Veteran Wraps Baby in American Flag, Photo Sparks Controversy - Polidicks

[QUOTE=J!NX;47324708]they literally risked their lives for the country, yes, they can do whatever they want with it, they earned itand what does being canadian have to do about it? Do canadians somehow not understand being proud of their countrys flag? are us americans only allowed to know what it's like to be "Patriotic", get fucking real with that.[editline]14th March 2015[/editline]the same people who say "You have no right to do that" also didn't serve either, and automatically will act as if their service was magically meaningless[/QUOTE] "Literally risked their lives for their country" hahaha bro there's a huge difference between serving and being in the shit and fighting. 90% of people in the Military right now won't "risk their lives for their country" because they'll never see combat. Either way, being in combat doesn't give you the right to wipe your ass with the flag. Go speak that shit to any combat veteran you know and see what they have to say about that. How do I know all this ??? Well I'm a non-deployed non-combat tested Sailor who's been in long enough to know something about this shit.

[QUOTE=InvaderNouga;47320815]Why would serving give you the right to wipe your ass with the same flag you swore to defend and protect? Maybe it makes sense to you since you're Canadian. Also I guarantee that neither of these Sailors have ever been in direct combat. Not like it would make any difference either way.[/QUOTE] Are you implying that Canadians somehow value their flag less than you? I'm calling you out, jackass. I'm a fucking patriot, but I respect the symbol of my country more than the cloth it's placed upon. There's absolutely no disrespect in that picture.

[QUOTE=archangel125;47327307]Are you implying that Canadians somehow value their flag less than you? I'm calling you out, jackass. I'm a fucking patriot, but I respect the symbol of my country more than the cloth it's placed upon. There's absolutely no disrespect in that picture.[/QUOTE] Yes I agree there's no disrespect in the picture but it's tacky as hell and boot as shit. But you literally said "wipe your ass with your countrys flag" doesn't make you seem too patriotic tbh since THAT is definitely disrespectful.

[QUOTE=InvaderNouga;47327361]Yes I agree there's no disrespect in the picture but it's tacky as hell and boot as shit. But you literally said "wipe your ass with your countrys flag" doesn't make you seem too patriotic tbh since THAT is definitely disrespectful.[/QUOTE] Canada, to me, is the principles upon which it stands, and not the colors it flies. The flag is merely a reminder of that. Nothing more. Others may disagree with me, but I rather liked that photograph.

[QUOTE=archangel125;47327364]Canada, to me, is the principles upon which it stands, and not the colors it flies. The flag is merely a reminder of that. Nothing more. Others may disagree with me, but I rather liked that photograph.[/QUOTE] Great that's dandy and all and I feel the same way about America with the inclusion of the flag representing it's ideal which makes it a pretty bad candidate for toilet paper. So I guess I'm saying that's where we differ, I'd rather use toilet paper to wipe my ass than use the flag of my country which I supposedly am "sooo patriotic" about.

Does anyone really care? The flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that awaaaaaaayy~

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[QUOTE=InvaderNouga;47320815]Why would serving give you the right to wipe your ass with the same flag you swore to defend and protect? Maybe it makes sense to you since you're Canadian. Also I guarantee that neither of these Sailors have ever been in direct combat. Not like it would make any difference either way.[/QUOTE] Not that this is relevant but I found toilet paper with the American Flag on it [url]http://www.dx.com/p/novelty-america-flag-pattern-toilet-paper-3-layer-roll-tissue-white-red-blue-238402#.VQW1xvu9KnM[/url] Now you can wipe your ass with the symbol Carry on

The fact that this was "controversial" makes me want to burn flags on the fourth of july

[QUOTE=InvaderNouga;47327373]Great that's dandy and all and I feel the same way about America with the inclusion of the flag representing it's ideal which makes it a pretty bad candidate for toilet paper. So I guess I'm saying that's where we differ, I'd rather use toilet paper to wipe my ass than use the flag of my country which I supposedly am "sooo patriotic" about.[/QUOTE] I don't know man, towels are pretty good ass wiping material, maybe when you have taco's you need to pull out the good ol' flag

[QUOTE=Cloak Raider;47321170]you've said this a whole lot, but you've given no reasons why people who get offended at people messing with a flag are in any way legitimate or anything.[/QUOTE] Because the flag is commonly recognized as a symbol in most social contexts and it's only when someone's getting shit for mistreating it that it suddenly loses all symbolic context and becomes just a piece of cloth for the sake of extremely pedantic argumentation. People understand what flag-burning is and what it represents. Nobody suggests a flag-burner go use old bedsheets or something because cloth is cloth, it's obvious what symbolic context is being given. People pledge allegiance to the US flag, not the stars and stripes on the back of Billy Bob's truck, the local state flag, or the Gadsen flag. If you fly the Dixie flag on your front porch you're probably going to get a different reaction than if you own a replica of the General Lee; culturally we interpret flags differently from the patterns they carry. There are cases like this one where although the symbolism is overt (there's clearly a reason a flag was used in this photo) no offense is meant and people get riled up over nothing, but then there are [URL="http://www.dreadscott.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/WhatFlagVGA1.jpg?764f91"]cases[/URL] where people overtly use the flag as a political statement but try to weasel out of responsibility with the 'what? it's just cloth' response. It's either a symbol or it's a piece of cloth, and it's dishonest to selectively treat it as either (symbol when making your point, cloth when called out on it) when it's convenient. The symbolism is obvious when a group of soldiers raises the flag in an iconic photograph, or a carefully folded flag is presented to the family of a dead serviceman- it's a tangible, physical manifestation of the American nationality, and people treat it as a stand-in for America itself. Most people seem to understand this on some level but it's only when a controversy erupts that willful ignorance comes into play and suddenly it's just cloth and why could anyone [I]possibly[/I] be upset. I'm not saying you have to believe the thing is the distilled essence of America to be washed only with bald eagle tears, I'm not even saying there's anything wrong with this photograph (it's a baby! in a flag! how much more crassly patriotic can you be?) but it's not hard to understand cultural context and symbolism as other people see it.

I've always tried to judge things on what the [I]intent[/I] of it was. IE if something ends up carrying some unfortunate message, but it wasn't the intended message, it's usually forgiveable. This is just whining, they had no intention to cause offense so even if there's people who have a lot of respect for a/the flag there's no reason to make a big deal about it like this.

Not all American's are stupid but the ones that are seem to have a bigger voice than those that aren't nowadays. Probably because people of a lesser intelligence have nothing better to do than get wrapped up in trivial shit on social media or actually cause it. If anything the picture represents something good, nothing bad and a misuse of the flag? how exactly. isn't childbirth something to be celebrated?

the same flag that grants them the right to complain about the flag being misued to the flags country of the flag flag flag flag flagglaf

[QUOTE=InvaderNouga;47320815]Why would serving give you the right to wipe your ass with the same flag you swore to defend and protect? Maybe it makes sense to you since you're Canadian. Also I guarantee that neither of these Sailors have ever been in direct combat. Not like it would make any difference either way.[/QUOTE] It's actually the United States constitution that gives all Americans the right to wipe their ass with the flag if they want to.