quote:
Originally posted by Dave:
No, because then I impinge upon someone else's rights. In setting fire to a flag, I'm expressing an opinion without harming anyone. If I spit on someone, I'm assaulting them.
fine, don't spit on them literally. spit by them literally, and spit on them figuratively.

ignore the homeless. the impoverished. foreign policies! trick the elderly into buying things they don't need. sue a store anytime you fall in it. protest a movie. be a racist.

there are tons of ways to "express" your rights and freedoms. shit, most all the bad crap that theo mentioned up there was, at one time, fine and right by the law.

i guess an important question is: at what point does expression become abuse?

quote:
Originally posted by theory9:
If someone burns a flag in front of me, I'm much more likely to wonder why they're doing it than automatically condemning the act.
and often, after finding out why, im disgusted to know them at all.

real life and sad examples:

i delete some posts on the dcmbs cuz people likes to talk the trash. someone is offended by my deleting their posts as start screaming censorship. for starters, thats a knock at anyone who actually went thru censorship.

getting worse, there are cases where after deleting posts, people lash out with the nazi stuff. i, or dc, or whomever "ratted them out" become hitlers, and they compare their struggles with that of jews. or, within the past few months, as muslims.

and these aren't always just a buncha uneducated kids -- there are 40 and 50 year old, established men and women that come at me with crap like that. over an internet message board forum, used to discuss comic books, no less.

no jokes here, i got the emails saved.

these are some of the types of people that burn flags, out of protest.

(and no, im not saying there aren't individuals out there who have actual cases that could be considered valid)

quote:
Originally posted by theory9:
For some people, America isn't always what it's supposed to be.
theo, don't get me wrong, i understand what yer sayin, and hell yeah, yer absolutely right. there's a lotta scumbaggy stuff out there. im not trying to belittle it.

but in claiming that people ignore the bad stuff, you're seemingly ignoring the good stuff.

there are good americans.

think about, for example, all the black wwII vets, who even putting up with all the shit that they did, and do, put up with, love their frickin country like nothing else.

they did no wrong by you.

but burning a flag does wrong by them.

its not just a statement of protest against the government or the country or the stereotyped, proverbial luthor-like beaurocrats, that gather in the white house, with finger tips meeting on edge as they whisper evil thoughts amongst one another.

its a knock at the heart of the good of the country, the good people.

no, im not suggesting that the crap get swept under the carpet, to help emphasize the good.

but i surely wont suggest the opposite.