One of my favorite really bad movies, is The American President, written by Aaron Sorkin (same guy responsible for The West Wing)
Towards the end of the movie, Michael Douglas, as the president, delivers a rather heated speech defending the ACLU and flag burning. Up until I saw that movie, I would have advocated the death penalty for people who burned the flag (I come from a real strong military family)
The quote:
Quote:
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The symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.
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Burning the flag in protest of something, I can understand as a first amendment expression, however, what Kid Rock did during the Super Bowl, was indefensible.
I'm unsure if it's hypocritical or not, but there are instances where buring the flag is, not neccarily acceptable, but I can understand the reasoning behind it. I get aggravated when I wander around my downtown, and see the businesses displaying the flag (whcih does my heart good) but the flags that are being displayed are torn, tattered, and shoudl be put to rest and replaced.