“The funny thing about that case is, the only consequence of it—nobody burns flags anymore,” Stevens told me. “It was an important symbolic form of protest at the time. But nobody does it anymore. As long as it’s legal, it’s not a big deal. You just don’t have flag burning.”
Supposedly Stevens is also known for prefacing his statements by saying "this is probably obvious..." That phrase applies to the following, but I'm going to go through the motions anyway; as with many opinions, I'm not saying anything new, its more like I'm casting a vote - a civic act that's pointless in practical terms, but meaningful as ritual. Its like pissing on a George Bush urinal cake, or shooting a hundred bullets into cartoon-Hitler's face, its an act of catharsis through the voicing of a moral stance, something that might seem redundant and gratuitous, but is in many ways totally necessary:
Teddy Fuckin' Ballgame!
The ban on flag burning turned the flag into a symbol of an authoritarian government, one that places itself and it's symbols above the ideals they were meant to represent, thereby losing both its principles and its ability to be self-critical. By banning free speech to protect a symbol of free speech, they transformed that symbol into an emblem of idiotic tyranny, lacking in the self-awareness to recognize its own hypocrisy. I mean, really, what did they expect people to do?
This reminds me of when I was a kid, and I would make fun of my dad, and he'd respond by yelling:
"Do NOT...mock me!"
I mean, come on dad, what do you expect me to do?
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