COMMENTS:
Voted : I'll tell you what below
I say let's fly Bush and Cheney at half mast.
Voted : I'll tell you what below
^^  Traitors, both of them.
Some of those telescoping yard flagpoles can't fly a flag at half mast.
I think we should fly all flags at half-mast in rememberance of our once great constitution.
R.I.P. 1787-1913
As long as we are into Symbolism, how about 'Upside down' at 'Half-mast'?
^ Yes, I do believe the country is in distress spanky
Voted : I agree
As long as we're receiving our kids home in coffins (on *commercial flights, no less* ), we should consider ourselves in a state of perpetual mourning.
Voted : I'll tell you what below
Althoughn I certainly agree that the continuous dying of American men and women abroad is tragic, it happens so often that to lower the flag each time would have it flying at perpetual half-staff. This would depreciate the intended purpose: the commemoration of the occasional tragedies and losses of the nation.
Voted : I agree
I agree with you 100%, larry.
It's more than a little ironic that close to TWO HUNDRED people were killed (and scores more injured) in Baghdad today -- most of them as a result of a car-bombing at a market. Here are some factors which I think contribute to the tendency to make the Virginia Tech shooting spree more important than the current, past, and future incidents of massive loss of human (civilian) life in Iraq:
- The mass media.
- Shooting sprees have happened many times in America, but the body count in Virginia is unprecedented.
- We are 8,000 miles from Iraq.
- Death has become so common in Iraq it is barely regarded as news. A minimum number of 60,000 civilians have been killed there. (iraqbodycount.net) That number represents people and families who just wanted to live their lives in relative peace, like most everyone. God knows how many have been horribly maimed or crippled. Granted, the vast majority are being killed in sectarian violence. But some of those people are also killed by the United States. There are many components to why we have failed in Iraq, but on a cultural level, when an alien power kills your people--even unintentionally--this tends to provoke a profound emotional response.
- The situation in Iraq does not (appear to) directly affect us in terms of our daily lives. Why care if you don't have to?
- The massive undercurrent of prejudice towards "foreign primitives" in the modern day operates primarily on the subconscious or covert level, making it seem like it's a non-issue or doesn't exist.
- America is an uncompromisingly individualistic society.
- Militant nationalism and the sanctification of American ideals and constructs. For example, the American flag is viewed by many as a sacred symbol of importance tantamount to a religious symbol such as a crucifix.
Voted : I agree
(also maybe the flagpoles should be cut in half since we'll be at war from now on probably)
by Jyl on Wed Apr 18, 07 7:31pm
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