• unalivejoy@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    This is a myth perpetuated by the flag manufacturers to sell more flags. Why would you need to burn your flag because it got dirt on it? That’s what washing machines are for.

    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      7 months ago

      It’s also what the US flag code says. The only time it recommends burning is when it’s so tattered it’s not fit for use anymore.

      • Paranomaly@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        And this is while most people who say the flag can’t touch the ground ignore the other rules in the flag code (that doesn’t apply to civilians) that state that the flag should not be flown on the same pole as another flag, and in the event that it is flown alongside another flag on a separate pole, both flags should be flown at the same height.

        • Flax@feddit.uk
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          7 months ago

          Only same height if it’s another national flag pretty sure

    • jol
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      7 months ago

      That’s what anti patriotic, washing machine detergent manufacturers want you to think!!

  • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    I’m curious if anyone else has the same kind of flag etiquette that the US does

    Like if there’s any other countries where burning is the only acceptable method of disposal?

    • Kilgore Trout@feddit.it
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      7 months ago

      I don’t know if it’s in the law, but it’s common knowledge in Italy that you shouldn’t throw the national flag in the trash.

      • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        US flag code isn’t law either, you won’t go to jail for mistreating the flag, you just won’t be liked.

        • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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          7 months ago

          Yeah I’m sure there are some obscure guidelines like this in most countries it’s just we don’t give a fuck.

          • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I’d wager the majority of Americans don’t really care, we’re not all flag waving, gun toting, psychos

      • I have strong feelings on religious text disposal given that many extend this practice to floating quotes as well. Torn shirt with “allahu akbar” on it? Not in the trash. Water damaged painting with a prayer in the background? Can’t go in the trash, dummy. Bin you scribbled a verse on when you were a kid? Better keep your foot off the pedal but sure, trash is fine. By all means, dispose of religious texts as dictated by your sect of choice but anything further feels like fear-borne neuroticism.

    • Donkter@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Flags have been venerated for long long before America. It’s a war thing, but think about it, in the medieval days they would have a whole guy in an army unit dedicated to be a “flag bearer”. It was an important role and important to keep the flag held aloft. Not to mention the symbol on the flag was often linked to the divinity of the king or the pope. America just continued with that tradition, we didn’t start it.

      • KISSmyOSFeddit@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        In medieval and early modern times, the flag bearer was basically your radio guy. He was supposed to keep the flag held up high at all times, as if the entire fighting group’s life depended on it, cause very often it did.
        And if it’s that important to hold a flag up, over hundreds of years, weird traditions develop around the practice.

      • Klear@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        Sure, but the question was whether there is any other nation which is so stuck in this medieval tradition.

    • Arghblarg@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      Not to get political… buy why wouldn’t just washing it and generally treating it respectfully be good enough (Like, why waste a perfectly nice looking flag?)

      Intentionally throwing one’s national flag on the ground and stomping on it… that’s one thing. But just dropping it by mistake? People make mistakes, it shouldn’t be considered bloody treason :p

      Then again, I’m one of those people who avoids ever addressing ‘someone of station’ as ‘Your Grace’, ‘Your Honour’, ‘Your Highness’, etc. If I were ever in the situation of being expected to do so, I’d be very uncomfortable and would try to get away with “Sir” or “Madam”. I don’t believe anyone deserves such obsequious subservience. Guess I’d be dead if I’d been born a few hundred years ago.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        Yup, I’m the same way. A flag is a piece of cloth, and it only has relevance due to the symbolism on it. Sure, be respectful of the freedoms it represents, but at the end of the day, it’s a piece of cloth.

        And yeah, I would totally not be comfortable living somewhere like the UK, if only because of the traditions around the crown, royalty, and court and legislative procedure. I’d be civil for sure, but I’m only using reasonable titles. That said, I’m okay with “the honorable” or “your honor,” if it’s referring to someone respected in the community that represents justice under the law. But “your grace” and whatnot are right out, I save that for actual deity.

        • MurrayL@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Do you think people in the UK have to greet royalty every other week or something? I’ve lived here for 34 years and it’s never come up.

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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            7 months ago

            Oh, I’m sure you’re constantly tripping over royalty over there. 😁

            But seriously, just the idea of it would bother me, such as:

            • national anthem - “God Save the King/Queen”
            • oath/affirmation of allegiance

            I just don’t think I can swear allegiance to a king or queen, even if it’s largely symbolic.

              • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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                7 months ago

                I guess I find that less bad, but I wish it would instead focus on the concepts in the Constitution, not the flag and Republic. I’d rather rewrite it to something like this:

                I pledge allegiance to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and the values therein, of liberty and justice for all.

                That reminds me, I need to ask my kids if they’re forced to do that. They go to a charter school, and I don’t remember seeing a flag in each room. But our state is quite conservative, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was still a thing. That said, they’re minors, so any pledge cannot, by definition, be binding in any way.

      • ArcticAmphibian@lemmus.org
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        7 months ago

        Nowhere in the US Flag Code does it say to burn the flag if it touches the ground. The code says separately that you shouldn’t let it touch the ground, and that if it is too damaged for display it is to be disposed of by burning. Not that accidentally touching the ground automatically necessitates burning.

        • Arghblarg@lemmy.ca
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          7 months ago

          Thanks for clarifying (and I should’ve looked it up myself! My bad for being lazy).

          That sounds like a sane policy.

  • Gabu@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Imagine having such a braindead devotion to a piece of fabric that you must burn it if it touches the floor.

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      Even better; that’s not a rule, the US flag code just says you should avoid having it on the ground so it doesn’t get damaged/dirty

      • kieron115@startrek.website
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        7 months ago

        There are some wild things in the flag code. Like you technically aren’t allowed to have your flag up between sunset and sunrise unless it is "purposefully lit, meaning a light installed for the specific purpose of lighting the flag and not, say, a porch light that illuminates it.

  • Dr. Coomer@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I don’t remember the part of having to burn the flag if it touches the ground, but that must have been traumatizing for multiple reasons.

  • Gadg8eer@sh.itjust.works
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    7 months ago

    You think this is bad? I was 10. I was taken from my parents by social services because they allowed me to play video games. The NEXT. DAMN. DAY. After crying myself to sleep, 9/11 happens.

    Now tell me I shouldn’t be this fucked up.

    To me, 9/11 was personal. I hated everyone involved for years, including people in the Bush administration and the man himself because I believed they had been in on it, as if they had done this just to ruin my life because I cannot stand being collateral damage for an attack against a country I don’t even live in.

    Now I don’t even try to justify it. I just know that I want you all to hurt for making the 00s about McBling bullshit, making the 10s the decade you LET THAT FUCKER TRUMP LITERALLY GET AWAY WITH VOTER FRAUD, and worst of all you have learned NOTHING from CoViD and still act like you shouldn’t be forming an angry mob to demand Trump be stripped of citizenship or fuck any and all laws as you burn everything to the ground until it happens because he WASN’T EVEN ELECTED. HE. CHEATED. HE ADMITTED HE CHEATED AND DOESN’T FUCKING CARE. HE SHOULD BE THE ONE THAT WAS THREATENED ON JANUARY 6TH BECAUSE HE SHOULDN’T AND NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN ELIGIBLE TO RUN FROM HIS SHEER FUCKING ARROGANCE.

    I hate all of you because I am a minority of one and democracy is no longer real in the first place. Suffer.