Would someone tell CNN what the American flag looks like?

[sinkingfeeling]

Caption: Students in Bogota, Colombia, burn a U.S. flag during a demonstration against President Bush's upcoming visit.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/03/08/bush.protests.ap/index.html



Compare the two:


Edited to add flag image

[SoCalDem]

1. CNN: red-check... blue-check... white-check... close enough

:)

[MetaTrope]

3. CNN: Check

The only color they were looking at was the shade of skin, I'm sure.

[orpupilofnature57]

2. A compliment to their viewers.

[Deja Q]

4. More like an effigy of a US flag, surely? Or a home-made version of a US flag?

Damn. First employers now journalists...

[piedmont]

5. Ok, it's a facsimile of an American flag. The sentiment is the same, though. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Well, it's a representation of the U.S. Flag. In short, it's a symbol of a symbol.

Being symbolically destroyed.

All the more reason we must ban this kind of thing... Of course, by printing an image, or a representation of the symbolic destruction of the symbol representing the symbol, isn't CNN effectively burning a flag, too?

Get 'em!

[Exultant Democracy]

13. Here Here, it just gets too confusing maybe we should invade them?

The have weapons of flag destruction WFD's.

[geniph]

7. Well, Students Burn Tarp in Protest

doesn't work as well as a headline, you see.

:eyes:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

8. Let's Not Be Silly Here. It Obviously Represents An American Flag And CNN's Fine In Calling It Such

Let's be real here.

[orpupilofnature57]

10. Real what? Wfff Wfff

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

15. Real Perception. n/t

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. Okay, let's

A flag is a representation in and of itself.

Someone's inaccurate mock-up of a flag represents a representation.

The photo above, then, represents a representation of a representation.

Following this logic, if I were to print said photo and burn it, I could be accused of burning the American flag.


A person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it, and what is one man's comfort and inspiration is another's jest and scorn. — W. Va. Board of Education vs. Barnette, 1943

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

14. It's The Representation That Matters. Their Intention Was Evident. Arguments Otherwise Are

pretty disingenuous and silly to 99.99% of anyone who would stumble across such debate. You know it and I know it. I just can't help laughing at how petty some arguments can be here sometimes from some. I mean seriously; picking apart CNN for saying they were burning an american flag when it was a representation of an american flag? Of all the reasons to abhor CNN I hardly see that as one of them. I find it to be amazingly nit-picky. But whatever.

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. So, CNN should've acknowledged the intention

by saying, "Students in Bogota, Colombia, burn a representation of a U.S. flag..."

If the students were actually burning a flag, the caption would be accurate. They weren't, so it isn't. A first-year journalism student should understand the difference.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

18. Seriously, For Real, You Don't See That Stated Arguments As Monumentally Petty?

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Nope

But then, I'm an editor.

[petronius]

20. It's like that thread here earlier with a title of 'Protester punches Bush in the face'

and it turned out to be a photo of a man punching an effigy of Bush. And certainly, a caption of 'mobs burns <insert public figure name>' would be very different from 'Mob burns effigy of <insert public figure name>.'

In this case, I don't feel that the difference between 'flag' and 'effigy of the flag' to be all that significant - to the protesters, the painted tarp was the flag, to all intents and purposes - except that with all the blather about an anti-flag-burning amendment these days I'd hate to see the definition of 'flag' stretched in any way...

[WinkyDink]

16. Key word: "Representation". Doesn't have quite the same cache'.

[demrabble]

9. Where Are The Stars??

There are supposed to be 50 stars on the American flag.

Where are they?

Is someone dancing with them?

I heard that Dancing With the Stars was coming back to TV soon.

And aren't there supposed to be more strips on the American flag?

[SoCalDem]

11. I hear that Paul's ex will be doing the bunny hop

(ooh I am so gonna burn for that one )

[live love laugh]

21. Clouds. The stars are clouds. It's impressionist.

:eyes: :rofl: