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Sunday, June 12. 2011

Waving the Flag

Yesterday there were two people at a park, sitting at a picnic table using an American flag as a beach towel — they were sitting on it. That’s always disturbing, seeing the flag used so carelessly. Most Americans are fairly cavalier in their “patriotism,” maybe rightly so. We talk a good game, but when it comes to things like the correct presentation and use of the flag, for instance, we can’t be bothered with the details.

On the other hand, I’m a hardcore proponent of the Bill of Rights, so we have the right to misuse Old Glory, no matter how egregious and thoughtless that misuse may be. But, I passed up an opportunity to instruct the couple on how that was disrespectful to the flag.

And the two people, friendly acquaintances, are not the gung ho patriot type. They are your average Americans out for a picnic with friends. They aren’t thinking about how to treat an American flag. For all they know, bringing the flag to the picnic might have been a patriotic thing to do. Hell, for all I know, it could have been a beach towel.

There are federal laws concerning the display and use of the American flag. We can’t wear the flag as apparel. Can’t use it for advertising purposes. Really, all those holiday-related ads and TV commercials showing the American flag — and playing the National Anthem — are illegal.
 Just had this thought: is a flag lapel pin a violation? It is being worn as an accessory for clothing.

Flags should not be laid out flat, but flying free or respectfully folded for storage. So, during halftime shows, when they have a hundred people holding that giant, oversized flag for the National Anthem, that’s illegal.

It tell us the flag cannot be touching anything beneath, including the ground or, for that matter, a picnic table bench and we certainly can’t be sitting on it, even if it is in the form of a beach towel. Just the fact that it’s a beach towel could be a violation of the flag code.

Like the oversized flags we see at half time shows, displayed flat and parallel to the ground, we see violations of the flag code every day and think nothing of it. We’re used to it. There are pictures of Sarah Palin and President George W. Bush signing U.S. flags, clearly a case of defacing the flag: "The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature."

This isn’t a partisan attack though. In January 2009 someone in Baltimore, MD made flags with President Obama’s picture on them and sold them to commemorate Obama’s inauguration.

Yeah, having a flag signed by a president or with the president’s picture on it is a nice keepsake, but really, both clearly violate the letter of the law concerning the care and display of the flag.

Back in the good old days, the ’60’s for all of you who weren’t there, Abbie Hoffman made flag-emblazoned clothing fashionable when he wore a shirt fashioned from an American flag. After that, we saw flags as bell-bottomed pants, jackets, hats, socks and ties. Virtually anything that can be worn as clothing was fashioned from Old Glory or had the Stars and Stripes attached to it.

That’s just the way we are. Everything is a commodity to be bought and sold or used to sell our other commodities. On the flip side, we have this slavish insistence that we pay homage to the flag as if it’s a sacred item, a trait that is unheard of in other countries, nations that find our noisy jingoism puzzling, if not amusing.

It’s all a moot point though. From Title 4 of the U.S. Code: “The Flag Code does not prescribe any penalties for non-compliance nor does it include enforcement provisions; rather the code functions simply as a guide to be voluntarily followed by civilians and civilian groups.”

And in two separate decisions the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that laws proscribing penalties and enforcement of the flag laws are unconstitutional. Mainly to allow people to burn the flag in protest, those decisions also allow us freedom of expression. So, if you want to express your patriotism by wearing a flag sewn on the back of your denim jacket, by all means, go ahead and do so. And if you want Mickey Mouse to sign your American flag — and what character could be more American than Disney’s Mickey — then absolutely, get it signed.

And if you wish to buy an American flag beach towel and sit on it, that’s okay too. But you know, it really isn’t in the spirit of the U.S. Code.

Short postscript: There’s nothing more fetching on the 4th of July than seeing beautiful women in red, white and blue beach wear, especially skimpy bikini beach wear. Does that constitute wearing an American flag? Not really. The single piece of cloth needs to have the stars and stripes on it to be a flag and most bikinis just make use of the colors.

Most bikinis. There are the few ... sigh ... but they look so nice! Especially on the lovely Roxanne Dawn! And this is why I won’t admonish the couple for sitting on the beach towel flag. I’m guilty as Hell!

Posted by Tim Forkes in Social Responsibility at 06:01 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

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