{"id":9465,"date":"2006-06-30T09:51:19","date_gmt":"2006-06-30T16:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/06\/30\/let-it-burn-part-2.html"},"modified":"2006-06-30T09:51:19","modified_gmt":"2006-06-30T16:51:19","slug":"let_it_burn_par","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/06\/30\/let_it_burn_par.html","title":{"rendered":"Let it burn, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay, this started as a response to Avo’s comment in this thread about flag burning<\/a>, noting Scott Adams’ address of the issue<\/a>, but it got long, so, heck, let’s make it a blog post. <\/p>\n

My favorite quote from Adams:<\/p>\n

It seems to me that the great thing about the flag is that it symbolizes something inherently indestructible: the concept of freedom. You can burn the flag as many times as you want and the concept of freedom is not only still there \u2013 it\u2019s stronger. I like that about my flag. I would go so far as to say it\u2019s my flag\u2019s best feature.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Me like.<\/p>\n

Another point he makes:<\/p>\n

If flag burning becomes illegal, someone is going to start a company that sells flags that are slightly different from American flags \u2013 just different enough to be legal to burn. The burnable flags might have 51 stars, or 14 stripes \u2013 something like that. The beauty of this concept is that if you got caught burning a real American flag, you could claim it was really just a near-flag. That\u2019s reasonable doubt. No one would ever get convicted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I remember reading someone’s commentary that because the amendment was so specific, there was very little penumbra to worry about (no “well, the courts will also let people be locked up for desecrating something that isn’t an actual honest-to-gosh American flag”). Aside from the remarkable ability for courts (and, more importantly, law enforcement) to find penumbrae wherever they wish, the flip side to that is just what Adams notes: people will simply burn something that is just as evocative and distressing, but just outside the bounds of the law. Effigies of the President, or of the Statue of Liberty, or copies of the Constitution, or state flags, or a flag with one big white star. If they’re shouting, “Die, Amerikka!” and “Amerikkka is a bunch of poopyheads,” you can’t tell me folks won’t be just as upset.<\/p>\n

(I’ll also be waiting to for the first case where an editorial cartoonist who uses a flag in a cartoon that is critical of a governmental action gets hauled into court for it. Even if the case is lost, the chilling effect will be profound.)<\/p>\n

Adams also nicely (though not uniquely) lampoons Frist’s comments about the flag being a “national monument,” and how we don’t let folks destroy Mt Rushmore or the Washington Monument. <\/p>\n

No, we don’t. But (my observation) if they buy a replica of the Washington Monument at a gift store, there’s no law that prevents them from smashing that replica with a hammer. The point being that the symbol <\/em>is not the reality<\/em> (unless we’re talking magic here, or idolatry). A model of the Washington Monument is not the real thing. An effigy or drawing or photograph of George Bush is not the real thing. And the US flag, as a symbol of our nation, its freedoms, and its principles<\/em>, is not the real thing. <\/p>\n

Burning a flag doesn’t cause the entire nation to combust in some huge inferno of sympathetic magic. Nor does it actually harm our freedoms or our principles. It makes people angry, yes, and disgusted and irked and hurt and sad and whatever. So do a lot of things. So does losing a ball game. So does losing a job. So does hearing someone say [insert racial, sexual, religious epithet of your choice]. So does [fill in the politician, pundit, and\/or celebrity of your choice] spouting off their typical nonsense. Those things are not, however, illegal per se<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Flag burning amendments are voo-doo idolatry at best, cynical political manipulation of the populace at worst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, this started as a response to Avo’s comment in this thread about flag burning, noting Scott Adams’ address of the issue, but it got long, so, heck, let’s make…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51527,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/20\/flags-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":9465,"position":0},"title":"Flags","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 20-Jun-15 12:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Ironic that Flag Day was less than a week ago, here in the US ...In the wake of the Charleston killings, a lot of people pointed at the proud location of a Confederate battle flag on the statehouse grounds, noting it as a symbol of a civil war fought to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1390,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/01\/14\/vexillogy.html","url_meta":{"origin":9465,"position":1},"title":"Vexillogy","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Jan-02 9:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"The North American Vexillological Association (vexillogy is the study of flags) has the results of its 2001 poll of US and Canadian state\/provicial flags. 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