# Where Do US Flag Burners in the Middle East Get Their Flags

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-us-flag-burners-in-the-middle-east-get-their-flags/581041>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 7, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-us-flag-burners-in-the-middle-east-get-their-flags/581041 "2011-05-07T01:50:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**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:** [May 8, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-us-flag-burners-in-the-middle-east-get-their-flags/581041/41 "2011-05-08T16:54:12Z")

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Now I’m thinking of another product - the “Perpetual Burning Flag” - made out of something like asbestos. You apply gas or some other fuel and go to your protest and light it up, but it doesn’t get consumed by the fire. So you can burn it again and again and again.

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**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-us-flag-burners-in-the-middle-east-get-their-flags/581041/42 "2011-05-08T17:00:20Z")

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> [@Desert\_Nomad](#):
>
> Yup. There is one in Reno, Nevada called “The Flag Store”. They sell lots of international flags too but I’d guess 50%+ of the business is selling US flags. The only place I have seen with as many national flags as the US was North Korea.

I saw the most ever in Switzerland. In the small towns practically every house had a Swiss flag flying. I never saw that anywhere in the US – or anywhere else in the world, for that matter. I haven’t been to North Korea.

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**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-us-flag-burners-in-the-middle-east-get-their-flags/581041/43 "2011-05-08T18:30:42Z")

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Granted, it’s a WAG, but: at normal demonstrations (without burning) here in Germany, there’s always a group officially organizing these things - the union, local nature group, etc. They officially declare the demonstration beforehand, and usually provide placards to the demonstrators. (That’s where the pictures of groups of young idealists painting placarards beforehand come from).

Now, I most certainly don’t believe that thousands of people in Asia or the Middle East just spontaneously turn up for demonstrations. There’s always somebody organizing these things, whether it’s Ghaddafi for his loyal supporters, or the opposition for a democracy. In the case of Anti-American demonstrations, the organisers may not be plainly in sight, but I can easily believe that they buy a gros or so of cheap flags from China to be on hand for these demonstrations, along with some hand-made to look more spontanteous on TV. (Which leads to protesters burning the Swiss flag during the protest against Denmark over the Mohammed caricatures, because they look similar very far away.)

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