- Aug 23, 2008
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Quote:
That happened just a couple of months before we left CA. And you know when one idiot does something others follow. I remember seeing the Mexico flag above the US flag on several peoples cars. Then there was the one where some guy sewed the US flag to the Mexico flag so that one side was US and the other Mexico and thought it was "cool". It really irks me that people want so badly to live in America and at the same time completely disrespect it.
Perhaps this individual felt he was honoring the U.S. by creating a dual purpose flag that represented his love for homeland AND his appreciation for his new country. I think that is the opposite perspective.
Another thought is that "some" if not "many" people who are immigrant refugees do not necessarily want to live in the U.S. part of America; yet, they cannot go home, because their home no longer exists. All they can do is sign up for a country to take them in, and often the U.S. is not their number one choice as countries like New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Germany, etc. are more favorable to them. All they can do is go where they're accepted, often to avoid being murdered by people whom they at one time had backyard barbecues with, and reminisce about the old days before some Nazi Eugenics Psycho regime or, perhaps, another form of flaming nationalism took over and began raping their daughters and pillaging generations worth of hard work. So, they often succumb to resentment which may be tempered by alcoholism, depression, etc. All they want is for things to be the way they were so they can go back, go home, and be well.
Living free from the terror of genocide and war causes some, in a sense of false security, to not take time to imagine the perspectives of refuges or immigrants. Besides, there are many analogies which can compare behaviors, right down to personal behaviors and preferences, that make everyone guilty of offending another or being ignorant of laws, perhaps thinking that he or she is expressing pride.
So many deep considerations when, really, the world would probably be a better place without any "Us-and-Them" theories or attitudes. I always remind myself that I am a species and I often feel ashamed when I think of the violence my species commits in the defense of symbolism of any kind. Like a possessive dog who has been given a dozen toys, humans, humans, humans...
There are so many what ifs. If the laws are followed to a T, consider the person, let's say this person is Mexican, who is kidnapped and dumped, left for dead, high in the Rockies, who uses the U.S. flag for shelter, warmth, to bandage a wound, or tears off a red stripe to signal for help. This person could be anyone, not only Mexican: a mother with a child, a descendant of someone who stepped off the Mayflower, a member of the Kalispell tribe caught in a snowstorm during a hunt, a person who is caught between the decision to transport their beloved therapy dog down a mountain by using the flag as a gurney, or leaving the dog to die due to following the strict idea that to do so is to disrespect the flag, punishable by imprisonment or death, or the fear that the citizens of the town at the bottom of the hill will throw stones and bury their body near a ski resort.
Interesting.
No matter what his intentions were he did not honor the flag, he did however disrespect it.
The rest doesn't really have anything to do with the topic of respecting the US flag.
That happened just a couple of months before we left CA. And you know when one idiot does something others follow. I remember seeing the Mexico flag above the US flag on several peoples cars. Then there was the one where some guy sewed the US flag to the Mexico flag so that one side was US and the other Mexico and thought it was "cool". It really irks me that people want so badly to live in America and at the same time completely disrespect it.
Perhaps this individual felt he was honoring the U.S. by creating a dual purpose flag that represented his love for homeland AND his appreciation for his new country. I think that is the opposite perspective.
Another thought is that "some" if not "many" people who are immigrant refugees do not necessarily want to live in the U.S. part of America; yet, they cannot go home, because their home no longer exists. All they can do is sign up for a country to take them in, and often the U.S. is not their number one choice as countries like New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Germany, etc. are more favorable to them. All they can do is go where they're accepted, often to avoid being murdered by people whom they at one time had backyard barbecues with, and reminisce about the old days before some Nazi Eugenics Psycho regime or, perhaps, another form of flaming nationalism took over and began raping their daughters and pillaging generations worth of hard work. So, they often succumb to resentment which may be tempered by alcoholism, depression, etc. All they want is for things to be the way they were so they can go back, go home, and be well.
Living free from the terror of genocide and war causes some, in a sense of false security, to not take time to imagine the perspectives of refuges or immigrants. Besides, there are many analogies which can compare behaviors, right down to personal behaviors and preferences, that make everyone guilty of offending another or being ignorant of laws, perhaps thinking that he or she is expressing pride.
So many deep considerations when, really, the world would probably be a better place without any "Us-and-Them" theories or attitudes. I always remind myself that I am a species and I often feel ashamed when I think of the violence my species commits in the defense of symbolism of any kind. Like a possessive dog who has been given a dozen toys, humans, humans, humans...
There are so many what ifs. If the laws are followed to a T, consider the person, let's say this person is Mexican, who is kidnapped and dumped, left for dead, high in the Rockies, who uses the U.S. flag for shelter, warmth, to bandage a wound, or tears off a red stripe to signal for help. This person could be anyone, not only Mexican: a mother with a child, a descendant of someone who stepped off the Mayflower, a member of the Kalispell tribe caught in a snowstorm during a hunt, a person who is caught between the decision to transport their beloved therapy dog down a mountain by using the flag as a gurney, or leaving the dog to die due to following the strict idea that to do so is to disrespect the flag, punishable by imprisonment or death, or the fear that the citizens of the town at the bottom of the hill will throw stones and bury their body near a ski resort.
Interesting.
No matter what his intentions were he did not honor the flag, he did however disrespect it.
The rest doesn't really have anything to do with the topic of respecting the US flag.
