Why Americans freak out about flag-burning but not about the Constitution

[RagingInMiami]

Because the flag is a material item and we are a material society.

Almost anyone can buy a flag. And if you have more money than your neighbor, you can buy an even bigger flag. Then you can bow down in front of the flag and sacrifice your first-born.

But the Constitution?

That is an abstract document that most people are not familiar with and are too embarrassed to admit it. To them, it's just another random piece of document from a period in history where the men wore wigs and stockings.

Most people couldn't tell you the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Most people have no clue when their Constitutional rights are being violated.

[ixion]

1. IMO, it's words vs symbols

and people relate more emotionally to symbols rather than words, or something that requires an intellectual capacity to appreciate.

[izzie]

9. Think you are some what right on this plus people have sort

of made up their mind what it means to be an American with out having to go into the Constitution and some how the flag stands for this, when it was not even used then. Those early years are really mixed up in peoples minds of just what went on. It was many years from us saying we wanted to leave England and we had a country and a lot happened. Most people think we had a county running in 1776 and that the Decoration of Independence is the Constitutions.

[Sherman A1]

11. Agreed

You would have to read the Constitution, the flag needs only a glance to see the pretty colors blowin' in the wind.

[readmoreoften]

2. We are becoming a violent, stupid nation. /nt

[StClone]

10. DeVo had it right

The reptilian brain is coming back strong. Art, beauty, patience, love are not the things the lower part of the de-evolving brain has the capacity to care about.

[BR_Parkway]

3. I dont see that many people up in arms about it, it's another made up

issue to drive a wedge or make it look like they are doing something.

[RagingInMiami]

13. But trying burnng a flag in public

And you will people up in arms about it. You will probably get confronted.

But print out a copy of the Constitution, stand on some busy corner and try burning that, announcing to the world that you are burning the constitution, and they will just look at you as if you're insane and keep walking.

[rman]

4. The MSM and certain politicians are freaking out over the flag

But that's about it.

[EFerrari]

5. Wait -- men don't wear wigs or stockings any more?

[Kutjara]

6. Wow! I didn't know there were any actual photos...

...of Thomas Jefferson. Thanks for posting.

Photography really brings history to life. I have a completely different picture of the Continental Congress (and Cabaret) in my head now.

[EFerrari]

7. I wouldn't argue this in a Civics class but bet that this culture

could benefit from allowing men to adorn themselves again. And it would take a lot of pressure off of little girls.

It's those damn Puritans' fault that Americans can't relax enough to figure out the difference between the Declaration and the Constitution. No wonder James wanted to get rid of them.

[NMMNG]

8. If you want to cheese people off, burn their idols

Idolatry might be forbidden by the Bible, but that never stopped the RW fundagelicals.

[Kahuna]

12. We should make a flag of the Constitution. Then maybe people

would get it. :shrug:

[FredStembottom]

23. This is actually an explosively good idea!

Imagine people flying flags made up of the very recognizable image of the Constitution _in place_ of the Red, White and Blue! It would symbolize what has been done to the R,W&B perfectly. That it has been stolen and redeployed as a symbol of hysterical, nationalistic fervor that is totally foreign to the ideas in the Constitution.

The act of flying a Constitution flag says paragraphs in one quick glance. And is unimpeachably pro-American.

Cuz' it's the freakin' American Constitution!

Imagine it flying above your house - anyone would immediately understand what you are saying: "I am a patriot, devoted to the glorious concepts embodied in this, the American Constitution. The R,W&B is temporarily out-of-service due to it's hi-jacking by zealots, neo-monarchists, pea-brains and purveyors of ideas foreign to this American Constitution.

Brilliant! :bounce:

[Quantess]

38. Cool!

I'd buy one!

[slackmaster]

14. Most Americans don't understand the Constitution and Bill of Rights

The level of ignorance is astounding.

[lonestarnot]

15. Because their attention span is about the size of a gnat and they can't

get through the read.

[BringEmOn]

16. Republican TP

[AndreaCG]

17. Terrific photo

And slightly terrifying, too.

[timontheleft]

18. If only . . .

the founding fathers had enough sense to make the Constitution short enough to fit on a bumper sticker. Every member of the Rapture Right would then be able to fully understand it. :sarcasm:

[omega minimo]

19. So what yer sayin is the education system is completely dysfunctional

"Most people couldn't tell you the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Most people have no clue when their Constitutional rights are being violated."

...and that "most people" are hypocritical, spoiled brats.

[RagingInMiami]

29. I think anyone who say's the education system is not dysfunctional

Is dysfunctional themselves.

When I was 15, I got sent down to Colombia to go to school for a year. In the eyes of many Americans, Colombia is a third-world country, but its education system is much more advanced that what we have.

I was learning calculus, world geography, world history, world religions even though I was in the equivilant of what is ninth grade.

I didn't fare too well down there because I'm a slacker and it was much harder to learn all that in Spanish. Plus, I was living with my grandparents and they would never allow me to leave the house, so I was rebelling.

But when I returned to the states, I realized I did retain a lot of what I learned, and I felt much more advanced than my peers.

It wasn't until these last six years that I realized that it is no accident that our education system sucks. They dumb it down on purpose to keep the people dumbed down.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get away with half they do.

[omega minimo]

31. Isn't it hypocritical to benefit from "Freedom" & be ignorant of it ?

[hfojvt]

35. according to my almanac

Colombia has an 87% literacy rate and the US has a 97% literacy rate.

As dumbed down as it may be, many of the kids seem to have to be dragged and coerced into studying. It is our social values which disesteem learning at least as much as our school system.

[RagingInMiami]

36. Yes, USA is still # 1!

USA! USA! USA!

[Nevernose]

34. The education system is NOT completely dysfunctional

If "most people" are hypocritical, spoiled brats, as you posit, the what happens when they have kids and those kids are required to go to school?

Our school systems are only the symptoms of a much larger disease -- apathy, laziness, and entertainment are the only values that we have left, it sometimes seems. Cell phones, iPods, GameBoys, X-Boxes, $200 tennis shoes, and goddamned cable TV, combined with poverty, racism, unemployment, poor health care, poor nutrition, and a fifty percent divorce rate, combined with the aforementioned apathy and laziness -- add these up and throw a hundred other factors into the mix, and the only surprise is that people are still blaming the schools, one of the few institutions left trying to combat all of these problems. Gangs, violence, drugs, drugs, drugs, teen pregnancy. Rampant materialism.

God knows that our education isn't perfect (few things are). There are whackos trying to teach creationism and force kids to pray to their god, for instance, and the number one obstacle to attracting new teachers to the profession is the lack of decent wages (see: other semi-coherent rants on materialism). We could spend some of the money rebuilding Iraq's schools on rebuilding American schools, but if we spent it on our own kids we'd be communists :).

What people tend to forget is that, ultimately, schools are still The Good Guys.

[RagingInMiami]

37. I have no doubt that the people within the education system

Are doing the best they can with what they got.

Why are teachers so underpaid? Why is education never a priority? Especially compared to war?

[Nevernose]

39. It's like blaming the police for high crime rates.

Is it indicative of some inherent flaw within the justice system, or are high crime rates the result of some other societal ills?

Education itself isn't a priority, but blaming and comlaining about education sure seems to be. Maybe I'm just being way too negative, but American society seems to be wallowing in selfishness, laziness, and apathyand the War in Iraq is just one more entertainment for many people.

[Joanne98]

20. Because you have to READ to care about the Constitution........

MURKINS HATE TO THINK. It hurts their heads. Caring about the flag is EASIER! It's a picture.

[Jade Fox]

21. That gives me an idea....

When protesting, we should bring copies of the Constitution and wave them like flags. Have a Bushco figure burn one for the press.

[intheflow]

22. Right you are!

K&R'd for the sheer common sense of this post. :kick:

[blues90]

24. I don't think it's the people at all

It's the admins way to divert the attention from anything important , it's not the flag , who burns a flag and who out of the massess cares ?

[RagingInMiami]

26. See post 13

[Son Of Spy]

25. Sacred Documents

Maybe we need to have the Bill Of Rights in our churches
written on parchment like the Ten Commandments :toast:

[SmokingJacket]

27. So much comes down to education.

History, civics, and social studies are the most skimped-on subjects in public schools these days -- and have been since I was a kid. In fact, I learned NO history in junior high at all. None.

[eallen]

30. Agreed. We need to change that.

[Bill McBlueState]

42. but they're not the only skimped-on subjects

It's not like kids graduate understanding trigonometry or biology unusually well.

[lumberjack_jeff]

28. Well said. American's aren't so good at abstractions.

... like "rights" or "citizenship" or "balancing interests".

[Catrina]

32. People respond to symbols ~ I wonder if someone interviewed every person

who is flying the flag today and asked them 'what does this mean to you?' ~ what would their answers be? I'm sure we'd hear the word 'freedom' a lot. But it would probably be revealing to go deeper and ask them to explain what they mean by 'freedom'.

Symbolism is pretty mindless imo, and yet, it works to rally people for some reason even if they cannot explain why when pressed for answers. So, I agree with several of the posts above regarding turning the Constitution into a symbol. Check the second link in my sigline for an example ~ at the very least if it became familiar as a symbol, something might penetrate enough to cause a few people to actually do a little research or to become aware of its existence.

Otoh, education is the only real way to bring about an understanding that waving the flag while ignoring the principles it symbolizes, is simply childish and meaningless and sometimes even dangerous, imo.

[Blue Velvet]

33. With the education system in this country so (intentionally) gutted

these days, when most people hear about "checks and balances" they probably think it has more to do with banking and credit cards than with our system of government and its institutions. And I suspect this is by design. After all, how can you object to the trampling of the Constitution when you have no idea what it says or what it stands for?

[RB TexLa]

40. The ones who are frightened by burning flags have never had any fear

of their constitutional rights being violated.


edited to add

or don't care about those who do.

[Reader Rabbit]

41. Bumper sticker patriotism

It's brief, it's easy, and it doesn't require a great deal of thought or effort. Defending the Constitution, however, is a long, arduous, ongoing task. It's a responsibility, not a sound-byte. It requires complex thought, hard work, and dedication. Most Americans are too conditioned to looking forward to the next episode of American Idol to meet that commitment.