re: #193 HappyWarrior

My brother and I had a nice conversation about the national anthem controversies and patriotism. We both agree that part of the sacrifices our troops make is so you do NOT have to stand. This isn’t North Korea where patriotism is state mandated. Really sad to see veteran friends of mine not get this point. We sincerely do thank you for your service but stop acting like patriotism should be state mandated and the people who don’t show it to your satisfaction be shunned and made pariahs. You tell the Colin Kaepernicks of the world to protest quietly and he does that and you still shit on him.

Yup. The national anthem, the flag, and other symbols are not symbols of the military. They are symbols of the nation and all its people.

But a flag or a pledge are just symbols. I am not a big fan of burning flags (even those of other nations with rare exceptions such as Nazi Germany), but if the country can’t abide a burning piece of cloth (regardless of its symbolism), we have bigger problems than burning a flag.

I made that argument in a rebuttal to a letter here in the paper condemning a flag-burning in Iowa and waxing all militaristic and patriotic. Patriotism is how you uphold your nation’s ideals, not making the correct genuflections to the symbols of the nation. Such folk treat patriotism as if it was a religion.