Stroking my 1st Amendment Rights (part 1 of 3): Gettin Busy with Old Glory
Happy 4th of July weekend, everyone. I hope you're like me and have a four-day weekend off, plenty of time to celebrate your nation's independence by blowing up a small part of it. I thought it'd be fun, since we have so much time together over the next few days, to give you my thoughts about our nation. And first, I thought I'd start out with our beloved flag.
Right now, a flag sits at my computer desk. It's one of those small impulse buy flags that sit next to registers at gas stations. There were a few in a tin while I was picking up a pack of smokes and a pepsi at a Texaco. Out of curiosity, I checked the tag on it, and something funny caught my eye: Made in China. I had to buy it, if not for the irony of it all, but also for the enjoyment I'll get out of watching it burn.
Ever since 9/11, the fashionable thing has been to see who can outpatriot their neighbor, wrapping yourself in the flag to make sure everyone knows you're not a terrorist. Likewise, Congress has also tried to pass amnendments/laws to prove to both constituents and fellow Congressmen that they loves them some America. There was the Freedom Fries thing, and just this week, the Senate recently tried to pass an amendment protecting our poor flag from being burned.
Thankfully it failed. And I'd like to applaud those 34 Senators who didn't get caught up in all this blind patriotic propaganda. Our freedom to dissent is an important right. When I see that our national symbol is being made by a communist country that kills over 10,000 people (at least) a year, that filters the internet with the consent of companies like Google and Yahoo, and is America's second-largest lender, something inside me just doesn't sit right.
There are far bigger ills that threaten our country than people lighting a flag on fire (social security, education, iraq). C'mon people, it's a piece of colored cloth, it's not like a baby dies every time a flag burns. It's a symbol of what our country stands for: freedom and liberty for all its citizens, regardless of color, creed, or political views. I have to cut this short as it's time to go to the baseball game, but we'll keep this going tomorrow. Talk to you soon, fooligans.
6 comments:
To say nothing of the fact that there hasn't been a true instance of anger-induced flag burning in America since the Vietnam War. All those unAmerican pics of Old Glory going up in flames (including, I beleive, the one you link to in your blog) are all conducted by foreigners on foreign soil.
Well sir, there's a smell in the air, and the stench is midterms. Time to sharpen up those wedges.
And yeah, you can get those flag burning pics on Syria's tourism webpage.
Why burn the flag when you can wrap it up in Freedom Fireworks and send it to it's final resting place among the stars?
You, sir, are a blogathon of the highest order.
*bows while making twirling gestures with hand and a sound resembling "a-buh-buh-buh-buh"*
What a great site, how do you build such a cool site, its excellent.
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