We wonder why...

[JdePietro]

So I guess if you read it with such strict standards then mutes are not protected under the bill of rights to express their opinion?

Seriously, you cannot prevent another person from expressing themselves. You can threaten punitive action upon trespass but there is not a single thing you can do to prevent someone from making silly faces at you if they want to. What is even your point? Are you saying we should force all people to fit into neat little stereotypes and act as we see fit? Should we socially engineer society so that the only expression people can have are things we can agree with?

Silly and absurd. Yes the author sounds like an angsty teen, yes young adults complain about things that are not of concern in the adult world, but just an ounce of understanding, just a smidgen of compassion could help us to understand what drives people to make rash decisions as an adult. If any political party wants to have a snow flakes chance in hell of winning any elections they best find a way to appeal to this sense of confusion and disparity that our youth are expressing.

[tombogan03884]

So, you're OK with Flag burning, and displaying a crucifix in a beaker of piss ?

[JdePietro]

I would not burn a flag, I would not support or take anyone who did seriously, I would not join a group of people watching a flag be burned, I would not watch a telecast of it and I would not support the media outlets who displayed it. I would voice my opinion against it, I would not give someone who performed the act a moment of my time.

I do not agree with it, I understand it to be a form of protest but it is ideological and symbolical and nothing more. No one is being hurt and no person who ignores it will ever know it happened. I would not campaign for a penalty for people who did it, I wouldn't want to inspire others to push the limits of the state authority and I would not want the state to feel it needs to intervene on a social issue like this. The person who would commit this act does so in protest to what the flag means to them. Perhaps they feel slighted, perhaps someone under the flag hurt, killed or desecrated something sacred to them. Personally I think its a meaningless gesture, our flag is a piece of cloth with a pattern either printed on or sewn in. My loyalty lies not with symbols it is with the idea that a nation of people can govern themselves, that freedom and liberty are dangerous things but they make life taste sweeter, and against the harm they often bring and the responsibility they always require, they are worth more than my own or anyone else's feelings getting hurt from time to time.       

[tombogan03884]

I'm a little more direct, I'd kick the f**ker in the nuts and take my chances in court.
Remember, the Constitution does not govern the conduct of individuals, only Govt.