Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Is Burning the American Flag Going Too Far?

    A Room for Debate article titled "Americans and Their Flag" highlights the instance where Colin Kaepernick kneeled for the flag at many of his football games in his career as a quarterback for the 49ers. Kaepernick was in the midst of protesting police brutality which black Americans face to this day. The article highlighted many points of view from an average American citizen to a United States veteran. Many were quick to criticize the former NFL player stating how it was upmost disrespectful to be doing that such as current President Donald Trump. 
     To me, I feel as though it is completely fine to be able to protest the American flag if one feels something needs to be fixed. However, in light of recent events, some people are burning the flag, stomping on it, trashing, and disrespecting it. America is far from perfect and we need to work on issues plaguing the country such as systematic oppression, police brutality, and racism. However, the flag is supposed to be a symbol that brings us together and not divide us. Not to mention, tearing the flag to shreds is disrespectful to the people that have died under the flag in war (justified war or not). So by all means, question the flag and protest it (like what Colin Kaepernick did) but when one burns or tears apart the flag a boundary is crossed. 
    What do you think? Do you think that tearing apart the American flag is justified? How does the destruction of the flag make you feel?
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2 comments:

  1. Taylor TroyerJuly 31, 2020 at 9:30 PM

    I think that burning the American flag is going too far. It's disrespectful to our country and to all of those who fought and have died in war and risked their lives. Tearing apart and destructing the flag is wrong in lots of ways and I think there are plenty of other things people can do to show justice besides destroying the flag. The topic of destroying the flag might not bother some people that much, but others are bothered by it greatly. Coming from a military family, I feel that burning the flag is really disrespectful and is going too far.

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  2. Janessa GuzmanAugust 2, 2020 at 4:09 PM

    Burning the flag might be going a little too far. Trashing, ripping, or burning isn't okay. Kaepernick was respectfully showing that something was wrong and was protesting about it, but to completely ruin an American flag might be seen as very uncivil. Kaepernick was justified in questioning and protesting, but completely destroying the flag is disrespectful, especially to the people who died and risked everything for it.

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