Don’t Disrespect Our Flag!!!
 

Today, a pontoon passed me near Stonedam Island flying it’s American Flag upside down! The only acceptable time to do this is as a show of distress. They didn’t appear to be distressed in the least. If you hate this country so much that you need to desecrate our flag then GET OUT! Fly whatever flags you want for or against Trump/Biden/BLM/LGBTQ etc….I don’t care. But don’t denigrate the flag of this great country that so many have given their lives for. It made me absolutely sick. I’m only glad my father who was a combat veteran of WWII didn’t see that crap. God Bless America and the symbol of this great democracy!!! [emoji631]


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I'm Distressed, Too, But...
 

Theres good reason to be distressed; however, the Supreme Court wrote, 5/4, it was OK to burn the flag. Justice Scalia wrote in dissent:

Perhaps the answer is for all of us who would disagree with this boater is to display our flags properly--and everywhere. :patriot:

Mine's been out since the day I got here. ;)

Amen! I personally fly dual Old Glory’s on my boat and my house is adorned accordingly with flags and buntings! [emoji631] On the anniversary of D-Day I flew my vintage 48 star flag. That’s the flag that those heroes fought for. [emoji631]


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I agree we should all fly the flag correctly when we decide to display it, and it would never occur to me to have anything but pride in our flag. I'm even uncomfortable if one of my flags is folded incorrectly.

But Scalia did not write "in dissent". Scalia voted to uphold flag burning as constitutional. Based on the First Amendment, it is every American's right to express themselves, and in Scalia's view that included flag burning.

This freedom to protest is one of the things that so many have sacrificed so much to protect. We need to respect that sacrifice by understanding our history completely, even when it causes us to scratch our heads, as in this case.

While feel obliged to say that I am not a fan of the rapidly rising movement to fly the flag upside down or various versions of the flag such as the black and blue iteration, but I dont think you can say that the country as a whole is not in great distress.

We are possibly more polarized than at any time in my life.

I also debate that we remain a great democracy. For example; we accuse Russia of tampering with our elections, not the actual votes or vote count data, but the campaign rhetoric, something that we do and have done across the entire planet for decades. We have installed some of the worst leaders in the world in their positions of power and then end up at odds with them. How can we do that with a straight face and say we are a great democracy. We need to get our act together and fix our own homeland before dictating to others or pointing fingers at others for exactly the same thing that we do elsewhere AND in our own country.

Its disgusting and appalling to see what the US campaign process has become and how the politicians conduct themselves. I am repulsed by the current state of American politics.

We have not even had a president in the white house with full military service since Bush #1. The last 5 presidents all come up short for military service.

We now live in a country largely run by divisive power-mongers and the media who wish to control what we as individuals believe, think, do and where our money goes, as opposed to the people telling the politicians what believe, think, what we want to do and where we want our money to go.

You may call all this that I state hating our country, I call it worrying for our country.

I fear we will become something very different than what we were, and not better.

I fear we will have no say in this change.

I fear it has already started and the result will be our ruin.

I fear like too many situations, we will not see our failure until irreparable damage is done.

I hope I'm wrong.

You call it desecrating or denigrating our flag when hung upside down and you call them people who hate America, I say they are exercising free speech and they are probably people not unlike me who are not pleased with the direction we are taking and maybe, just maybe they think this is a way to express their extreme concern.

I remain disappointed by seeing a flag upside down, but I can relate to the message it conveys, concern and a cry for help (for our country).

I respect that you are entitled to your opinion even if I disagree with it.

I hope you can respect their opinion, mine and others and not call us haters of America and tell us to get out.

Well I’m a firm supporter of the right of free speech. But to be flying an upside down American flag while your off on your boat laughing and giggling on your way across Lake Winnipesaukee is a cheap attempt at real political commentary. Enjoying the freedoms of our land while half-heartedly condemning them through the most despicable mean available. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing more disgraceful than disrespecting our flag. To your point, I did not chase them down and board their vessel to remove that disgrace. I allowed them to exercise their right and in this forum I’m exercising my right along with all of my appropriately displayed flags!


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A Little Anecdote...
 

1) The U.S. Navy gave my Dad five PBY-5A amphibious aircraft, after the enemy in the SW Pacific kept shooting his planes down.

Below is a photo of him at age 94 standing next to a PBY-5A being restored at Sanford, Maine airport.

2) Anyway, I go to the doctor's and the nurses dutifully ask me for my birthdate. So I tell them—and add, "Y'know, my Dad was dropping bombs on the Japanese back then".

Without fail, the young gals always say, "OH NO!". :eek:

Well, I get a chuckle out of it. :o

Here's the warplane under restoration, with my Dad not in the pilot's seat.

(Ever wandered through a PBY-5A? It's incredibly cramped inside for such a large plane). :eek2:

Saw an article on MSN this past week. Macy Gray wants the colors on the flag changed so the white stripes are brown and the stars are all different colors to support LBGT……

As stated before:

I fear we will become something very different than what we were, and not better.

I fear we will have no say in this change.

I fear it has already started and the result will be our ruin.

I fear like too many situations, we will not see our failure until irreparable damage is done.

I hope I'm wrong.

Maybe read that article again, friend?
https://youtu.be/G4ev-BtPMM8

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Sad way of the world were moving towards.

You’re comment of I fear we will have no say in this change… if you’re Caucasian you’re 100% correct, you won’t have any say, or opinion. You’re blinded by your racist white privledge.

Many years ago in Boy Scouts we learned flag etiquette. Did you know that the flag should never be flown at night without lighting? Did you know that the flag should never be flown in inclement weather? I see this all the time. Here's a summary of how to treat our flag respectfully


https://www.legion.org/flag/code

Given the things I see boaters (and drivers for that matter) doing every day, an upside down flag on a boat would make me think of carelessness, cluelessness, not paying attention, etc. rather than a deliberate, thoughtful, and planned political statement.

I play a game with my kids when we are in the car and on the water. When we see annoying behavior - cars driving in the left lane when others are trying to pass, people driving under the speed limit with a line of cars behind them, boaters not slowing down in no wake zones, bumpers or ropes over the side when underway, violating the 150' rule, etc. we debate whether they are the unaware, entitled, or just don't care. Given this thread, maybe we'll have to add making a statement!

Based on the initial post (not being there it's hard to say) I think we would have come down on unaware.

Several of the respondents here fit the white privileged description perfectly. Unfortunately they don’t have a clue that they are racist.
Rapping yourself in the flag dosent make you a great American, giving everyone an opportunity to achieve the American dream, even if it might not be in your own interest , is the start of being a great American

Writing “Fit the white privileged description”. Says all we need to know about you.


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I think there's a lot of people that believe this country is in trouble... flying the flag upside down is their right as a distressed American who is watching the country be destroyed.

Well I can see this thread is turning ugly already.:rolleye1:

Yup, yet another goes sideways. Seems to be the trend.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

- John F. Kennedy

Perhaps not so much sideways but rather to the heart of the matter. The initial post in this thread evokes as much controversy as any that follow. My father too was a WW2 veteran. I suspect that while he may not have approved of a person flying the U.S. flag upside down, it would be small potatoes to what he would have disapproved over the last year. Like storming the Capitol, attacking the police defending it, all based on lies perpetrated by some very dishonest politicians and amplified by certain disingenuous media.
The right to free expression was one of the things he fought for. Sadly some in our past administration actively sought to muzzle this in the press (most recently coming to light is how the president wanted "his" justice department to stop SNL from teasing him).
I was a life long Republican who left the party after the misguided and bungled attack on Iraq by a president looking for WMD. It destabilized the entire Middle East. And now even those events seem to pale in comparison to the dishonesty and lying we are now seeing. It becomes tiresome to see people who have never opened a civics book or have even a rudimentary understanding of the constitution whining about their constitutional "rights" being violated because they can't do anything and everything they want, no matter how it affects their fellow citizens. "Me me me". I wish more people could focus on the real issues instead of getting their knickers in a twist over which bathroom someone uses or whether they are disrespecting the flag. And the referenced "America, love it or leave it" trope adds nothing meaningful to the discussion.

Perhaps, but of late the forum seems more like Facebook than the Winni.com I new since it started. We did have our controversy for sure, but it seemed the exception rather than the rule - and it was most always about the lake. Now, things seem to turn personal on a dime. A reflection of society in general I suppose.

And a country in distress.

I think Sunset on the Dock wrote the best thing I have seen in this thread; "I wish more people could focus on the real issues instead of getting their knickers in a twist over which bathroom someone uses or whether they are disrespecting the flag."

Now agreeing on what those issues are is yet another discussion, but hopefully we can rank the laundry list so that the biggest/highest impact items get addressed first, as opposed to the strategy of the last 50 years where they seem to be the last items on the political list to address,,,