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Archived entry | Matt Wilcox .net

America: Land of the not-so-free

A constitutional amendment to ban the burning or the desecration of the U.S. flag was one vote short of being passed. What a stupid idea!

There are few acts more deeply offensive than the willful destruction of the American flag. To you, perhaps, but America is supposedly ‘the land of the free’. Which means I am allowed to burn your flag. Or doodle on it. Or anything else I want. It’s a right of expression, a freedom of speach. Being a country that allows you to do this is what makes Americans ‘free’ - it’s the very enactment of the definition. ‘Free’ means to be able to express your opinions any where and any how (as long as it’s not hurting anyone). It doesn’t mean ‘free to express opinions we endorse, but not opposing ones’.

But really, it’s just a flag - why would anyone in their right mind care what other people do to it? It’s a symbol, not a person they are burning. Burn away people. You’re burning a bit of cloth with some dye on it. Not the ideas and ideologies that go with it.

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