13-year old not allowed to fly American flag at school.
- Thread starter Tiberius Jim
- Start date
I did an LOL because it's true.My BIO 101 teacher did that when I was back in college. She "taught the controversy" and absolutely destroyed intelligent design and creationism. It was a fun class.
But, honestly, the right wing complains about political correctness, and just look at what they do....
"GOD BLESS AMERICA" signs went up all over the place after 9/11.
There were a couple I saw in the town where I lived that made me lol:
Long John Silver's had:
20 PC SHRIMP SPECIAL
GOD BLESS AMERICA
And then some gun store:
AMMO HALF OFF
GOD BLESS AMERICA
These are the things that make America great, dammit!
There were a couple I saw in the town where I lived that made me lol:
Long John Silver's had:
20 PC SHRIMP SPECIAL
GOD BLESS AMERICA
And then some gun store:
AMMO HALF OFF
GOD BLESS AMERICA
These are the things that make America great, dammit!
McDonald's
Millions and Millions Served.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
99 cent triple-cheeseburger.
Millions and Millions Served.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
99 cent triple-cheeseburger.
My BIO 101 teacher did that when I was back in college. She "taught the controversy" and absolutely destroyed intelligent design and creationism. It was a fun class.
I'll bet. Intelligent Design is just Creationsim in a new suit.
Back to the flag for a minute, remember the movement to pass a Constitutional Amendment banning flag burning? This is what I'm trying to say...does that seem outrageous to anyone else? Amend the Constitution? For that?
Has the American flag worship become idolatry? Is there really a rampant flag burning problem in America?
I consider myself a proud American and a patriot. I really do. But this kind of stuff drives me crazy. I could walk down the streets of Phoenix, whip out my junk, take a piss on a illegal immigrant single mother, and get elected Governor of Arizona.
But God help me if a corner of this colorful cloth here touches the ground accidentally, or I don't wear my American flag pin wherever I go (someone better check my birth certificate!). Where are our priorities?
I'm sorry but some of this flag stuff really makes me think we're through the lookingglass here.
I wouldn't say I'm a "proud American." I don't really "get" patriotism in general. It's just the modern world's take on tribalism. I think flag worship is silly, strange, and maybe a bit creepy.
Even so, people have rights--even kids. And while I think in the case of the risqué backpack the school did nothing wrong in banning it, in this case I have a hard time swallowing that displaying the official flag of a country in said country should be offensive to anyone.
If someone is that offended by our national symbols I'd really question why they're here in the first place. National symbols may be silly but they are nothing to get so worked up over.
Even so, people have rights--even kids. And while I think in the case of the risqué backpack the school did nothing wrong in banning it, in this case I have a hard time swallowing that displaying the official flag of a country in said country should be offensive to anyone.
If someone is that offended by our national symbols I'd really question why they're here in the first place. National symbols may be silly but they are nothing to get so worked up over.
Agreed. Like I said earlier, of course this kid should be able to ride around with the flag on his bike. To me that's not even a serious question.
I'm just interested/concerned by the bigger picture issues.
It's about pride. Why do Irish-Americans have Irish flags? Why do Penn State fans have Penn State flags (even if they're in state college)?
So? Fox40 is simply a Fox affilliate. Not part of Fox News Channel. Besides, MSNBC reported on the exact same story, as well as CNN, ABC, etc. This story was hardly exclusive to Fox.
And this is exactly what I mean when I say you're misinterpreting who these bikers are and simply jumping to the stereotype. My parents were a part of this group. My dad, a 52 year old paramedic, and my mom a 52 year old former bank teller. Not exactly the typical "biker" stereotype, right? Not many of these other guys and gals meet that stereotype either. A lot of these "large, hairy bikers" are either veterans or family members and supporters of those in the military.
But by all means, ignore the true nature of this group and believe that anyone who rides a motorcycle must all be the same.
Last edited:
The school was stupid to make that decision. The backlash was inevitable. Having an American school without an American flag is like having a sci fi convention without nerds.
Well, on the patriotism scale, the USA and Germany would be at opposite ends of the spectrum. I don't think there's a country with less overt patriotism in the world. I've sung the national anthem once or twice in my entire life (not counting when we learned it at school) and there are very few flags around unless there's a football World Cup on. I think patriotism is a bit silly. It's pure chance you were born in a specific country and it seems absurd to me to take pride in the achievements of others you contributed nothing to just because they had the same nationality as you. So I'm fine with things the way they are here.
For what it's worth, I do find the Pledge of Allegiance creepy, well, not the pledge itself but the fact that school children have to say it each day. It comes across as indoctrination to me. It elicits a lot of bad connotations and memories (I went to school in the GDR for half a year).
I went and had a look at footage of the event before making the comment to which Iguana was responding. There are hundreds of people on large, noisy bikes converging on a small school. It wouldn't matter if they were nuns carrying kittens, it'd still be an intimidating sight to anybody who couldn't be sure they weren't on opposite sides of an ideological divide.
Hell, even leave out the bikes - rallies in general are intimidating. That's the point of them - a show of numbers and strength and solidarity in an ideal. That's why IMO it's always worth having conversations about what message is being boosted.
Disliking and being fearful of a group of people just because they ride a motorcycle is... foolish.
I was mostly joking about the hairy bikers (I should remember there are some people with a reduced sense of humour), but the point still stands: the school may or may not have made the right decision (I guess not, but we are far from having a complete picture of the situation), but I'm quite sure having a hundred people on thunderous engines running there to the rescue of "Flag Boy" (who, I'm sure, just love veterans out his pure 10 years old heart, not because of what his parents tell him) out of a knee-jerk reaction "OMGosh they hate America!!!11!" did not help the situation.
And the award for egregiously missing the point goes to...
Displaying an American flag anywhere in America is neutral. It's not as if the kid was flaunting the emblem of the Democratic or Republican party, or the New Black Panthers or La Raza or GLAAD. People must have serious issues if they have a problem with seeing the flag of their own country on a middle-schooler's bicycle.
Considering Germany's history over the past couple of centuries, I'd call that a classic case of overcompensation.
The boy is 13 years old, not 10. Normally that's a pretty big difference in awareness and general intelligence. And his grandfather is a veteran, so I'm sure his personal feelings were involved in his decision to display the flag.
Last edited:
If they're nothing to get worked up over, why interfere with the school?
Like most I find that initial decision to take the flag off the bike wrong, but - is that really all there is to the story? Was there nothing going on in precedent with these kids?
Why do we first assume that the teachers and administrators are total imbeciles?
I think its because we want stories like this. We want it to be communist radical teachers suppressing the flag and teaching kids to hate America. That way there's a strawman to be outraged against.
Which is fine and dandy, and I think it's great. But when this escalates to national news, you know something isn't right there.
but did they actually report the story seperately or did they simply take the Fox40 news report and run from there?
This is exactly the problem. The Right Wing has turned the elements of American Patriotism into part of their religion, and the Left Wing has not only let them get away with it, but become part of the problem. It's no wonder some people think Patriotism is a bad thing, when it's generally seen as the opposite of what it should be. Patriotism means believing in American values-- freedom, Human rights, equality, unity, all that hippie stuff. This is what people should be promoting, instead of allowing extremists to co-opt our words and symbols.
Similar threads
