ex-idaho

I'm sitting here watching a 60 Minutes discussion of American/S Korean relations. They cite the numerous large demonstrations of the people, attacks on US soldiers and burning the flag as signs of weak relations.

They ask the leader of US armed forces in S Korea what he thinks when he sees people burning the flag and he actually starts crying! WHY? What is the big freakin deal?

GaryP

The flag is the closest thing to a secular religious symbol in the whole world, IMO.

Wouldn't it be nice if most Americans recognized and revered the Constitution half as much as we do a piece of cloth?

beyelzu

I hate it when people burn the flag. I find it offensive. I do think that they most definitely have the right to burn said flag. I think that the flag is a big deal because it doesnt just embody all of our current policies but everything that our nation has ever and will ever do. Burning it is incredibly insulting to all americans, both past and present.

I find it offensive when the south koreans do it because we saved them twice in the last 60 years.

ex-idaho

Thats ridiculous. The flag is a symbol and does not embody anything. Maybe if more people put more thought and attention into actual actions instead of worrying about stupid symbols then maybe the rest of the world wouldn't burn our flag!

Krieger

Follow this link and click on the picture of the flag.

beyelzu

Well,I guess I am just ridiculous.

You asked for a response I gave it. The flag is a symbol sure, they burn it to inult all of america. It works.

by the way according to the dictionary they can be synonyms. So I guess I and the dictionary are both ridiculous.

Entry Word: embody
Function: verb
Text: 1 to make an abstraction concrete or perceptible often by representation in human or animal form <Dickens embodied hypocrisy in his Uriah Heep>
Synonyms exteriorize, externalize, incarnate, manifest, materialize, objectify, personalize, personify, personize, substantiate; REPRESENT 2
Related Word actualize, hypostatize, realize, reify, symbolize, typify; demonstrate, evince, exemplify, exhibit, illustrate, show (forth)
Antonyms disembody
2 to cause to become a body or part of another body <embodied a revenue provision in the new law>
Synonyms combine, incorporate, integrate
Related Word absorb, amalgamate, assimilate, blend, consolidate, fuse, merge, unify
3
Synonyms INCLUDE, comprehend, contain, embrace, encompass, have, involve, subsume, take in
Related Word compose, consist (of), constitute
4
Synonyms REPRESENT 2, body (forth), emblematize, epitomize, exemplify, illustrate, mirror, personify, symbolize, typify

beyelzu

gee, and people wonder why I say some people are just full of anti american rhetoric, like Krieger here.

ex-idaho

For a guy that claims to support a persons right to burn the flag you sure are quick to call them unAmerican. Afterall according to the site that Krieger posted it is there for the single purpose of protecting the right to burn it.

Zimyatin

Well I watched the 60 Minutes segment and I feel no need to belittle the head of US forces in S. Korea. He may have cried for two reasons: (1) He's in the military and has probably had friends die over this "symbol"; (2) He lives in a foreign country. When I lived overseas I became more patriotic. You are surrounded by a country that at times seems hostile to the USA. (In my case I was in Russia during the whole Kosovo fiasco.) Seeing the American flag provides a sense of comfort and pride.

I'm not against burning the American flag to show political dissent. But to make fun of a man who might die because of that "symbol" is simply distasteful.

Grad Student Humanist

The best irony is when the conservatives get on their high horse and talk about passing a Constitutional amendment to prohibit flag burning since the flag is the symbol of this country and its principles.

So what they're saying is that they would violate one of the key principles this country was founded on-- the right to free expression-- in order to protect the symbol of said principles. :banghead: