I guess it is a stupid way to get your idea across... and it does tend to alienate people.

[MADem]

66. That's as silly as saying "If they were burning Barbie dolls would it bother you?"

It's not a question of it bothering me, it's a question of the action making any damn sense relative to the protest at hand. Those people at that lunch counter weren't protesting the display of the confederate flag, any more than they were protesting the unrealistic body image of a Barbie doll.

Those protests had purpose and focus. They were targeting what they WANTED. Any ass who landed on earth from a galaxy far, far away could figure out what they were doing. There was no mystery at all.

They were demanding a place at the counter, and a seat in the front of the bus. Which is why they sat their asses down in those very locations. Only an idiot would fail to take their point.

What does burning a flag say about what people want? Answer--nothing. It's an action designed to upset people who have been taught to have respect for the symbol. "Ha, ha!!! I can HURT YOUR FEELINGS! I'm COOLER than YOU!!! I think what you find important or valuable is SHIT!" That's all it says. And who cares what rude people think, anyway?

Why don't these hotshots really put their asses on the line, and take a crap in the streets and wipe their well-fed behinds with the flag? No guts, no glory, after all. If they want to offend, they should really get down on it.

They're schmucks. They have every right to be schmucks, but they're schmucks. But then, this is what happens with leaderless movements--everyone involved in the effort gets the stink of the few idiot-assholes who do something that is dumb as dirt all over themselves. They, then, will have to try and walk this crap backward, or struggle to put a good face on it, and try to come up with convoluted explanations that just don't pass muster or make a damn bit of sense.

It'll take some time before--or even if--that stench dissipates.

I'd have to say that the flag burning stunt was probably one of the biggest missteps of the OWS effort to date. I initially wondered if it was simply the action of a bunch of morons, or instead, planned and carried out by a group with a vested interest in seeing the air taken out of the OWS tires, as it were...? Like I said--dumb. Made no damn sense.

But this is America--people have the right to act like unfocused nitwits if they'd like. Next time, though, they shouldn't steal a flag, they should open their wallets and buy their own--hopefully one made in the US, so at least an American Union worker will benefit from the mindless theatrics.