# Is the American Flag an 'Offensive' Symbol (in the USA)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169 "2014-12-02T22:14:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/41 "2014-12-03T18:00:10Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The public display of the United States flag seems to be one of those things that most often attacked because Someone might be offended. I’ve never actually met Someone, but apparently many people are very concerned on Someone’s behalf. Someone is quite a lucky person to have so many people anxiously looking out for their welfare. But it would be awfully nice if Someone was allowed to speak for themselves. I bet Someone is that same guy who keeps getting offended when people say “Merry Christmas” to him because he is Jewish or Muslim or Atheist or whatever. I’ve never met the guy, but he seems to frequent a great establishments of right-wing business owners who speak quite ill of him. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/42 "2014-12-03T20:07:24Z")
Was the flag displayed in his lobby or in a lobby shared with other offices? If the former then I think it is weird but he’s a pussy for removing it. If the latter maybe he doesn’t have the right to display anything there. Now, around where I live lots of doctors got born in other places and moved here. If that is the case where this doctor is, and he is a true blue native-born American, the flag might be construed to be saying that patients should see him not those damn furriners. Though the damn furriners had to pass the citizenship test and probably know more about American history and government than he does. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/43 "2014-12-03T20:15:17Z")
“I’m offended that you’re offended” would be an appropriate response. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/44 "2014-12-03T20:28:17Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > “In silence” is the only way that song can be enjoyed. Volume all the way off. Maybe turning off the video as well. > > Ahh…that’s nice. God that song is horrific. I remember in school during the first Gulf War they played that obnoxious song over the loud speaker every day for months. Being bratty kids we mocked it and made fun of it to the point they had to stop playing it. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Dracula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@Count\_Dracula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Dracula)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/45 "2014-12-03T20:32:46Z")
Anybody offended by the sight of the American flag should get the hell out of the country and go to where a flag does not offend them. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/46 "2014-12-03T21:11:41Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > This. > > I’ve fought under that flag, so it means a bit more to me than it might to some. > > But jingoism is disgraceful. As well as positively un-American. Meanwhile, frequently in the last decade or so that’s all many people mean when they show a flag. And the more out-of-the-ordinary the display is, the more likely it is to represent little other than jingoism. > > The OP’s Dr.'s flag wasn’t offensive in and of itself. The message the OP’s Dr. meant to transmit possibly (probably?) was. Well said. I agree 100%. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/47 "2014-12-03T21:31:13Z")
> [@Count\_Dracula](#): > > Anybody offended by the sight of the American flag should get the hell out of the country and go to where a flag does not offend them. Anybody who doesn’t believe in the right to be offended according to one’s conscience should get the hell out of the country and go where people are not allowed to have unauthorized opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/48 "2014-12-03T21:32:04Z")
> [@Count\_Dracula](#): > > Anybody offended by the sight of the American flag should get the hell out of the country and go to where a flag does not offend them. Point of the thread is that the flag itself is not what is offensive, it’s the manner it is displayed. What if a billygoat were wrapped in an American flag–would you find that offensive? I’m somehow certain you would get rather gruff about that. And quite naturally so. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/49 "2014-12-03T21:51:30Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Displaying the flag in places where it isn’t customarily displayed often looks like it’s simply pretentious patriotism, or worse. As mentioned above, this is most noticeable where people drive around with flags in the beds of their pickup trucks. > > Some people seem to make a show of having bigger flags than everybody else, or more flags. I drove past one ranch once, where every fence post had a little flag on it. Whether it’s a big flag or lots of little flags, some people seem to think that their patriotism is displayed and measured by the number of square inches of flag they display. It becomes a dick-waving contest, to see whose is the biggest. > [@Ulfreida](#): > > Prominently displaying a US flag in an unusual place (not a post office or a public school or courthouse) tends to be read as signal of a certain kind of Proud Conservatism, possibly an aggressive nationalism. As such it is a political statement, not a neutral thing. Inside a doctor’s office is definitely an unusual place. All the medical facilities I have ever had occasion to enter have always appeared to be decorated with strenuous blandness and inoffensiveness in mind. Like a motel room, only more expensive and not screwed to the wall in eight places. No flags. > > I wouldn’t call it offensive exactly but it is certainly kind of in your face. > [@BobLibDem](#): > > The only time I find it offensive is when businesses put up super-de-dooper giant size flags on giant poles just to get around local zoning laws limiting the size of signs. To me, it says “oh just look how patriotic I am! Shop at my business!” A small flag in a doctor’s office, not so much. It might be a bit over the top if it took up half a wall or something. More tacky than offensive, though. I’m reminded of that line from _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_, “ask yourself, why do you seek the Cup of Christ? Is it for His glory, or for yours?” When people wave the flag to draw attention to themselves, to try to puff themselves up, that can be offensive. Similarly, I don’t care for it as some sort of litmus test, like lapel pins on politicians. They’re not wearing it to make the country look good, they’re wearing it to make themselves look good. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/50 "2014-12-04T01:39:37Z")
[quote=“Shagnasty, post:30, topic:706169”] Is the American Flag an ‘Offensive’ Symbol (in the USA)? On American soil? No, that is about the 3rd dumbest idea I have heard today and there were some strong contestants. The American flag is very pretty and completely non-offensive. We need to regroup, bow our heads and savor one of my favorite songs in a moment of silence. [/QUOTE] I’m not in anyway offended by the flag. I am, however, offended by that horrid song. Ugh! Seriously, everyone’s going to be offended by something. What are you going to do? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/51 "2014-12-04T04:46:43Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > What if a billygoat were wrapped in an American flag–would you find that offensive? I’m somehow certain you would get rather gruff about that. And quite naturally so. Too bad there’s no thumbs-up smiley here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Grey\_area](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grey\_area](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_area)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/52 "2014-12-04T05:15:43Z")
Tacky? Maybe. Offensive? No. Perhaps an interior decorator patient remarked that the flag offensive to his finely tuned sense of style. > [@Icarus](#): > > I think maybe one of his knucklehead patients made an ill-conceived comment about the flag, and the physician, being of a certain political bent, became internally outraged about his patriotism being under attack (they are out to destroy America!!!), and overreacted by removing it. It gives him comfort in acting on his confirmation bias. This also seems very plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/53 "2014-12-04T07:03:12Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Somebody is going to be offended by anything I do - the trick is not to care. > > “That guy flies the flag - he must be a jingoistic nationalist. That guy’s pants are sagging - he must be a drug dealer. That woman is wearing a tight skirt - she must be a whore.” Etc. > > Regards, > Shodan No, the trick is to understand that when you are in public you give social cues to others, constantly, just as they do to you. You can take responsibility for your social cues (not the same as taking responsibility for others’ judgements and behavior), or you can act like you can flout the nonverbal social coding that everyone reads, without legitimate consequence, and that there is some weird virtue in doing so. You know, like a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/54 "2014-12-04T07:27:39Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > I’m not sure I would say offensive - I don’t see how it could be, but perhaps he is dealing with people from other countries - or whatever. > > If someone feels like you are putting the flag up cause you think you are “better” for being an American - then maybe it would be. But just having a flag - I really don’t care. > > I was at Medieval Times and at the end they used to have a knight ride out with the Amrican Flag. I kinda liked it. The next time I went (this was years ago) - they didn’t have it anymore. I asked someone why - as I thought it was cool and people seemed to like it - and the response was something like “We get lots of people from other Countries and wanted them to feel welcome too.” :dubious: I’m not from another country, but I would have been offended by the anachronism. Not that I have anything against anachronism, _per se_, of course, but if they’re going to have it, I’d prefer that they BEGIN by offering utensils. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/55 "2014-12-04T13:39:58Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > No, the trick is to understand that when you are in public you give social cues to others, constantly, just as they do to you. You can take responsibility for your social cues… You’re right. Women especially should do this - take responsibility for the social cues they are giving to men. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/56 "2014-12-04T18:39:54Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > What if a billygoat were wrapped in an American flag–would you find that offensive? I’m somehow certain you would get rather gruff about that. And quite naturally so. I do not find it offensive. I find it cute. Proofs. > **[Pin on Animals](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/569423946605725480/)** > > Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/57 "2014-12-04T18:41:28Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You’re right. Women especially should do this - take responsibility for the social cues they are giving to men. > > Regards, > Shodan Everyone should do this. However, remember the part where you are not responsible for anyone’s thoughts or actions except your own. A guy who plasters a whole interior wall of his business with an oversized American flag should not be faux-naively shocked that there are strong reactions to it. Also, and this is a hijack, most (straight) men would be surprised to know how most women view the way they dress and behave, as opposed to the way men believe women do. It is a great divide of mutual misapprehensions, based on the different ways men and women are visually and sexually wired. This is definitely a different thread topic though. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/58 "2014-12-04T18:42:29Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > No, the trick is to understand that when you are in public you give social cues to others, constantly, just as they do to you. You can take responsibility for your social cues (not the same as taking responsibility for others’ judgements and behavior), or you can act like you can flout the nonverbal social coding that everyone reads, without legitimate consequence, and that there is some weird virtue in doing so. You know, like a teenager. Sounds like conformity. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/59 "2014-12-04T19:43:55Z")
This is just another proof of the intolerance that is actually the biggest problem this world, country, individual people have and the most destructive to everyone’s way of life. IMO But then again, as a person I will defend my space but I try to not even think about messing with yours until it starts hitting me on the nose. The flag waving I really dislike is waving the flag of the country you came from while burning the one where you have chosen to go. Until world peace is truly here, in every part of the globe, I feel that identifying with nation type places & their mores is something that humans need on a very basic level. Mankind has a long way to go and the best place is to start with my own tolerance. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169/60 "2014-12-04T19:58:05Z")
> [@XT](#): > > I’m sure someone can and does take offense, since someone is always offended by something. That’s just what I was going to say. No, it’s not offensive, but people can get offended at anything. I wouldn’t be offended to see a French flag in France, or the Union Jack in England, or heck, either of those (or any number of others) here in the US, if the owner had some kind of connection to that country. If it covered the whole wall, yeah, it might seem in poor taste. I try not to be offended by poor taste in others. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-flag-an-offensive-symbol-in-the-usa/706169.md?page=4)