Military Men Chase Down Protesters Flying Upside-Down American Flag

[Yurt]

I don't know why this is so hard to understand, but a person can't violate anyone's right to free speech.

The only way those rider's "freedom of speech" could have been violated is if the government had passed a law making it illegal.

Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. They pissed off a Marine, and there was a consequence for that.

If I went into the bar down the street and called the biggest guy there an asshole, he'd probably throw me through the wall. Perhaps that would be "assault", but there's no way you can argue he violated my freedom of speech.

this

 

[Yurt]

As I understand it, flying the flag upside down is an active distress call.

Doing it to make a political statement is equivalent to calling 911 to complain about Obama.

uh....no. the soldiers clearly could see they were not in distress.

 

[Yurt]

You don't get to interfere in this manner with someone's political free speech in the public square. Those service personnel are in big trouble.

what law did they break?

answer: none

 

[Yurt]

You don't get to interfere in this manner with someone's political free speech in the public square. Those service personnel are in big trouble.

They may be in trouble - but it won't be for "interfering with someone's political free speech".

Only the government is prohibited from doing that, and these men were, as far as I know, not on duty at the time.

If the military isn't government what is it?

those guys are not the government. they were not in uniform, did not act on the behalf of the government. we need to careful when attributing individual actions to that of official government actions, else anyone who works for a local, state, federal organization can be the "government" when ever they say or do something.

 

[theHawk]

What these military guys did was a gross violation of the riders' freedoms of speech and yet a lot of people are cheering this on. This was wrong, plain and simple.

VIDEO: Military Men Chase Down Protesters Flying Upside-Down American Flag | Fox News Insider

I don't see how they violated their rights, the dope heads sped off and dropped the flag, they just picked it up.

The "soldiers" weren't wearing uniforms so I don't see what the big deal is, how does anyone know if they are even active duty or not?

That other photo is very telling of the lefties holding another flag upside done will flipping it off. Real patriots, those progressives.

 

[R.C. Christian]

As a fellow Veteran, I agree. The demonstrators were essentially defacing the flag which is a symbol that Service members die for.

B.S. Steve. You didn't fight for a stupid flag. You did it because you had no choice. If you're fighting for a flag then you've watched too many movies. The morons are on the government payroll so in essence a good argument could be made that the soldiers were violating their rights, moreover, these are probably the same sloths that get drunk and brag about how they fought for our rights to carry a flag upside down which is complete bullshit as well.

I disagree. I served our country which the flag represents. Desecrating the flag is disrespecting my country in essence.

The servicemen also deserve freedom of speech and expression. You need to admit you may be wrong here. You will feel better about yourself.

The servicemen can't steal someone's property as an act of 1st amendment, symbolic free speech Steve.

Moreover, I feel fine about myself, but the flag is bullshit in a modern context. You choose to be offended but you don't have to because it has nothing to with you or your "country" and everything to do with your government.

You can bleed on the flag to keep the stripes red but it won't make any difference because your government is an out of control, imperial state which is fueled by unending wars that it chooses to create because it knows this nation is in it's death throes and will do anything, including murdering your grand children on a fool's errand. Would you send your grand children on a fool's errand and receive that Chinese made flag if they were killed in combat? I wouldn't.

Last, none of this has anything to do with why the people in NM are upset. One you're really pissed off you have a tendency to take things too far.

 

[birddog]

B.S. Steve. You didn't fight for a stupid flag. You did it because you had no choice. If you're fighting for a flag then you've watched too many movies. The morons are on the government payroll so in essence a good argument could be made that the soldiers were violating their rights, moreover, these are probably the same sloths that get drunk and brag about how they fought for our rights to carry a flag upside down which is complete bullshit as well.

I disagree. I served our country which the flag represents. Desecrating the flag is disrespecting my country in essence.

The servicemen also deserve freedom of speech and expression. You need to admit you may be wrong here. You will feel better about yourself.

The servicemen can't steal someone's property as an act of 1st amendment, symbolic free speech Steve.

Moreover, I feel fine about myself, but the flag is bullshit in a modern context. You choose to be offended but you don't have to because it has nothing to with you or your "country" and everything to do with your government.

You can bleed on the flag to keep the stripes red but it won't make any difference because your government is an out of control, imperial state which is fueled by unending wars that it chooses to create because it knows this nation is in it's death throes and will do anything, including murdering your grand children on a fool's errand. Would you send your grand children on a fool's errand and receive that Chinese made flag if they were killed in combat? I wouldn't.

Last, none of this has anything to do with why the people in NM are upset. One you're really pissed off you have a tendency to take things too far.

I agree that most wars are wrong, and speaks poorly of our government's involvement. I can still see where the servicemen are coming from and I support them.

 

[R.C. Christian]

I disagree. I served our country which the flag represents. Desecrating the flag is disrespecting my country in essence.

The servicemen also deserve freedom of speech and expression. You need to admit you may be wrong here. You will feel better about yourself.

The servicemen can't steal someone's property as an act of 1st amendment, symbolic free speech Steve.

Moreover, I feel fine about myself, but the flag is bullshit in a modern context. You choose to be offended but you don't have to because it has nothing to with you or your "country" and everything to do with your government.

You can bleed on the flag to keep the stripes red but it won't make any difference because your government is an out of control, imperial state which is fueled by unending wars that it chooses to create because it knows this nation is in it's death throes and will do anything, including murdering your grand children on a fool's errand. Would you send your grand children on a fool's errand and receive that Chinese made flag if they were killed in combat? I wouldn't.

Last, none of this has anything to do with why the people in NM are upset. One you're really pissed off you have a tendency to take things too far.

I agree that most wars are wrong, and speaks poorly of our government's involvement. I can still see where the servicemen are coming from and I support them.

I can see that a little bit. But there is some hypocrisy there that is more annoying to me personally.

 

[theHawk]

I don't know why this is so hard to understand, but a person can't violate anyone's right to free speech.

The only way those rider's "freedom of speech" could have been violated is if the government had passed a law making it illegal.

Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. They pissed off a Marine, and there was a consequence for that.

If I went into the bar down the street and called the biggest guy there an asshole, he'd probably throw me through the wall. Perhaps that would be "assault", but there's no way you can argue he violated my freedom of speech.

Most people don't even understand what the term "right" means when talking about "the right to ....."

A right is supposed to be an immunity from government persecution.

 

[theHawk]

The servicemen can't steal someone's property as an act of 1st amendment, symbolic free speech Steve.

Moreover, I feel fine about myself, but the flag is bullshit in a modern context. You choose to be offended but you don't have to because it has nothing to with you or your "country" and everything to do with your government.

You can bleed on the flag to keep the stripes red but it won't make any difference because your government is an out of control, imperial state which is fueled by unending wars that it chooses to create because it knows this nation is in it's death throes and will do anything, including murdering your grand children on a fool's errand. Would you send your grand children on a fool's errand and receive that Chinese made flag if they were killed in combat? I wouldn't.

Last, none of this has anything to do with why the people in NM are upset. One you're really pissed off you have a tendency to take things too far.

I agree that most wars are wrong, and speaks poorly of our government's involvement. I can still see where the servicemen are coming from and I support them.

I can see that a little bit. But there is some hypocrisy there that is more annoying to me personally.

It's hypocrisy for soldiers to voice their own opinions?

 

[Pogo]

As a fellow Veteran, I agree. The demonstrators were essentially defacing the flag which is a symbol that Service members die for.

B.S. Steve. You didn't fight for a stupid flag. You did it because you had no choice. If you're fighting for a flag then you've watched too many movies. The morons are on the government payroll so in essence a good argument could be made that the soldiers were violating their rights, moreover, these are probably the same sloths that get drunk and brag about how they fought for our rights to carry a flag upside down which is complete bullshit as well.

I disagree. I served our country which the flag represents. Desecrating the flag is disrespecting my country in essence.

Only if you buy the fetishism.
That's why it's a kinky idea. The symbol is not the thing; it's a symbol. That's why getting hung up on a fetish is useless.

 

[Pogo]

I agree that most wars are wrong, and speaks poorly of our government's involvement. I can still see where the servicemen are coming from and I support them.

I can see that a little bit. But there is some hypocrisy there that is more annoying to me personally.

It's hypocrisy for soldiers to voice their own opinions?

No, and that's not what they did. They weren't "voicing an opinion"; they were coercing somebody else to stop voicing theirs. And when you do that and simultaneously represent yourself as "serving my country", yeah that's hypocrisy.

 

[Yurt]

I can see that a little bit. But there is some hypocrisy there that is more annoying to me personally.

It's hypocrisy for soldiers to voice their own opinions?

No, and that's not what they did. They weren't "voicing an opinion"; they were coercing somebody else to stop voicing theirs. And when you do that and simultaneously represent yourself as "serving my country", yeah that's hypocrisy.

stfu

no it isn't

stfu

see.....

 

[Pogo]

It's hypocrisy for soldiers to voice their own opinions?

No, and that's not what they did. They weren't "voicing an opinion"; they were coercing somebody else to stop voicing theirs. And when you do that and simultaneously represent yourself as "serving my country", yeah that's hypocrisy.

stfu

no it isn't

stfu

see.....

No, because you haven't stopped me.

See?

Now if you came into my house and took this laptop away (shades of Sean Hannity) then you'd have an analogy.

 

[R.C. Christian]

I agree that most wars are wrong, and speaks poorly of our government's involvement. I can still see where the servicemen are coming from and I support them.

I can see that a little bit. But there is some hypocrisy there that is more annoying to me personally.

It's hypocrisy for soldiers to voice their own opinions?

Negative. The hypocrisy is when they brag about putting their lives on the line for my rights, but they don't hesitate to step on them when they choose to be offended in this case. That's what I'm getting at.

 

[theHawk]

I can see that a little bit. But there is some hypocrisy there that is more annoying to me personally.

It's hypocrisy for soldiers to voice their own opinions?

Negative. The hypocrisy is when they brag about putting their lives on the line for my rights, but they don't hesitate to step on them when they choose to be offended in this case. That's what I'm getting at.

When were they bragging about putting their lives on the line for your rights?

 

[Pogo]

It's hypocrisy for soldiers to voice their own opinions?

Negative. The hypocrisy is when they brag about putting their lives on the line for my rights, but they don't hesitate to step on them when they choose to be offended in this case. That's what I'm getting at.

When were they bragging about putting their lives on the line for your rights?

Really?

1:09 in the video?

 

[theHawk]

I can see that a little bit. But there is some hypocrisy there that is more annoying to me personally.

It's hypocrisy for soldiers to voice their own opinions?

No, and that's not what they did. They weren't "voicing an opinion"; they were coercing somebody else to stop voicing theirs. And when you do that and simultaneously represent yourself as "serving my country", yeah that's hypocrisy.

Yelling at someone else who is protesting is "voicing an opinion". Protesters and counter-protesters yell at each other all the time.

Liberals certainly don't have a problem yelling at others. But I guess in your book only the liberals are practicing their "freedom of speech", while anyone else who dare voice a contrary opinion is somehow taking away their rights.

 

[Pogo]

It's hypocrisy for soldiers to voice their own opinions?

No, and that's not what they did. They weren't "voicing an opinion"; they were coercing somebody else to stop voicing theirs. And when you do that and simultaneously represent yourself as "serving my country", yeah that's hypocrisy.

Yelling at someone else who is protesting is "voicing an opinion". Protesters and counter-protesters yell at each other all the time.

Had that been all they did, yes it would be 'voicing an opinion'. And had that been all they did, we wouldn't have a story.

Liberals certainly don't have a problem yelling at others. But I guess in your book only the liberals are practicing their "freedom of speech", while anyone else who dare voice a contrary opinion is somehow taking away their rights.

Where do you see anybody taking a flag or other protest prop from these guys?

::scrape:: ::scrape:: ::scrape::

 

[theHawk]

Negative. The hypocrisy is when they brag about putting their lives on the line for my rights, but they don't hesitate to step on them when they choose to be offended in this case. That's what I'm getting at.

When were they bragging about putting their lives on the line for your rights?

Really?

1:09 in the video?

So if we are taking them at their word, and they are vets or active duty, simply saying "We serve our country" is "bragging" about them putting their lives on the line for your rights?

Hardly.