Americans are known to be patriotic with unwavering love for their country. Whereas in some cases this could be confused for arrogance and high handedness, their commitment to the wellbeing of the United States is never in question. The country that is America has faced and continues to face opposition from several pockets of the international community. Due to the various stands that America has taken regarding several issues of concern and its foreign policy, several groups of people have aired their reservations and contempt. This gets done in the form of protests and demonstrations in the streets (Citri 77).
A common form of protest against American supremacy would be the burning of the American flag. The American flag has gone up in flames in several occasions in different parts of the world. In recent times, for instance, an incident involving the burning of the flag caught the attention of the masses. A flag-burning event in Pakistan province of Punjab turned tragic when a protester identified as Abdullah Ismail lost his life after inhaling fumes from the burning icon of American identity. Witnesses resent said that Ismail had complained about feeling sick after inhaling the burning flag fumes. These protests were against the movie trailer that the Muslim world thought was offensive to the Muslim religion (Goldstein 65).
A little over a year ago, a section of Muslim demonstrators burned the American flag right outside the American embassy in London in protest during a minute’s silence marking the time when the hijacked plane plunged into the World Trade Centre over a decade ago. In December2011, several Iraqis set ablaze U.S and Israeli flags as they welcomed the impending American forces pullout from their nation in the bastion of Fallujah. It is worth noting that flag burning is a common means of protesting and venting anger commonly practised by radical groups and societies. Even more baffling is the burning of the American flag by disgruntled American citizens. Though uncommon, it has occurred in isolated cases and identified with unpatriotic, radical movements (Egan 101).
Flag burning or any other form of destruction to the American flag is a topic that arouses emotion, with some people equating it to blasphemy, as they view it as a sin against a civil religion. Concerns have been raised about the legality of the burning of the American flag. Whereas nothing can be done about the destruction of state symbols like flags overseas, several attempts have been made to tame the practice in the homeland. Some law analysts have expressed that is within one’s legal right to set the flag ablaze while others have stated that it defines lawlessness and is against the spirit of the constitution (Welch 86). From as early as 1897 to as late as 1989, several laws outlawing flag burning got formulated with several amendments being passed as recently as 2006. The most common laws with regard to flag burning in America include the Flag Protection Act of 1989, and the Flag Desecration Amendments (1990, 1995, 1997, 1999-2000, 2001, 2003, 2005-2006)
Patriotic Americans believe that flag burning is neither a valid nor a sane method of political expression as explained in the first amendment, which outlaws the desecration of sacred materials such as flags, public monuments, and cemeteries. However, it provides for the protection of protesters who wish to express their political opinions both symbolically and vocally. Some argue that since there are many other ways to express dislike for the US democratic system, flag burning should not even be an option. It is a sign of unpatriotism , failure of the rule of law and could be a recipe for violence (Citri 109).
A different school of thought is that every American reserves the right to express their feelings, opinions, and thoughts freely as enshrined in the first amendment. The thought that a court of law could take away this right to express one’s opinions is thus misinformed. A great paradox exists in the legality of flag burning (Goldstein 143). However, flag burning should be discouraged, especially among citizens of the country in question as a sign of patriotism and belief in one’s own state.
Works Cited
Goldstein, Robert Justin. Burning the Flag: The Great 1989-1990 American Flag
Desecration Controversy. Kent: Kent State University Press, 1996.
Goldstein, Robert Justin. Desecrating the American Flag:Key Documents of the Controversy
from the Civil War to 1995. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2006.
Jack Citri, Nathaniel Persilyn, Patrick J. Egan. Public Opinion and Constitutional
Controversy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
University, Pennsylvania State. Measures to protect the American flag:hearing before the
Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress,
second session . University Park: U.S. G.P.O, 2010.
Welch, Michael. Flag Burning: Moral Panic and the Criminalization of Protest. Piscataway:
Transaction Publishers, 2000.
