Philosophy on Flag Burning

This morning I was playing a little poker, minding my own business, when someone was seated next to me with an offensive image as his icon. The picture was of someone burning an American flag. I admit that at first, I was thoroughly pissed-off. (Maybe that was his intent - to put the US players on tilt about something besides poker.)

Then I remembered something my father always said. The US flag is supposed to be burned if it's touched the ground or has otherwise been defiled in some way. My father's take on the whole flag-burning thing was that any time someone who hates America touches the flag, it's been defiled, and so burning it is the only appropriate thing to do. People who burn the American flag are doing the flag a favor because it's no good after they touched it anyway.

God, I love my dad.

Like the asshole from Germany (not picking on Germans, btw... the site gives you the player's location - and his user name was in German anyway), people who burn the flag do so to piss people off. The more we can accept my father's philosophy about flag-burning--the less we let it piss us off when it happens--the less America-haters will do it.

Burn away, you raging morons. You're doing us a favor.

Or if we're lucky... to quote an anonymous jokester:

American Flag ...$25
Gasoline....$2
Cigarette Lighter...$2.50
Catching yourself on fire because you are a terrorist jerk...Priceless