The flag is not a fetish, it is a symbol. We patriots do not believe it has magical powers. Stop being silly.
Any fetish is a symbol. Investing it with 'magical power' makes it so by definition.
And of course you believe it "has magic powers" (I actually described it as being invested with the "sacred"). If this were not the case it would not be possible to "desecrate" it. You cannot "desecrate" something that is not already invested with the Sacred; that comes first.
You can go take a sledgehammer to a stop sign. You'll be guilty of vandalizing the state or local government's property but you will not be guilty of "desecration". It ain't rocket science. Add to this the dogged insistence of the jingoistic that said sacred object, i.e. the flag and/or the national anthem, "MUST" be genuflected in front of with certain body postures.
Whelp ---- that IS the domain of the Sacred. No different from a Catholic genuflecting in front of the tabernacle. And if that Catholic should turn and take an sledgehammer to that tabernacle, said Catholic would be considered guilty of
desecration. It's exactly the same thing. And there you are --- State-sponsored religion. The flag ... the tabernacle ... the national anthem... all "sacred" objects, in other words
fetishized.
But back to you now for confirmation of what I just laid down....
But a symbol can be disrespected. And that is what this controversy is actually about.
Et voilà. There it is: "disrespect".
You can't "disrespect" an inanimate object, unless you've
animated it. When you took that sledgehammer to that stop sign you were destroying it but you weren't "disrespecting" it. It's just a piece of metal with paint on it; it is not invested with
sacred power. It is not
fetishized.
Whelp --- here you have invoked "disrespect" of the flag (or national anthem), which means you have anthropomorphized it and invested it with sacred power --- which means a measure of "honor" that must be "defended". In an inanimate object.
And here we are yet again.
Which is why you are desperately trying to pretend it is something else.
I'm just laying out what it really is. A prayer to Almighty State; i.e. the antithesis of what the Constitution stands for. I can only lead you to the water; you'll drink it when you're ready.
DO you think that patriotism is flourishing in our nation?
Do you think that it should?
No, and yes.
Clearly it isn't flourishing when an orange demagogue wipes his ass with our Constitution for his own gain, exhorting division and violence and mob mentality. Clearly it isn't flourishing when more than four "very fine people" can't bend over far enough for him. Clearly there are way too many anti-Americans whining about those who decline to participate in said mob mentality, and clearly far too few understand what the **** the Constitution actually means.
ANy idea or movement can "descend" into fanaticism. This is not something that only happens with Patriotism.
BUT, your assumption that patriotism, ie "mob mentality" ALWAYS leads to such negative outcomes,
reveals what this is really about.
That's your equation, not mine. Yes I do hold that mob mentality always must lead to the negative, but I have never equated "patriotism" with "mob mentality" AT ALL. It's the very OPPOSITE.
Real, genuine patriotism isn't
scripted. It isn't
scheduled for 8:04. It does not require
special uniforms or
special body postures or
special murmurations or special
instructions on how to fold a ******* piece of cloth or, especially, robotic parrot hive behaviour. All of that is in no way "patriotism" --- it's patriotism
theater. It's
fake.
Phony.
Contrived.
Real, genuine patriotism is spontaneous, it's natural, it's
personal, not a public theater exercise contrived to demonstrate to one another that "I... am... an .... obedient....robot.... like.... everyone .... else... " And quite obviously, such theater has no function at a sports event unless that event involves multiple nations e.g. the Olympics. And just as obviously it's a transparent manipulation of a literally captive audience, who came there for a purpose having nothing whatever to do with politics or patriotism, who are then coerced into that fake theater as a condition of getting to watch what they actually DID come for. And equally obviously that manipulation is inserted in there for the purpose of jingoism and fomenting
exactly that sort of unthinking mob mentality.
And that ain't patriotism. That's bullshit and it's planting the seeds of Authoritarianism. It's how North Korea works.
Liberals are against Patriotism, and Nationalism.
And they are supporting this expression of anti-Americanism, because they share it.
They are UNIVERSALISTS.
Liberals wrote the Constitution. We like what it represents, and it doesn't represent fake theater. Whatever "universalist" is supposed to mean I have no idea. Liberalism is a political philosophy, not a religion.
You need to let go of the religious fetishism. Simple as that.