The 4th, the flag, distress, and a veteran. Thoughts?

[slumcamper]

Should I fly my flag upside-down, with the union at bottom, from my porch, 100 feet from a disabled US Navy veteran?

Talk to me!

I took down my flagpole when W (or Cheney) was president. That's okay; the Trumper 25 yards down the block flies TWO in a postage stamp-sized yard. Both on very short poles, one is flanked by a concrete eagle lawn ornament. All of it is part of a chaotic and cluttered landscape that includes a big pull-behind camper, 3 pickups, a large Suburban SUV, a jon boat, a van, a golf cart, 2 snowmobiles on a trailer, a Jeep, and a couple riding lawnmowers that are never used because there is no space left in which to maneuver. The garage and 3 temporary tent-like outbuildings are chock full to the top with miscellany.

This particular Trumpkin is a 100% service-connected disabled veteran of the first Gulf War (claims he was an ordinance handler whose back gave out while unloading ammo crates) and whose yard sported "Hillary for Prison" and "Deplorables for TRUMP" signs in 2016. I shit you not. The last substantive interaction I had with him was actually that year, regarding a school bond for a modest remodel, supplies and technology (which he refused to support). This came at a time when the GOP-controlled House in Iowa's legislature was intent on holding allowable growth for public schools below 2%. The 98-year-old neighbor, who happened to be a former one-room country school teacher, and sharp as hell, was present. She chewed his ass up one side and down another and gave him a scolding and basically sat him in the corner with a dunce cap. She cut him to shreds, castigating him and those who thought like him as greedy, selfish Scrooges. In 60 years of life I have never witnessed anything like that dress-down. She was an FDR Democrat--his picture hung on her living room wall. She passed away just after her 100th birthday. BTW, the bond PASSED.

But I digress... So, as I have done for several years, I'm preparing to hang "ol' Glory" from my porch. I think I'll hang the thing upside-down. I mean no disrespect; however, if any moment demanded an expression of distress, it is this. As much as I loathe the civic values of the individual down the street, I still acknowledge his service (caveat: although 100% service-connected disabled, he is obviously fully able-bodied...not sure about the cognitive...but I strongly suspect he is milking the system). And while I don't relish the thought of ending up in the covid-laced emergency room at the University of Iowa Hospitals with bullet wounds if I step onto my porch on the 4th, I have resolved that my First Amendment expression is infinitely more important and patriotic than the one he made with his political signs in 2016.

[2naSalit]

1. I would. ...nt

[slumcamper]

2. Indeed, comrade. n/t

[GulfCoast66]

3. I'm hanging mine the correct way.

But you have to do you.

[slumcamper]

6. Yeah...mine will be upside-down.

[Aristus]

4. Go ahead, hang it upside down. To hell with that guy. You don't owe him anything.

He's probably gaming the system, as you suspect. I was a tank crewman in the Army, including the Gulf in 1991, although I didn't serve in combat. I spent the better part of four years maintaining and crewing the M1-series Abrams tank. Lots of heavy lifting involved. Live-fire exercises required maneuvering huge, heavy main gun rounds into the breech of the tank cannon as frequently as five to seven seconds apart.

Repairing or replacing tank track was a back-breaking nightmare, especially in the rain, the snow, the mud, etc. Carrying the tank's machine guns from the arms room to the tank park gave one sympathy for every mule that ever lived. I never once felt the need to cheat the VA in order to support myself. I think that guy is full of shit.

Display your flag any way you want to...

[slumcamper]

5. FWIW, I salute you Aristus.

Thanks for weighing in. I've decided to go upside-down. We are in a world of shit right now: a woefully inept, draft-dodging "fortunate son" president beholden to Russia, dismissive of bounties on our countrymen, a complicit GOP Congress, the rule of law in shambles, military fractured, society deeply divided, economy fake, and a pandemic largely ignored.

Great? No. Weak!

Everyone who has ever served and sacrificed to sustain this once-great project in democracy should be dressed deep-blue, like you. I respect that, and of course, your time in the US Army.

[Aristus]

7. That's very kind of you to say...

[UTUSN]

8. Your expression is yours, nothing to do with anybody else. Doing the "distress" thing

is both your expression *and* reaching for a reaction, which you might or might not want.

In either case, if a hostile person comes to comment, my reaction would be: It has nothing to do with you. Rightside up still doesn't mean that my definition of patriotism is the same as yours, or that it is an endorsement of any current office holder or national policies. And the "distress" position likewise for what it means to me.

As for the neighbor's values, our democratic values are for there to be space for almost all others to express their own.


************About there being some veterans scamming, there probably are some doing that, probably a small percentage, same as with any of the social assistance programs. But nobody knows what's in the case files, in the Service record. As the saying goes, some wounds are not visible. There was this veteran, heavy combat, who was barely high school educated, who qualified for full VA benefits and was ecstatic. When he got the first retroactive lump sum, he went hog wild, conspicuous wasteful spending, such things as getting his dog tags gold plated. He went around all his watering holes telling everybody that he "made himself act crazy to get the cash."

Here's the rub: He was in heavy combat, did some killing, got some wounds, with all the attendant psychological consequences. He *deserves* what he's getting, besides that the VA system is so hostile that "fooling" them is not a significant factor. But the real impact this fellow had was to spread the negative propaganda that most or all recipients were faking it. He smeared and denigrated ALL recipients. The reality is that this fellow is psychologically damaged, legitimately deserving of compensation for having incurred impairment via his military service, not to mention the deprived social background that got him into the meat grinder to start with.

What he needs is to be told: You are not "CRAZY." You are STUPID.

*********As for the Navy vet who is an obnoxious wingnut: I'm constantly disappointed about how wingnut many vets are. In 2004 I had found a web-ring of my actual shipmates from my Vietnam ship. After the initial introductory reminiscences, it turned into all of them being wingnuts attacking KERRY. After trying to argue with them for a few months, I blasted them and got out.