# Why are some american gold medlaists not saluting the flag during the anthem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489 "2016-08-11T21:31:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/121 "2016-08-16T16:28:32Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Unfortunately, no. Just one more reason I’m voting Trump this year. :mad: Of all of the stupid reasons for voting for Trump we finally have a winner. ---
**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:** [August 16, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/122 "2016-08-16T16:35:31Z")
> [@denquixote](#): > > Of all of the stupid reasons for voting for Trump we finally have a winner. The whoosh is strong with this one. I admit, I’d miss the anthem if they no longer played it before sports games. It’s become sort of a tradition, like throwing hats onto the ice, or singing, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”. Plus a lot of teams have their own anthem singers, and it wouldn’t feel right watching a game without that particular singer. > [@Hocus\_Pocus](#): > > If I was demanding I would have suggested that a law be enacted prohibiting the omission of saluting the flag with a penalty attached. > > Do you think that people shouldn’t have the freedom to have their own opinions regarding the actions of others? The hand over the heart thing is pretty recent. I doubt people who don’t do so are purposely being disrespectful. Besides, what do you think of hockey players, who generally lean on their sticks during the anthem? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/123 "2016-08-16T17:17:58Z")
It’s a song and a piece of cloth. If people really love freedom as much as they pretend to, they wouldn’t care if I have my hand on my heart or scratch my balls. I don’t give a shit what anybody else does and I refuse to be bullied into acting like someone expects me to. If your most important issues are this and the Pledge of Allegiance, then I think you’ve got WAY too much time on your hands. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/124 "2016-08-21T02:42:22Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > A law that compelled this speech (or expressive speech-like conduct) would be impermissible. > > But a law that _suggests_ without mandating? Sorry, can’t agree. > > They can’t make you do the dance, either, but then again you already knew they couldn’t make you do the salute when you asked about the dance, so I suspect you were trying to strengthen your rhetoric with an inapposite comparison. It still is a law trying to compel speech. Telling someone they should do something is still trying to compel them. It just lacks any method of enforcement. It’s basically the “I’m not touching you” of laws. I’m sure that you’d love a law saying that everyone should kill Latinos, as long as there was no method of enforcement. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/125 "2016-08-21T03:12:29Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It still is a law trying to compel speech. Telling someone they should do something is still trying to compel them. It just lacks any method of enforcement. > > It’s basically the “I’m not touching you” of laws. I’m sure that you’d love a law saying that everyone should kill Latinos, as long as there was no method of enforcement. It’s ironic how you’re lecturing a lawyer on a point of law. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/126 "2016-08-21T03:23:34Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > It’s ironic how you’re lecturing a lawyer on a point of law. And its an odious example, is **BigT** claiming he wants to exterminate Latinos? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/127 "2016-08-21T03:55:05Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > It’s ironic how you’re lecturing a lawyer on a point of law. When a lawyer participates in the SDMB, he leaves his legal credentials in his work pants. Here, he’s no better than anybody else. (Same is true for other professions. We’ve had engineers and physicists who were really, really wrong about technical matters. The SDMB is a great leveler.) ---
**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:** [August 21, 2016, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/128 "2016-08-21T04:22:39Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > It’s ironic how you’re lecturing a lawyer on a point of law. A _Latino_ lawyer, too. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/129 "2016-08-21T05:11:41Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > When a lawyer participates in the SDMB, he leaves his legal credentials in his work pants. Here, he’s no better than anybody else. > > (Same is true for other professions. We’ve had engineers and physicists who were really, really wrong about technical matters. The SDMB is a great leveler.) Maybe to some. I appreciate lawyers, doctors, etc. don’t actually practice on the Dope, but I would still bow to their expertise over that of someone who doesn’t practice that person’s profession in real life. For example, I would defer to **Bricker’s** opinions on the law or **Qagdop the Mercotan’s** opinion on medical matters since I don’t have the education or training to argue with them. I still find the irony of a non-lawyer lecturing an attorney on the law to be delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/130 "2016-08-21T05:22:33Z")
Well, yeah… Anyway, it is true that there are unenforceable laws, and the Flag Code is certainly one of those. The House, and Senate, separately, also like to pass resolutions, which also have no enforceability. We “respect” these resolutions, in much the same way we respect the flag: not because we must, but because they are reflections of the greatness of our system. We are blessed in having a system of government so healthy that we are completely within our rights, and safe in our activity, when we say, “God damn our stupid, stinking, rotten, corrupt system of government!” I’d far rather have the freedom to say stupid things than be compelled by force to speak only in wisdom! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/131 "2016-08-21T17:08:45Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > A law like that should be repealed as a waste of paper. And busybodyism. I’m a bit concerned over all the tsuris over the Olympic athletes who didn’t put their hand over their hearts for the Anthem. The whole thing has begun to resemble some sort of religion and is just as pointless, useless and pernicious as the rest of them. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489/132 "2016-08-21T17:21:50Z")
Yes, as I said earlier in this thread, it is offensive to democracy and a free society for any public institution to prescribe any form of expression for the public. And its especially offensive Shen it has to do with feelings or emotions such as those relating to patriotism or loyalty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-some-american-gold-medlaists-not-saluting-the-flag-during-the-anthem/762489.md?page=6)