I think she has a point with this comment. The fact that she turns her back is not okay in my book though. When your country gives you the ability to do what you want with your life, turning back on that is like eating lucky charms cereal and only eating the marshmellows and leaving the rest in the bowl. My point, its not cool.
It means, Ms. JB, that the flag represents the American ideals. One of these ideals is that silly little girls have the right to purposely offend veterans and authority figures by metaphorically spitting in their faces. She is rude and offensive, in my opinion. Perhaps I am the only person to see this as ironic, but I still maintain that she is turning her back on the institution that has enabled millions around the world to practice civil disobedience. Thanks to nation's ideals, little girls around the globe can turn their backs on their respective flags without fear of retribution.
I refused to stand up for the pledge of allegiance or even really look at the flag after the 2000 election. Everyone in my school was cool with it except for a few reactionary idiots. To me, this girl is a true patriot. Dissent should never be confused with treason.
Exactly. It's not that she doesn't have respect for veterans or anything.. people like to take things like this and just misconstrue them all to hell. She doesn't agree with what the flag stands for right now, and I partially agree with her, I don't feel that the government is representing me at all anymore.
No, because they are supporting her rights to express herself. I support her rights as well, I just think her stance is ineffective and ironic. The only reason this makes the news is because her act is OFFENSIVE. Don't you guys get it?
Offensive to you maybe. It makes the news because it's intruiging and it sparks national debate. Don't you get it?
What is ironic is that you seem to be asserting that millions around the world have the right to practice civil disobedience, but we here in America should keep our mouths shut if we disagree.
The best part about being an American is having the freedom to say or do what you want. The hardest part about being an American is everyone else having the same freedom to say or do what they want. It is our common bond as Americans that allows us to tolerate each other's freedoms. For the record I don't agree with the lady, but it is her right to do so. I can't stand any type of disrespect towards the flag, but it is something that I have to tolerate or I am being even more disrespectful to the flag than they are. I would still boo her though.
To you. That's a big point. Why or how can we expect the flag to mean the same thing to all of us? What I love about my country is, for the most part, my fellow citizens (give or take johnheath and AdmrPhillips76 or whatever... j/k). The flag means governance to me, actually, because "I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America. And to the republic..." Look, no matter how you dice it, the "pledge of allegiance," for instance, is pretty weird. For a free society to have this custom where we stand like robots and pledge absolute loyalty to our nation is, to be factual, incredibly unusual in the modern world. It is the exception, to be sure. If we want to be proud of our free society, then we all let her be. Seriously. When all these people boo her and get in her face, it looks like a bunch of brown shirts, to me at least. What, are they going to beat her up after a game some night? Creepy.
My first roll-eyes response!!! My point was simply that although she's entitled to her opinion on the potential war, or any other issue, and is free to express that opinion how she chooses, had she expressed herself through a letter to the editor, or through participation in a demonstration, nobody would care. The only reason she started the current debate is that she chose to use her basketball celebrity (being on court for the national anthem) to express a non-basketball issue. Nobody asked her opinion, nor was anybody interested in her opinion in that forum. Many would view her actions as disrespectful and she should expect backlash. Is it right for an academy award winner to wax on about the Palestine situation? Or a rock band to ponder politics (unless that's integral to their art)? If she feels so strongly enough about this issue that she feels she must shine the spotlight on herself, then all the more power to her. It has been done before, most notably from Jesse Owens. But when you protest the USA in the USA, over an issue that the country is split on, you should expect criticisms for your actions. Many may find them disrespectful and opportunistic. Especially when you use a stage that was not meant for that purpose.
The world is a stage. Saying that you can't/shouldn't express yourself somewhere is an inherently scary thought.. because that mentality will spread to other places.
