Military Men Chase Down Protesters Flying Upside-Down American Flag

[R.C. Christian]

God forbid someone desecrate that STUPID flag. A symbol of death and imperialism for millions around the world.

 

[bripat9643]

Both are free. Actions have consequences and those idiots with the upside down flag got the attention they wanted.

You're an asshole who obviously condones assault.

Ah did I hurt your little feelings? Boo hoo.

Go troll someone else.

No, you just impressed me as an imbecile and a common thug.

 

[R.C. Christian]

Wow, the mods deleted the death threat against me and my response. Unbelievable. All of this because of a flag.

 

[Pogo]

No, they exercised their own freedom of speech.

-- using somebody else's stolen prop ... by which action they squelched somebody else's exercise of that same right.

Which one is "free" then?

Both are free. Actions have consequences and those idiots with the upside down flag got the attention they wanted.

In a sense that's very true -- had these two guys not gone after them, Fox Noise wouldn't have a story to distort and we would never have heard about them. So ... who played who?

 

[Pogo]

The servicemen did not lay a finger on the guys on the scooter. The flag was dropped, not physically taken from the scooter guys. If the scooter guys has stayed rather than retreating, what would have happened? Perhaps they would have received an ass kicking. Perhaps not! Who is to say the service men would not have given the scooter guys a nice cussing out?

Yes, it is wrong to infringe on someone's right to free speech. However, each person needs to use common sense in exercising free speech. Don't walk up to a tough guy in a bar and call the lady on his arm a whore. He will proceed to violate your right to free speech in a violent way. The guys on the scooter did the equivalent of calling The Lady our service men fought for a whore!

Your hypothetical is trying to compare a personal insult with political speech.
That doesn't really work.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

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.

Correct.

The right to free expression can only be violated when government seeks to preempt speech perceived to be unpopular, where such an act is the government’s primary focus, and the speaker is subject to punitive measures.

 

[WillowTree]

Good for the marine and good for the army guy. I loved the " eff off" too! Now that's free speech!

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Whatever the case may be, the 1st Amendment is still relevant so the folks who held the flag upside down have a right under the Constitution (whether any one of us see it as good, bad, or indifferent).

Again, the First Amendment doesn’t come into play here – this incident is in no way a ‘free speech’ issue.

Just as my telling you that your notion that America is currently ‘in distress’ is ignorant partisan idiocy doesn’t ‘violate’ your freedom of speech – a private citizen cannot ‘violate’ the free speech rights of another private citizen.

 

[birddog]

I often hear those on the left tell us that none of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute. I guess that only applies to rights they feel we shouldn't have.

Anyway, actions have consequences and flying a US flag upside down around US patriots has the consequences we just saw. No rights violated though. The Bill of Rights is to keep the government from infringing on our rights.

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

 

[Pogo]

I often hear those on the left tell us that none of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute. I guess that only applies to rights they feel we shouldn't have.

Anyway, actions have consequences and flying a US flag upside down around US patriots has the consequences we just saw. No rights violated though. The Bill of Rights is to keep the government from infringing on our rights.

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

No I don't think Service members die for a symbol. They fight for what it represents - a large part of which is the principle of Freedom of Speech.

Therein lieth the irony.

 

[Pogo]

Whatever the case may be, the 1st Amendment is still relevant so the folks who held the flag upside down have a right under the Constitution (whether any one of us see it as good, bad, or indifferent).

Again, the First Amendment doesn’t come into play here – this incident is in no way a ‘free speech’ issue.

Just as my telling you that your notion that America is currently ‘in distress’ is ignorant partisan idiocy doesn’t ‘violate’ your freedom of speech – a private citizen cannot ‘violate’ the free speech rights of another private citizen.

It is a free speech issue ... it's just not an infringement of the First Amendment.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I often hear those on the left tell us that none of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute. I guess that only applies to rights they feel we shouldn't have.

Anyway, actions have consequences and flying a US flag upside down around US patriots has the consequences we just saw. No rights violated though. The Bill of Rights is to keep the government from infringing on our rights.

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

No I don't think Service members die for a symbol. They fight for what it represents - a large part of which is the principle of Freedom of Speech.

Therein lieth the irony.

The 1st Amendment restricts the the power of the State not individuals. Further if the 2 idiots on the bike had a case they could have made it to the police. No one got touched, no crime. If you drop your property on the ground and then leave it, I am free to pick it up.

 

[birddog]

I often hear those on the left tell us that none of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute. I guess that only applies to rights they feel we shouldn't have.

Anyway, actions have consequences and flying a US flag upside down around US patriots has the consequences we just saw. No rights violated though. The Bill of Rights is to keep the government from infringing on our rights.

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

No I don't think Service members die for a symbol. They fight for what it represents - a large part of which is the principle of Freedom of Speech.

Therein lieth the irony.

I agree, but Freedom of Speech here works both ways. I tend to put myself in the Veterans position, and I can understand and agree with their actions.

 

[Pogo]

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

No I don't think Service members die for a symbol. They fight for what it represents - a large part of which is the principle of Freedom of Speech.

Therein lieth the irony.

The 1st Amendment restricts the the power of the State not individuals. Further if the 2 idiots on the bike had a case they could have made it to the police. No one got touched, no crime. If you drop your property on the ground and then leave it, I am free to pick it up.

They went after them threateningly. And that's a direct betrayal of, not the letter of the First Amendment, but the spirit of it. And then bellow "I serve my country". Ergo: irony. They weren't making a point of their own; they were trying to stop someone else making theirs.

 

[USNavyVet]

I often hear those on the left tell us that none of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute. I guess that only applies to rights they feel we shouldn't have.

Anyway, actions have consequences and flying a US flag upside down around US patriots has the consequences we just saw. No rights violated though. The Bill of Rights is to keep the government from infringing on our rights.

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

No I don't think Service members die for a symbol. They fight for what it represents - a large part of which is the principle of Freedom of Speech.

Therein lieth the irony.

No irony there. Freedom of speech was not infringed upon.

 

[JakeStarkey]

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

No I don't think Service members die for a symbol. They fight for what it represents - a large part of which is the principle of Freedom of Speech.

Therein lieth the irony.

No irony there. Freedom of speech was not infringed upon.

There is no irony, and Pogo is incorrect in his conclusion.

 

[Pogo]

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

No I don't think Service members die for a symbol. They fight for what it represents - a large part of which is the principle of Freedom of Speech.

Therein lieth the irony.

No irony there. Freedom of speech was not infringed upon.

Already demonstrated in the post before this one.

When you do everything you can to prevent someone from making a statement, you're not infringing on Freedom of Speech the Amendment (unless you're the government) -- you're infringing on Freedom of Speech the principle.

Ergo: irony.

 

[R.C. Christian]

I often hear those on the left tell us that none of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute. I guess that only applies to rights they feel we shouldn't have.

Anyway, actions have consequences and flying a US flag upside down around US patriots has the consequences we just saw. No rights violated though. The Bill of Rights is to keep the government from infringing on our rights.

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.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

I often hear those on the left tell us that none of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute. I guess that only applies to rights they feel we shouldn't have.

Anyway, actions have consequences and flying a US flag upside down around US patriots has the consequences we just saw. No rights violated though. The Bill of Rights is to keep the government from infringing on our rights.

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

No I don't think Service members die for a symbol. They fight for what it represents - a large part of which is the principle of Freedom of Speech.

Therein lieth the irony.

Correct.

For almost a century Americans have fought and died in foreign wars to destroy oppressive governments and their hateful ideologies to allow the peoples of other nations the opportunity to implement the principles of self-determination and freedom of expression.

For American servicemen, therefore, to be hostile to a form of free expression, however disagreeable they might find it, is indeed ironic – and sad.

 

[birddog]

I often hear those on the left tell us that none of the rights in the Bill of Rights is absolute. I guess that only applies to rights they feel we shouldn't have.

Anyway, actions have consequences and flying a US flag upside down around US patriots has the consequences we just saw. No rights violated though. The Bill of Rights is to keep the government from infringing on our rights.

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.