Should it be legal to burn the American Flag in protest?
Explain your answer. For full credit for this assignment you must post your response AND reply to the post of another student.
Remember, you must be respectful of everyone's opinion, even if you don't agree with it.
20 points. Due Monday, February 25
Burning the American Flag in protest should not be legal. It is extrememly hurtful and offensive to people such as soldiers that have very strong beliefs about America. There are other ways to get your message across, other than burning the flag. This is like laughing in the faces of the soldiers and the families of soldiers that have died to protect us and America.
I completely agree with Bethany. She makes very good points about how burning the flag would destruct everything our soldiers have done to protect us and this country.
-Rachael
If it is illegal to march while wearing the swastika (symbol of the Nazis), as it is said in another assignment, then it should also be illegal to burn the American Flag. Some people, such as soldiers or veterans, may find this act to be seriously offensive. And free speech is not protected in those types of situations.
However, there is another side to the argument. Gay right activists parade through towns flaunting various gay symbols. While I have no problem with this, masses of people find this to be offensive, obscene, and even downright outrageous. Yet, no one claims this to be an illegal act.
If gay people are allowed to parade their symbols, then why shouldn’t people be permitted to wear to a swastika or burn a flag?
- Ethan
I agree with Ethan on this topic. He makes a good point above--why shouldn't people be allowed to express themselves? Like he said about in not being illegal for gay people "flaunting" their symbols; if one situation is protected by the First Ammendment, all of them should be as well.
~Katy~
I feel that it should be legal to burn the American Flag. I understand that burning the flag may offend others, such as soldiers or veterans, to burn the flag, but there may be something else to think about; what about all of those pacifists out there in the U.S.? They may find it just as offensive that those veterans or soldiers even took part in something that they are against. It's just a flag. Yes it may represent something very important to this country, but it should be a person's right to protest or express themselves by burning the flag. People are going to be offended either way and, in my opinion, people need to learn to get over it and learn to deal with the fact that people think differently and have different opinions on what certain things should be legal or illegal.
~Katy~
I believe that it should be illegal to burn the American Flag. Although Ethan and Katy make good arguments, I feel that burning our flag is horribly disrespectful and that it is a very inappropriate way for people to "express themselves." Many people, not just veterans, find the act to be offensive. The American flag is, and always has been, a symbol of justice and freedom, much like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If we allow people to burn the flag, isn't it the same as allowing them to deface other important American symbols? It is completely indecent to allow people to insult a country that gives them so many freedoms. There are other, less offensive ways to protest that still allow people to get their messages across, and those are the ones that should be used, not flag burning.
Bethany
I strongly believe that it is illegal to burn an American flag. It is disrespectful to those who have fought to protect our land and for those that have died in the process of protecting it. I strongly disagree with Katie; it is disrespectful to those who keep our country safe. But I also agree with her on the fact that people need to get over themselves and deal with something’s that happen, but burning the American flag that has flown over this country for over 200 years is completely wrong and is a criminal act.
Taylor
I completely agree with tolles on this one. I also agree with Ethan. It is completely different from wearing the swastika. The swastika was a symbol of a group of people who killed over 4 million jews. of course its going to be illegal to wear it. Americans have fought and died to bring you the freedoms you have. they would be turning over in their graves to know that you would use that freedom to burn the very thing that symbolizes what they fought to protect.
Alex
I believe that if you are truly upset with America there are other ways to express your feelings besides burning the flag. If you are so unhappy with America then you should just leave and go to a "better country". If you believe that it should be legal you obviously dont understand what it means to be an american. Americans take pride in their country and dont want any one to burn their flag that symbolizes to much to them. The people that burn flags are people in the middle east who genuinely hate america. I dont think you want to be like those people.
Alex
I think that burning the American flag should be legal. The first amendment guarantees the right to expression. Nobody has to agree with you or even be OK with your views, but they’re still your views and you have a right to demonstrate them if that’s what you want to do. If burning the flag is your form of expression, then there shouldn’t be a law to stop you. If laws were made against everything people found offensive, then expression would be literally non-existent.
Sam
I think that burning the American Flag should be illegal. Many of our veterans have fought to keep our country the safest. Without them our nation would be chaos. I think that burning the American Flag is disrespectful and ill-mannered. I agree with Alex because there are many other ways to express your feelings about your country. Burning our country's flag should not be one of them.
Nate
I agree with Taylor, it is very disrespectful to burn the flag. There are more important things that people can do with there lives, then to burn the flag of our nation. It Should be Illegal to burn the flag.
The soldiers and veterans fight for us and our countries freedom. It should be Illegal to burn the flag. The flag is a symbol of our nation. It represents our freedom that we have, but it should not be burned.
Bobby
I believe it is very disrespectful to burn the American flag in protest. The American flag is a symbol of our freedom. There are better ways to protest besides burning the flag; for example, posters, speeches, sit-ins, or rallies. Burning the American flag is a disgrace to those who have fought to keep our freedom alive and well. When I see pictures on television of insurgents burning our flag, it makes me sick and angry. No matter what country you are from, you should always show your respectfulness to each other.
Ryan
I agree with Alex. There is always a different way to protest besides burning the American flag. His comment that middle eastern countries hate the Americans is absolutely true. Where did they learn to hate? From their fellow comrades who have nothing in life to live for, but death to themselves. It's a shame that there are people like this in the world. I will always honor our American flag under any circumstances.
Ryan
I feel that Taylor is also right that burning the flag should be illegal. It is very disrespectful to the veterans that have fought to keep our freedom. Also I feel that Bethany has a very good point, it is a very inappropriate way for someone to express themselves. The American Flag is a symbol of our freedom and burning the flag would offend many people including veterans.
Nate
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I feel that if it is a peaceful protest and you are not harming anyone you should be able to burn the flag in public. But there are always going to be those people who will get mad and then fights will break out and all other crazy things will happen. So i think you should be able to burn the falg in public i know it will disrespect some people but people always get disrespected.
Conner
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I am going to have to agree with Ethan and Katy you should be able to burn the flag. It may be disrespectful to some people but people will always be disrespected no matter what they are being disrespected in. People will always have different opinions and different views on things. So you should just believe in what you want to believe in.
Conner
I believe that burning the American flag should be illegal. It has little to do with protesting the government. The only thing that comes from destroying the american flag is the destruction of a symbol. The government is not all of america, and the the destruction of the flag indicates the destruction of everything american and not just it's ruling body. It shows a wish to irradicate American way of life, values, and rights. Though I definitely belive in protest, there are better, more effective means of protest.
Andrew
In response to Conner's post, I strongly disagree. There is a reason people get offended sometimes. Sadly, there are instances where people are offended for no reason other than bias but displaying a swastika rarely means anything peaceful. While burning the flag itself is not hurtful it's message can be. There is no clear message when burning a flag. When someone burns a draft card, they're protesting the draft. When someone hangs a doll of a political figure, he's protesting that leader. Those are clear forms of protest that have a purpose, but burning a flag is very vague and generally holds the attitude of being totally against everything american, even when that it not the case.
Andrew
I believe that is is not right to burn the american flag. If you decide to live in this country you should believe in it. You may not believe in every decision, but you should support your country. America is a place for different cultures and beliefs. And if you accept that , you should accept the flag that holds that belief. --Louis
I disagree with Conner's post. Yes protest is a value in America. But burning the flag is disrespectful to more people than few. Imagine if we burned other countrie's flags. When we see other countries doing that to us most people get mad. So why would it be ok to do that in the US? --Louis
In my behalf of beliefs I think that Alex and Taylor have reached great points to make argumentative whether it‘s okay to burn our flag or not. I think that the American flag should be illegal to burn. I feel as if the flag is characterized very strongly by not just us Americans but our troops who are fighting over seas this very second and having those who have fought would find that burning the flag would be an insult. An insult so big that many people have different believes over the American flag has a huge affect on how people see their country and show what they stand for and present how much we’ve fought over our country making it history. Anyone seeing our flag being burnt would feel disrespected, and put down for burning the flag as just a protest. This would be a unfair dispute. Many people have different ways of speaking out and showing their own proper beliefs. I think that burning the flag should not be a way to express your side of beliefs.
Maira
I believe that burning the flag should be an illegal form of protest. There are better ways to protest injustice than to offend many people. Burning the flag in protest of the government isn't right because it isn't offending the government officials, it is really offending the people who fought for the country. It also doesn't make sense to burn a flag in protest of a war because it doesn't proove a point. Overall burning a flag should be an illegal form of protest since it has no merit and does nothing except gain attention from the media.
-Jon
In response to Maira's point I agree with the fact it should be illegal to burn the flag but I believe it not only offends the troops it also is hipocritical by the protesters. The point made by the other side of the argument is that they have the right to protest protected by the first ammendment, but by burning a flag you are protesting that very same ammendment. Since the constitution is a very american document, burning the flag is basically voiding the right you are fighting to have.
-Jon
Many of the people above (Bethany, Taylor, Maira, Jon, etc.) have all made the valid point that burning a flag is disrespectful. I wholeheartedly agree with that. However, just because I personally view something to be disrespectful doesn't mean that it should be made illegal. If we made a law to ban everything that might be disrespectful or offensive, no one would be allowed to say or do anything, ever. People wouldn't even be allowed to say "hello" because the word hell is somewhat included in it, thus offending an atheist that finds the concept offensive.
The more laws we make, the more blocked in we are. The government and court systems should be there to:
A) Protect the nation from physical danger
B) Preserve our rights as citizens
C) Enforce absolutely necessary and basic laws (such as mainting murder as illegal, etc.)
When we decide that something should be illegal simply because it's potentially offensive, we give way for the government to control every aspect of our lives. And it's really not that far of a stretch, look at the Patriot Act.
- Ethan
I feel that burning the flag should be illegal. The flag is what represents us and to burn the flag is not what we need. We have helped out other counrties and we don't need to let our own country down. The people that have served our country did not serve to get put down by letting someone bur the flag. Their are better ways to protest than to burn the flag. They can protest with signs or words but not burn the flag of this great nation.
-Kyle
I agree with Bethany with what she said. It is horribly direspectful to burn the American flag. Our veterans did not serve our country just to get pushed around and told that it is nothing. That is why I agree with Bethany.
-Kyle
Burning the American flag as a form of protest should be legal. Although morally it is wrong and hurtful to some people it is a part of freedom of speech and freedom to petition the government, which is protected by the first ammendment. Although if this process becomes dangerous like killing peoplk efrom fires then that person should be in trouble.
~Brandi~
I highly disagree with what rachael said, she said it should be illegal because it is hurtful to many people but it does not go against the constitution of the U.S. the constitution gives us that right in the first ammendment. If we went around changing our system of government and changing every law just because people thought that they were wrong we would have a chaotic and non structured government.
~Brandi~
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