Note: "Rallies" -- NOT "Riots"

[OmahaBlueDog]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2013/07/14/rallies-against-zimmerman-verdict-being-held/C401S3jncInS1pjNT1iEnN/story.html

NEW YORK (AP) — From New York to California, demonstrators outraged over the verdict in George Zimmerman’s murder trial took to the streets and to church pulpits Sunday to speak out against his acquittal and to demand federal charges on civil rights violations.

Protests were planned later Sunday in Boston, Detroit, Baltimore, San Francisco and other cities over the Florida case, which unleashed a national debate over racial profiling, self-defense and equal justice. At least one protest in California hours after the verdict late Saturday ended with vandalism.

The Boston protest is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Dudley Square Station, according to a posting on Facebook.

In Manhattan, congregants at Middle Collegiate Church were encouraged to wear hooded sweatshirts in the memory of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager who was wearing a hoodie the night he was shot to death in February 2012.

On a personal note: Can we stop with the flag burning?

[morningfog]

1. The media wants riots so bad.

The flag burning is not a problem, in my opinion.

[OmahaBlueDog]

3. FAUX especially wanted riots

..it feeds into a narrative.

I did say "on a personal note" about the flag burning. IMHO, it doesn't enhance one's argument, and it certainly alienates many people. Just me. YMMV.

[Phentex]

12. I felt that watching the local news last night when they were telling us

how Atlanta police were prepared, blah blah blah...but then they had to interview peaceful people simply supporting Trayvon. The news sharks did not get the blood they wanted.

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. I'll admit I was concerned

I was in South Florida when Lozano was acquitted, and there were riots in Miami and parts of Broward.

Times, in some ways, have changed.

[NutmegYankee]

5. Flag burning is free speech.

The real question why someone would get so angry that they do that in the first place. Perhaps we should address that aspect. That's the proper takeaway.

[OmahaBlueDog]

6. There are better ways to express anger.

Just as the wingnuts don't get how many people they offend when they fly a confederate flag, progressives forget how many they alienate when they burn an American flag. Is it free speech? Well, the Nazi's marched in Skokie and it was free speech; it didn't endear them to anyone. You can't stop Klansmen from appearing in the town square in full regalia, but it does little else than to piss people off. The Westboro Baptists have done something few others have done -- united conservatives and liberals alike in contempt and hatred for their funeral protests, but that's free speech.

John Paul Stevens wrote in his dissent in Texas v. Johnson that flag burning was ".. disagreeable conduct that... diminishes the value of an important national asset." I'd put it more simply -- it pisses a lot of people off, and they won't listen to a thing you have to say after the flag is burned. If the point of the protest is to raise awareness, and to seek broader support for the notion that an injustice has been committed, then it seems a poor way to go about convincing people.

[sadbear]

7. Would burning a confederate flag be ok?

Not quite the same or intended message, though.

[OmahaBlueDog]

8. Is the Confederate Flag a "valuable national asset"?

I'll let you decide that.

My vote would be "no."

[sadbear]

10. No to what?

Being ok to burn it or it being a valuable national asset?

Either way, I support the 1st Amendment.

[OmahaBlueDog]

13. No, it's not, IMO, a valuable national asset.

One can, I believe, say that burning our flag is a bad thing to do while, at the same time, supporting the first amendment.

[sadbear]

16. So you're not in favor of criminalizing it.

Good. I'm glad we cleared that up.

[OmahaBlueDog]

19. No, I'm not talking about criminality - see my other posts in the thread

You have the right to do it. My point is that it detracts from whatever other cause one is trying to promote. I personally find it to be an insulting and unproductive practice.

[sadbear]

20. Burning a symbol is a very powerful statement.

The way I see it, if someone has become so disgusted with America, burning the flag is the ultimate way of communicating that to others. I don't think it should done frivolously. But when done, it definitely gets my attention, whether good or bad. Perhaps that's the point.

[Mariana]

11. If I buy a flag, it's my right to destroy it

by burning if I so choose. If flags are such an "important national asset" then they shouldn't be made in China and sold where any asshole can go buy one and then burn it.

But you're right, considering how many people practice flag idolatry, burning them publicly as a form of protest is generally a foolish thing to do. I don't do it for that reason.

[OmahaBlueDog]

18. Really, that's all I'm saying

Sure, the first amendment gives you that right, but burning flags publicly as a form of protest is generally a foolish thing to do. It's about as endearing as going to a soldier's funeral with a placard reading "God Hates F**s"

[Gravitycollapse]

9. It's a piece of cloth.

[OmahaBlueDog]

14. The Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell are hunks of metal

The Constitution and Declaration of Independence are sheets of paper (or perhaps parchment -- I'm uncertain there)

Antietam and Gettysburg are dirt and grass.

Wounded Knee is near-worthless land in South Dakota.

Some things have a value beyond the matter of which they are made.

[Gravitycollapse]

15. I would have no problem with people burning copies of the Constitution.

I have bigger fish to fry.

[OmahaBlueDog]

17. That's your choice, but it detracts from whatever other argument you are making...

..such as the argument that it shouldn't be OK to kill a 17 year old boy who was armed with nothing more than tea and skittles.

A sizable portion of the American people tend to see the burning flags and constitutions at a protest, and then write you off as "left wing wack jobs" or (as the President put it) "the Professional Left."