Fly the Flag Campaign

I've been thinking about getting some lighting and putting up a US flag out front for a while - I suppose this is a good occasion to get around to it.

http://www.usflag.org/flagetiquette.html has the basic guidelines on displaying the US flag.

 

While the sentiment is laudable, chain letters and the internet
do *not* mix. Long and often destructive history behind that.
Just so you're aware...
.
_H*

 

Prior to 9/11 I was a "holiday" flag waver...now I fly Old Glory every day.

 

I wonder what sort of flag we might fly to honor the victims of U.S. terror. All terrorism is stupid and senseless and reprehensible. Sadly, the U.S. has been not only the victim, but often the perpetrator of terrorism. The A-bombs dropped on Japan, the fire-bombing of Dresden, the napalming of civilians in Viet Nam, the U.S.-supported death squads in El Salvador, the U.S.-supported campaign of raping and murdering nurses in Nicaragua by the Contras... and the list goes on...

The national flag is supposed to be a marker of government buildings, U.S.-registered ships at sea, diplomatic cars, and polling places. Somehow it's become the emblem of the political right, and, like the loyalty oaths of a few decades ago, it's supposed to be a test of one's patriotism.

I'm terribly sad for the victims of 9/11, just as I am terribly sad for the nurses raped and murdered by the U.S.-financed Contras. But I'm not getting sucked into any flag-flying campaigns.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Sep 5 2006, 10:07 PM) [snapback]315009[/snapback]</div>

Classless reply IMO. :angry:

 

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Schmika @ Sep 5 2006, 11:31 PM) [snapback]314974[/snapback]</div>

I use Old Glory for holidays. For 9/11 I have a Gadsden or Culpeper flag that goes up (can't remember which it is). For those who don't recognize the name, it has a rattlesnake with "Don't Tread On Me".

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-gad.html

- Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Sep 6 2006, 12:32 PM) [snapback]315222[/snapback]</div>

Good point, and I agree. This is a point lost on a lot of people...regretfully on the right as well as left.

Yes, I will fight to preserve your freedom to speak anyway you want in America...However, don't expect me to like you, to socialize with you, to buy your products, to listen to your songs, to speak up for you when you are criticized...etc.

IOW, words and actions have consequences...live with them.

 

I hear Daniel saying he's not proud of some of the things 'his' government has done, and saying it with class. For this he will be shunned? 'Do it my way or get out of my way' applies to absolutely everyone? Whose freedom are we fighting for? Fly your flag, please, but be aware it means different things to different people.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Sep 6 2006, 01:53 PM) [snapback]315286[/snapback]</div>

Hey! What's the big idea posting a rational response? Don't you know you're supposed to dig in your heels and defend your opinion loudly & vociferously while simultaneously dismissing opposing opinions?

 

Conservatives seem to have the notion that somehow it's okay for America to drop bombs on children because we are "protecting" something "noble," like "freedom."

Or sometimes the way it comes out is that we "have to" wage war to protect our "freedoms" and sometimes, in waging war, we "have to" drop bombs on children, but because we really feel bad about it, it's okay for us to do it.

I disagree.

I do not wish my freedom to be purchased at the cost of innocent lives. The 9/11 terrorists and the suicide bombers and all others who murder innocent people are vile and reprehensible. But when the leaders and the generals of my country order bombs to be dropped on civilian places, knowing that innocent people will be killed, or when (in times past) they funded terrorists like the Contras and the government death squads of El Salvador, they are just as vile and reprehensible.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. I weep for all victims of violence, whether the perpetrator is my country or its enemies. I do not distinguish. The Salvadoran peasant or the Vietnamese child killed by U.S. weapons is just as great a loss as the worker or visitor to the World Trade Towers on that unhappy day.

 

Fly or don't fly for whatever reason you like, but please let's not debate why or why not because I think everyone with political responses about it in either direction already knows the stance of others around here.

But do remember to follow the guidelines and treat your flag with respect because no matter how much it means to you, it means more to someone else. For those of you who will not be flying flags, remember also that the flag still represents the ideals that you argue for (and that allow you to argue), and not just the radical nationalism expressed by some of your peers (oops, did that sound judgmental? ).

And the call for respect extends in both directions. I find it somewhat tastless (not to mention against the rules outlined in the above link) to do things like wear an American flag shirt, put it on your truck's bumper, or even to handle and fold it incorrectly.

 

Some believe flying the flag upside down denotes distress.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Pag...L20020703a.html

This tatic was used regularily during the Viet Nam War to denote love of country but non-support of government policies.

 

After 9/11, I flew my flag at half mast for a week, then at full mast for a month.

On this 9/11, do we fly at full mast for our pride or do we fly at half mast in honor of those who died?

Nate

 

Daniel, and others, what do you BELIEVE in , my definition of BELIEVE in is, what are you willing to DIE for?

I am willing to DIE defending a citizen from a criminal. I am willing to DIE to save anothers life. I am willing to DIE defending my country from anyone who would attack it or kill its citizens. I am willing to DIE before I would repudiate my God.

I BELIEVE in FREEDOM!!!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Schmika @ Sep 7 2006, 09:45 AM) [snapback]315775[/snapback]</div>

I honestly do not know what I am willing to die for. But I do know that I am not willing to kill for anything or anyone. And I do not want anyone to kill for me. I repudiate anyone who kills anyone, and says they are doing it to defend me. I will defend myself through creative nonviolent resistance; and I will defend myself, if it seems to me the only way, though non-lethal force (for example, wrestling with an attacker). But I will not kill.

Very very few people are actually willing to enter upon certain death for a cause they believe in. More common is the person who will take a calculated risk of death. Rock climbers do it for the pure emotion. Fire fighters do it to save lives. Soldiers risk death as they endeavor to kill whoever they regard as the "enemy."

But while nobody but a suicide tries to die, soldiers try to kill other people. I hope that I would be willing to take some risk in order to save another person, if the situation presented itself (though we never know how we will act in a situation we've never faced). But there's a far cry between risking death to save someone, and risking death to try to kill someone. And too many people ask the wrong question. For me, it's not what would you die for, but what would you kill for. And I answer that question: for nothing at all.

And although I am not a Christian, I cannot understand how a Christian could give any other answer. Because to kill someone you must discard everything Jesus taught, and every principle he espoused, and everything he stood for.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Sep 7 2006, 11:57 PM) [snapback]316170[/snapback]</div>

What a non-answer answer. Daniel...I think you believe in nothing at all. BTW, in not being a Christion...you have no ability to speak on Jesus teachings.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Schmika @ Sep 8 2006, 03:30 PM) [snapback]316516[/snapback]</div>

[OT]
What does being a Christian have to do with being able to speak on Jesus's teachings? You don't have to be a Christian to have read/studied the New Testament.
[/OT]