It's just a flag

I came across this article while skimming through Neal's Nuze (boortz.com) for today. For those of you that don't want to follow the link to read the article I'll give you a quick summery:

A California high school Principal has announced that the school will be canceling the school paper next year after the paper ran a picture of a burning American flag, along with an pro-flag burning editorial piece. He said 'the latest issue of the student-run Volcano newspaper was embarrassing' and that 'the paper is finished' and the faculty advisor called it 'bad journalism'.

The faculty advisor also said that they put the image and article at the last minute which implies that she wouldn't have let them run the article had they submitted it. This would be a different issue as it would amount to a government employee telling people what they could and could not say in the student publication.

This is a complex issue in that the school pays for the publication of the student paper, and in that respect should have some control over content, on the other hand the school is government funded so is technically paid for by the students parents. (and to some degree the students themselves if they have part-time jobs). So who should really be controlling the content of the paper?

However, the question of should the paper be discontinued over this issue is an easy 'no'. First off it is essentially the school Principal saying 'they are expressing opinions that I disagree with so I'm going to shut it down so that I don't have to worry about that in the future.'

The article does say that the school had previously been considering shutting the paper down because money was tight, but given his statements about the article being 'embarrassing' it seems pretty clear why the choice was made, regardless of previous considerations.

But then again ... that fits in with the mission of the government schools in general ... 'we don't want them to think or have opinions, we want them to be good little workers that think as little as possible and do what they're told.'

Now ... the issue of flag burning is one of those 'on again off again' hot topics ... it makes the rounds every now and again. Personally I find burning the flag to be abhorrent and reprehensible, but I don't believe that it should be illegal either.

Does it offend me, yes. But that doesn't mean that I believe that people should not be able to express themselves in that way. If they feel strongly about something and feel that the best way to express that anger/frustration/dissatisfaction is to burn the flag, then they should be allowed to do that. Provided, of course, that they do not do so in a way that damages someone else's property or otherwise infringes on someone elses personal rights. (This would, of course, mean that it would have to be a flag that they bought and own, not one that they took from someone elses flagpole ... and burning a flag in someone else's yard without their permission would infringe on their property rights and potentially harm their property.)

Every now and again the government (state or federal) tries to pass laws making the burning of the American flag illegal. That should never, ever, happen. It is a very tricky thing because it would first require a very specific and legal definition of what constituted a flag ... if I draw an image of the American flag and burn that (for example) would it be violating the law that bans flag burning? ... Of course it also opens the door for other restrictions on what can and can't be used as a symbol of expression ... In the end it comes down to one thing - where do you draw the line?

The government ... ALL governments have shown that once they've been granted a power they are reluctant to release that power. Rather they become hungry for more such powers. Like the old saying goes, 'give them an inch and they'll take a mile.' I'm not willing to risk freedom in order to prevent someone from doing something that I find offensive.

I once heard a radio talkshow host (I'm sorry I don't remember who it was) say 'Freedom means that some people are going to do things that I don't like, and that's okay.' I found that statement to match almost exactly my feelings on a lot of matters .... there are a lot of people out there, and we're all different (if we weren't the world would be a pretty boring place) ... I'm not going to agree with everyone, and not everyone is going to agree with me ... we've got to learn that just because we don't like or agree with something does NOT give us the right to say that someone else can't do it.