Flag Burning Essay

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Kyle Dooley Dellinger AP Lang 2 July, 2012 Flag Burning: Antipatriotic? In my own opinion, the burning of the US flag is both antipatriotic and not antipatriotic. It is antipatriotic because families and friends of fallen soldiers my think it is in disrespect to their fallen hero, however, it is not antipatriotic because it is a freedom of symbolic speech. First, the way that burning the US flag is antipatriotic is that men and women have all died for it and what it means to them. From October of 2001 to May of 2012, 54,830 people have died or been wounded due to the current war on terror, and those that did die, their families and friends find it disrespectful because of their loved ones sacrifice. Polls indicate that at least 70 percent of the US people support bills preventing burning the US flag. On the other hand, the way that it is not antipatriotic is that it is symbolic speech. In 1989, the US Supreme Court ruled that the burning of the US flag was symbolic speech and that it fell under the First Amendment, the right to free speech. Newspaper editorials arguing against the bills said that “flag burning passé”, or out of date. I do not disagree nor agree that flag burning is antipatriotic. In a way, I don’t really care if people burn the flag of the US or not. I find it sad that some people do, but it does not really sway my opinion to one side or the

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