Tattered, Torn and Dirty. (images--dial-up warning)

[Bouncy Ball]

People seem to think that a tattered, torn and dirty flag is better than no flag at all. But the U.S. Flag Code says that American flags in disrepair should be "destroyed, preferably by burning."

So why do I see tattered and torn flags everywhere I look?

One family a street over, in a fit of nationalistic frenzy right after the war started, hung out a full-sized flag and put smaller flags all over the place. They've been there ever since. The larger flag is now faded and tangled up in the basketball net since they put it up right under it. The smaller flags they had hanging on their front windows and front door are torn to shreds. The hand-painted SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! wooden sign is faded and weather-beaten and laying in the mud. The kids love to use it as a BIKE RAMP now. No one has picked it up or disposed of it.

A car wash on the main street near me has the worst flags. They look very similar to the picture at the top of this post and there are six of them, full-sized, just out there faded, tattered and sloppy every single day and night.

And another thing, if you leave the flag out at night, it's supposed to be lit up. Otherwise, take it down at night.

But there's a Mobil station on I-35 E just about fifteen minutes south of Dallas with the WORST flags I have ever seen. They are on large poles all over the roof of the building and are literally almost unrecognizable now, they are so faded and torn. They look sort of pinkish and light green now. No longer stripes, but strips!











And finally, I found this little essay. I couldn't agree more:

(from http://www.rossde.com/editorials/edtl_patriot.html)

I have a special problem with those who fly flags from their automobiles. In general, flags are displayed on automobiles contrary to the rules of flag etiquette codified in law (4 USC Chapter 1): On an automobile, "The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle … the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender." Definitely, the United States flag must not be fastened to a radio antenna. It belongs in the right-front of a car, not attached to the left-rear window.
On a car moving along a freeway at 50-75 miles per hour, a flag is subjected to winds of gale or hurricane force. Soon, the flag becomes frayed and tattered. "The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way."

Nevertheless, there are many flags on cars that are no longer fit to be displayed. "The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way … " (not by dropping it into a trash bin or by allowing it to tear loose from the car and blow away, perhaps to land on the highway and be driven over by another automobile).

Besides failing to abide by "flag etiquette", too many flag wavers also ignore "road etiquette". They tail-gate, weave in and out without signaling, and drive through red signals. Flying a flag (or sometime two flags) while driving that way does not make them patriots. Instead, they are merely rude slobs. Or are they trying to show that real Americans are road bullies? They have no appreciation for the image they present while displaying the symbol of our nation, tying their behavior to a definition of America. This, too, is disrespectful of our flag.

Overall, too many "patriots" who fly the flag from their automobiles show as much disrespect for the flag as those who would burn the flag to protest our government's actions. I suspect that they are motivated primarily by a need to show off. They approach patriotism the same way that hypocrites approach religion, making a big show about going to church but, in their daily lives, hating their neighbors and refusing to give to charity.

No, I do not own a flag. I don't need a flag to be a patriot.

[One_Life_To_Give]

1. Ouch!

Those images are painful to just look at.

[Bouncy Ball]

6. The third picture from the top especially galls me.

That sad sucker got twisted up in the pole and never got loose.

Isn't it pathetic? I hate seeing these, but they're EVERYWHERE.

I know I'm preaching to the choir on DU, because I seriously doubt many DUers got into the whole hyper-rabid nationalism junk that went on but I can't help but think our freeper friends probably think those flags are fine. Like I said, tattered, torn and dirty seems to be preferable nowdays to none.

What a weird, messed-up world we live in.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. What are my dogs doing on that guy's eyes?

[Desertrose]

3. I'd say all these worn & tattered flags are a fitting symbol of the state

the US is currently in...

Very symbolic...and rather sad what the once proud US of A has become......

[redqueen]

4. That bothers me, too.

It's as if they were unconsciously showing how thin the veneer their true appreciation for this country is.

[Sanity Claws]

5. The flags now reflect America's tattered image

to the rest of the world.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

7. They look like the flag at my local Post Office

It's as limp, gray and shabby as an old dishrag. They never take it down...just leave it hanging like a cobweb.

[Bouncy Ball]

11. At the POST OFFICE??

Dayum. Of all places. A federal government building.

[andyhappy]

8. doesn't really bug me

I kinda like how it looks!

tattered, bruised and torn, but still flying!

[Bouncy Ball]

10. Explain that to me.

You don't care how it looks?

So what if I took a flag and drug it through the mud then put it up but sort of twisted it all over the pole first then stuck a basketball hoop just in front and a little bit below it?

Would you kinda like how that looks?

:eyes:

[Goldmund]

13. I wouldn't care either.

It's a piece of cloth, no different from any other.

[andyhappy]

16. I like my jeans torn

my house lived in

my converse tennis shoes all gritty dirty...

what can I say, I am a relic of grunge and I like a little dirt. Makes it real. Makes it me!

I am not saying that every flag should look like that, and some of those are pretty pathetic, but so what!

there are a lot more things to get your panties in a bunch over!

(I get pissed when I see a shiny plastic sticker of an american flag on an gas guzzling SUV than I do a tattered flag!)

[paineinthearse]

9. What pains me are the ones on the SUV's.

Tattered to shreads from driving at 80MPH while sucking gas.

We should create a citation to issue to the owers. One side the violation, the other side flag etiquette.

[Fenris]

12. It's sad how little "patriots" care about decorum

But to be honest, what makes me physically ill is when I see the flag turned into clothing. How disrespectful can you get? It says in the flag code that the flag should not be used as apparel. And these fuckers turn around and tell us how much we need a flag burning amendment. I'll tell you what. I'll support a flag burning amendment if it also includes proper disposal of tattered flags and forbidding the flag to be used as a fashion accessory.

[Bouncy Ball]

14. Totally agree.

I can't think of a single item of clothing I own or have ever owned like that.

I've simply never seen the need to drape myself in it.

Shortly after 9/11, my bushbot mother in law sent me the creepiest, breathlessly jingoisitic email. Not a forwarded one, she wrote it. It was this huge tirade, she was so freaked out--of course a lot of us were, but she took it to these weird hyper-nationalistic extremes (for instance, she wanted to wallpaper her entire home in the flag and thought everyone else should, too, so "no terrorist would ever think we don't love our country!", and I wrote her back this one line:

You're going to wrap yourself up so tightly in that flag you suffocate in it.



Never got any response on that. :D

(fear fear fear fear fear fear and loathing)

[Bouncy Ball]

15. P.S. Fenris, what about American flag contact lenses?

http://www.coastalcontacts.com/show1fproduct.cfm?formkey=040922121755&ProductCode=988