No Subject: The Flag

Thursday, November 19, 2009

FLAGrant Chauvinist Pig

Yes, I admit it. I am a FLAGrant Chauvinist Pig and proud of it. That’s right, I love my country, I love “Old Glory”, and I am not ashamed to say that...

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag

of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one Nation under God, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all.

And that is why I became more than a little bit angry, though not really surprised, when I learned that the video immediately below was one of the of the 20 finalists being considered by the DNC as part of a health care video contest run by Barack Obama’s campaign arm, “Organizing For America”. The video features a Los Angeles Street Artist who calls himself Saber, painting a mural of an America flag, which is then splattered with health care graffiti until it is completely covered by black paint.

"Saber Speaks"- Organizing for America Health Care Reform Video Challenge

Hmmmm, I wonder if any National Endowment for the Arts funds were used in the making of this piece of propaganda.

Anyway, the left will likely defend this as artistic expression, and say that it is protected by the first amendment. Well maybe so, but I call it a desecration, and of a kind that has become all too common in our country.

I remember a similar example of artistic expression ten years ago. It was an exhibit at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a work by “Dread” Scott Tyler, a self-proclaimed "supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Party U.S.A.," titled “What Is the Proper Way to Display a U.S. Flag?” The work consisted of an American flag stretched out on the floor, directly below a ledge holding two books in which visitors were invited to enter their comments. The clear and deliberate attempt was to encourage people to walk upon the flag.

I ended up in a prolonged debate with an artist friend. He defended it using all the typical illogic so common to the left. The debate came to an abrupt close when I finally told my friend that I would acknowledge and accept this as a legitimate form of artistic expression, as long as he acknowledged and accept that the broken and bloodied body of the artist laying on the floor next to the display was also was a legitimate form of artistic expression

Please do not get me wrong. I fully defend the right of anyone to decent; using almost any legal means at their disposal. Though I would not necessarily appreciate or agree with it, I would defend the right of anyone to burn an effigy of a president (as was done many times by Bush haters) with whose policies they did not agree . I would defend their right to deface or burn a map of the United States of America, or a picture of the White House, if they felt it would express their disapproval of some America policy. I might even defend their right to drag the dead carcass of an American bald eagle through the streets in protest of a certain action by the government that they find to be grievous and offensive.

But desecrating the flag is something quite different. The flag is special because of what it represents. I am not talking about the thirteen stripes that stand for the original thirteen states. And I do not mean the fifty stars that symbolize the fifty individual sovereign states that currently make up our nation. No, the flag represents something much, much more.

The flag of the United States of America represents not only the sweat and tears of every American who has worked hard and made sacrifices to build a better life, and by so doing helped make this the greatest nation that GOD has ever raised up on the Earth, it also represents the life’s blood of every American who from the founding of this great nation, to this very day, have laid their lives on the line, and given their all to preserve and protect the Freedom of every individual American.

Therefore, to desecrate the flag of the United States of America, is to piss on the graves and curse the blood of those brave Americans who have paid the ultimate price, and that is intolerable. At least it used to be. There was a time when as I suggested to my artist friend, that anyone who would dare to deliberately violate and despoil our flag would find themselves in a great deal of pain.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, as in our grandfathers' day, virtually every American still respected the flag of the United States of America. Then maybe we would still have artist that produce works the way they did back in 1939, when the cartoon below was made. As you will see, back then even Porky was a FLAGrant Chauvinist Pig.

Old Glory Porky Pig