On Fri, 12 Oct 2001 14:45:40 -0500, Samuel W. Heywood wrote:
> In some communities and some corporations here in the United States, > especially those that are overly striving to realize some misguided > ideal of "political correctness", the displaying of the national > banner is considered "divisive" and "insensitive". For example, > there was a fire department in one community that was flying the flag > on their fire engines and they were ordered by the city council to > to desist. There is a major corporation where the employees were > ordered to remove some little US flags from their desks. The > employees organized a major protest and management rescinded its > decision. Also there have been public demonstrations against the > city council which ordered its local fire department not to display > the flag from their fire trucks. The same flag that is seen as a > symbol of national unity by some people is looked upon by others as > a symbol that threatens divisiveness. People are strange. Exactly *which* communities and exactly *which* corporations are you talking about here? In the abscense of details I'll have to assume that this is merely an often repeated folktale. It is true that in the United States the Supreme Court has ruled that the public burning of the American flag must be considered constitutionally protected free speech. Personally, I agree with that even though I think burning the flag is a despicable act. I think people should be free to fly whatever flag they wish and to protest against whatever flag they wish--including burning as a public protest. Sam Ewalt Croswell, Michigan, USA -- Arachne V1.70;rev.3, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://arachne.cz/
