Should YOU be free to express disrespect??
Take a good, hard look at this photo ^.
This is disrespectful. His intention is to express disrespect.
And that is fine with me. People should be free to express disrespect without violence being used against them. People should be free to express HATE towards other individuals, or groups of individuals (including the government), so long as they do not act on that hate.
You should be free to mock and shame him, to wish horrible things for him and likeminded ilk. You should be free to express your thoughts and feelings. Just do not act on them if they be malicious thoughts.
Personally, when I consider what he has written on that flag, I think expressing disrespect is understandable for these reasons:
First, that flag means different things to different people. Some people might see it as a symbol representing liberty and justice... I believe he sees that flag as a symbol representing the U.S. government, as the U.S. government often identifies with that flag.
Second, the U.S. government is responsible for the death of many innocent lives, inside the U.S. border and outside. My guess is this man is probably a witness to the latter, maybe even a perpetrator or accomplice.
Lastly, the killing of innocent human beings is shameful.
Therefore, I think it is appropriate to shame and disrespect any government, by way of using its symbol, when it is responsible for the death of innocent human life. I do not condone such killings, and I am more than willing to express shame and disrespect to any individual or institution when it occurs.
I will not fly the same flag as the people who I regard to be the biggest threat to the freedom of my friends and family – those people being statists and their governments. It's difficult for me to view the flag as a symbol for liberty and justice, considering the growing police state, domestic spying, communization of goods and services, etc; it's become more of a symbol of oppression. I know this must be hard to hear. But for me, flying the U.S. flag would be like a colonial rebel flying the union jack.
If you feel that you must have a banner type symbol, then I invite you to modify your flag and fly Rebellious Stripes like the first one shown in this image...
I believe it better represents the principles that many americans used to hold so dear.
P.S. I am not emotionally invested in symbols (even symbols that represent liberty and justice). I am however invested in actual liberty and justice.
✌♥Ⓐ
Disrespect are those who get offended for someone practicing their freedom of expression. Disrespectful in the fact that statist put their own understanding of "their" reality onto someone diametrically opposed to it. I would ask them to mind their business elsewhere, and if they truly feel offended then let's have an open dialogue.
And it's not the U.S Government, rather call it for what it is--the U.S Empire; the American Empire.