code is law, of sports, but the content of the Flag Code only uses the word “should” for civilians. There is no law that a civilain can’t fly another flag higher than the American flag. The Flag Code only says that you “should” not. Have you ever actually read the thing? I linked to the text. Tell me where it says you can’t.
Saying there’s a law that you “should” do something is pretty much meaningless. The Flag Code was passed, for pedantic purposes, as a federal law, but the content of the code itself does not mandate anything. It only gives advice. It never says you “can’t,” only that you shouldn’t.
In short, there is no law that says a civilian can’t fly a flag higher than the US flag. The Flag Code doesn’t say that.
I never said it did. I said the flag code is law. Not a law “of sports”, whatever the hell that may be. Law. I was right. You said the flag code is not law. You were wrong. No wiggling your way out of it.
You’re sticking at the most semantic and pedantic of points. Yes, the flag Code is technically a law, but nothing IN the code sets any prohibitions on civilians. The “violation” in question is not a violation of law. You said you would call the cops on a civilian neighbor for flying a flag higher than the US flag on his own property. There is no law that says he can’t do that, even under the Flag Code, so why would you call the cops if no law was being broken.
What if the neighbor was singing the national anthem off-key and with with the wrong lyrics? Would you get the Francis Scott Key Society coming down on his ass too? Or maybe the cops have voice coaches on staff to help out in just such an emergency.