Did anyone else think....

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Imagine if you're in a public lavatory with no toilet paper, and all you have to hand is your bible, or a stars and stripes handkerchief. The dilemma....

The Klu Klux Klan burns crosses and it's protected speech. What's the difference?

Quite simply - Context

Burn a flag in front of a church with a predominantly black congregation and its a jailable offence. Do it at home in your yard and your neighbours might just think you're a racist chopf*ck.

Edited June 28, 2006 by Fishdude

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I think people get less offended by flag burning is that it's pretty rare and generally used as a form of protest. Burning a cross is almost always used as a form intimidation - never protest.

Incidentally, Nazi Germany had strict laws regarding the treatment of their flag. The American Republic has managed to survive a little bit longer than the Third Reich without needing to protect our flag from people who wish to burn it, put it on a bikini or paint it on the side of their motorcyle - maybe because our ideas are a hell of a lot stronger than our symbols.

[almaty 19]

that all the time spent debating whether to make a constitutional amendment on burning the flag was a shocking waste of time.

I think this might apply more to those of us who have moved here...but you might prove me wrong.

Don't get me wrong I am a supporter and lover of the USA and intend to become a citizen but please.....that time could be so much better spent on more worthy issues.....such as the appalling state of the medical care and costs here!

I'm a US Navy veteran and I believe in the first amendment (the rest of the constitution too). Burn the flag... it's just cloth.

same here..vet of the army..son in it now..both believe in the right of freedom of speech...and the right of protest

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The American Republic has managed to survive a little bit longer than the Third Reich without needing to protect our flag from people who wish to burn it, put it on a bikini or paint it on the side of their motorcyle - maybe because our ideas are a hell of a lot stronger than our symbols.

Bravo!

[sukie175 0]

I don't think anyone burning the flag is acceptable but I also think spending all that time debating something that those who really want to burn flags will ignore anyway, is a disgraceful waste of government time.

There are so many other big problems that affect millions needing that time and level of concern spent on them.

It's no different in the UK, politiicans there often debate things that make the public just think #######!!

[Scott & Lai 12]

Perhaps the Surgeon General could declare second-hand flag burning to be hazardous to our health

[Jaylen Brit 0]

Flag burning isn't nice..but its a whole lot less 'nice' than bombing an Embassy or killing citizens of that country, or waging war.

A flag *is* just a symbol - and the burning of it is designed to annoy/upset/provoke people; hoping for a reaction.. people who are busy flag burning, imo, aren't busy doing worse things (and don't hit me with 'planning' either - everyone knows that a person waving a gun around isn't doing the one thing you fear most; firing it) - so if they wanna burn I say 'go ahead; we don't CARE, its just a flag its not who we ARE - try anything else though and we WILL care..'

People who burn things (crosses, flags etc) always strike me as people with nothing to SAY - if they had words why bother to burn?..so anyone who does flag/cross burning to me comes across as a complete idiot; unable to express their feelings with language and therefore not worth my attention.

[SteveLaura 0]

I'm disappointed. I was planning on starting up a company making these flags and selling them to people who require a piece of cloth purely for the purpose of burning.

I admit, it's very similar to a well-known flag. But it couldn't possibly come under the jurisdiction of this amendment. Unless we want to spend extra hours and tax dollars on defining what the flag actually looks like...

Edited June 29, 2006 by SteveLaura