For those 5 people on the internet who don’t know what the #Eric Sheppard Challenge is; I’ll make it simple for you. It is a challenge for people to walk on or in some other way disrespect the American Flag, and then post it on the internet for all to see. The people who do this are naïve and quite
simply acting like spoiled children.
simply acting like spoiled children.
There is a second problem however that I believe is even worse than those children who are disrespecting the flag. This problem is the people who react violently about the issue. Last month an Air Force veteran, MichellManhart, was arrested when she physically assaulted a student, Eric Sheppard, who was disrespecting the flag. Her actions have set off a firestorm of reactions from the left and the right.
It was Michelle Manhart’s actions that inspired this whole #Eric Sheppard Challenge in the first place. Eric Sheppard, and the police department showed more understanding of the First Amendment and civility than Michelle Manhart when they refused to press charges against her.
The American Flag is a symbol of all the Freedoms associated with the United States, first among these is the Freedom of Speech. And yes burning the American Flag is an act of Speech. The Supreme Court has affirmed this right in Texas v. Johnson (this hyperlink has been removed as the Internet Archive, Archive “dot” org is being flagged as malware).
Yet there are those among us that would threaten
violence and even react violently against a protester who would burn or dance on the American Flag.
violence and even react violently against a protester who would burn or dance on the American Flag.
There is quite a bit of irony in this. The
very people who despise the United States, these people who with either righteous or unjust anger towards this great country are as free to act as they please while those people who love the country apparently do not even fully grasp or respect the Freedoms they portend to love.
very people who despise the United States, these people who with either righteous or unjust anger towards this great country are as free to act as they please while those people who love the country apparently do not even fully grasp or respect the Freedoms they portend to love.
Worse yet however, is while these people are raging against those fools who would effectively spit on their Freedoms, they are simultaneously willing to mock a religion such as Islam. (http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/2015/05/03/garland-curtis-culwell-center-swat/26848435/).
American citizens are willing to mock a religion they know is violent, and they have every right to do this, yet they expect American Muslims to be civil and non violent in their protest or indignation. In the same instance many
of these supporters of the Muslim mockery are willing to commit acts of violence against a flag protester?
of these supporters of the Muslim mockery are willing to commit acts of violence against a flag protester?
Either we have a Freedom of speech or we do not.
The Freedoms we have are indivisible; they are built into us by God. We have Freedom of action, Freedom of life, Freedom of speech, and Freedom of ideas…the list can go on and on. Our founders feared writing each of the Freedoms into the Constitution because by doing so a portion of society would try and limit Freedom to those that were delineated, and or remove those that were written in. We are endowed with Freedom, we are not lent Freedom by the will of the State.
The Freedoms we have are indivisible; they are built into us by God. We have Freedom of action, Freedom of life, Freedom of speech, and Freedom of ideas…the list can go on and on. Our founders feared writing each of the Freedoms into the Constitution because by doing so a portion of society would try and limit Freedom to those that were delineated, and or remove those that were written in. We are endowed with Freedom, we are not lent Freedom by the will of the State.
I have a message for those people, and I include veterans of the United States Military in this statement, who are willing to threaten violence, and commit violence against somebody who is exercising their Freedoms. “You do not understand Freedom.” I understand your frustration, I understand your anger, I understand your pain, but you have no right, at all to threaten
or act violently against a protester.
or act violently against a protester.
The minute you do, the minute you attempt to assert dominance either by the power of the State or by your own Free Will of Action you are no better than ISIS, you are no better than those Thugs who murdered people at CharlieHebdo,
you are no better than those would be terrorists in Garland Texas . You are in fact no better than those thugs who would: riot, burn buildings, and otherwise destroy Baltimore and other towns over perceived injustice and police abuse.
you are no better than those would be terrorists in Garland Texas . You are in fact no better than those thugs who would: riot, burn buildings, and otherwise destroy Baltimore and other towns over perceived injustice and police abuse.
If you think for one second that Freedom of speech ends with your cause, with your perversion of justice I do not know you. These people who burn the flag, who trample on the flag, who disrespect
the flag, and America and the Freedoms that we know are inherent to humanity endowed by a creator, they are morons they are spoiled brats, but they have every Right, and every Liberty to do what they are doing. You have every reason to be upset, but do not think for a minute that you have the Right to threaten violence over it, only when their words actually become actions violating another’s Freedoms are you Free to take action against these fools.
the flag, and America and the Freedoms that we know are inherent to humanity endowed by a creator, they are morons they are spoiled brats, but they have every Right, and every Liberty to do what they are doing. You have every reason to be upset, but do not think for a minute that you have the Right to threaten violence over it, only when their words actually become actions violating another’s Freedoms are you Free to take action against these fools.
I do not know you. I rebuke you for your
inconsistent and foolish perversion of Liberty that you would threaten violence against for somebody exercising their Freedom in the very manner the Constitution was designed to protect. Take action in the form of argument; address their complaints even if they are absolutely asinine with logic and fact. Do not take it upon yourself to raise a hand, do not to take the long arm of the law to punish
these fools.
inconsistent and foolish perversion of Liberty that you would threaten violence against for somebody exercising their Freedom in the very manner the Constitution was designed to protect. Take action in the form of argument; address their complaints even if they are absolutely asinine with logic and fact. Do not take it upon yourself to raise a hand, do not to take the long arm of the law to punish
these fools.
