Quote:
Originally Posted by pknopp
Zachary Stinson is a perfect example of why we should protest. We did that to him and for what reason? No, that is not why the NFL is kneeling but it is a part of the reason why I have NO problem with the kneeling. We should all be giving a big middle finger to the country for what is is doing to the people.
No one will be able to explain when kneeling became disrespectful or why Zachary Stinson was in Afghanistan to start with. Why do we not care about the corruption in the police force in Baltimore? Why do we not care that there are very likely many behind bars simply because of this corruption.
The United States is corrupt. I want that changed.
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Not only am I a veteran, I am also an immigrant. Our family fled communism and settled in the US.
A country with contestant governments will result in a civil war. The corollary is that a country with contestant symbols will result in a divided people. This reasons out that a symbol should be a unifying factor.
No country is perfect, but from my personal experience, the US is better than most. By most, I do not mean %50.1 of the countries out there. More like %80.
If no country is perfect, that means it must have a blend of 'good' and 'bad' things and people. So the question is how does one compare the good/bad pairs between countries ? Actually being in those countries help. When I was active duty, I experienced the good/bad of West Berlin, then the good/bad of East Berlin ( when they existed ). Although the experience was brief as I was only a tourist for a few days, it was still interesting to see the radical differences between the two sides of the Cold War. I also experienced the good/bad of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
When people make these comparisons, inevitably they asks themselves where would they want to live. So it always come down to GOOD/bad or good/BAD in assessment. Take this 'freedom of speech' right Americans and Westerners enjoys. Is it GOOD/bad or good/BAD in our countries ?
There is nothing abstract about what I asked.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...-idUSKCN1BC4HK
Quote:
Anyone who mocks China’s national anthem faces up to 15 days in police detention after parliament criminalized such acts in a new law on Friday that covers Hong Kong and Macau.
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When I was in Turkey, we were briefed prior to arrival that we must not show any disrespect to any visual depiction of Kemal Ataturk, of which just about every town and city have somewhere.
So it is safe to assess that as far as the 'freedom of speech' right goes, the US and the West is GOOD/bad whereas for China and Turkey is is good/BAD. Essentially, in China and Turkey, showing the middle finger towards their symbols of national significance will get that member cut off. That is why when it comes to rights and freedoms, no one brings up China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the ( once ) Soviet Union, or assorted dictatorships in Africa as examples to emulate.
As the national symbol represents everything there is about a country, it also must suffer containment of the bad things as well. Do you give the middle finger to your husband/wife boyfriend/girlfriend dog/cat just because each of them contains that good/bad pair ? The marriage vow expects standing with each other thru the bad times as well as the good, it also means supporting each other despite the things you may not like about each other because you chose to value the good over the bad. That means no middle finger. Period.
Recently, Saudi Arabia finally gave their women the freedom to drive.
How long did that take ?
In emphasizing the good over the bad, you are not whitewashing or covering up anything. When the 'freedom of speech' came, it did not came from nothing. It evolved from having a deficit to being a surplus. It means if you continuously emphasizing the bad things about the US, you are not giving due credit to the previous generations of Americans who made possible the evolution of the country to the status it is today. You take the good and say this is where we must stand. People already know the bad. They are living in it. It is moving towards the good that is the unknown. No one among the writers of the Constitution had any idea on how the 'freedom of speech' idea would work for the country. But they were living in a condition where there was such a deficit of so many rights and freedoms that they felt the unknown was worth the risk.
The result is a country that evolved many things from being good/BAD to GOOD/bad at a pace that no one wanted to try in their own countries.
Do you think that there is going to be mass protests in China over the government's new law ? Not likely. That is the Chinese people -- as a whole -- for you to think about.
On the other hand, any US politician that even propose such an idea is going to be excoriated in the press, let alone experiencing public protests in his district of representation. That is the American people -- as a whole -- for you to think about.
By the way, I am Asian-American, so drop any charge of racism.
So when you chose to give the middle finger to the US flag, you are engaging in the same hyperbole that you earlier mocked about me. Further, you are not making any contribution to any changes because essentially, you insulted
ALL the good and bad things about the US. You insulted the sacrifices of the civil rights fighters as well as the Klansmen. You insulted the slaves as well as the slaveholder. You insulted both men and women. You insulted civilians and military. You insulted the draft dodgers as well as the willing patriots. You insulted the technologists and the Luddites.
You insulted
EVERYTHING there is about the US.