Heh. I can't say I'm a fan of flag burning but I see why he did, and I think it was a good way to really drive home the point. It's not the act itself that bugs me, its the disrespect behind it. His actions were not out of disrespect, as it's been laid out. I would have liked to have had a teacher like that when I was in high school. Maybe I wouldn't have dropped out.

Question...

If...the American flag is just a piece of cloth, as some have pointed out...

and

If...I should set aside any symbology behind that piece of cloth...

and

If...the burning of said piece of cloth is simply a matter of free speech...

and

If...I should not take offense at the burning of this piece of cloth...

then...

Why is it so wrong to fly the battle flag of the Confederate States of America? Why all of the hullaballu over symbols of the former CSA embeded in state flags? It's just a piece of cloth, with no real meaning attached...right?

What am I missing?

BOR - I think I understand where you're going with this, so I'll offer up this - neither the burning of the flag nor the display of the Stars and Bars make any demand to set aside the symbology behind either flag. In reality both acts require that symbology be front and center. The real question (for me anyway) is exactly what symbols are being elicited by the separate acts considering that both flags have multiple meanings and implications.

it's not wrong to fly it and i'm pretty sure it is flown quite often in the southeast...

Ahhh...so then it just becomes a matter of who is being offended...by what symbology is offered?

I disagree with the Confederate flag, but I'd die before I'd take someone's right to display it. Likewise, some people may disagree with the burning of the US flag, but getting someone fired over it isn't just lunacy, it's dangerous. Eroding freedoms are nothing to shake a stick at, and if precedents like the one in this case keep popping up, you can expect fear to win more and more over reason and freedom.

Was there a time period in this country where a childrens teacher would not have been fired for burning a flag as an object lesson?

I can't say this is a slippery slope at all.

Nope. But you can burn both of them if you want. You can also pass a law banning the display of one if you want - although it may be overruled by federal law in regards to the national flag (there are no national statutes regarding the display or lack thereof of the Confederate flag that I know of).

You're trying to equate display and destruction, and it's not going to be as easy as you hoped. They are two different symbols signifying lots of very different things to lots of people. However, as I mentioned above, you do have the right to burn both of them.

Sure, but would it have been half as effective in demonstrating why some speech is controversial, which is why we have a constitutional amendment protecting speech in the first place?

Actually, you are incorrect on the last two....

As stated on.... http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/h...0----000-.html

and... http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-...id=Cite:+4USC8

Not really sure why this thread was brought back from the dead, but you're wrong. Here is the relevant information.