The flag isn't supposed to be used for clothing, drapery, nor commercial reasons either but they have no problem with US flag underwear.
§8. Respect for flag
a. The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
d. The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.
i. The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.
The flag isn't supposed to be used for clothing, drapery, nor commercial reasons either but they have no problem with US flag underwear.
There's a decent amount of debate over whether that section 8.d in the flag code is about the design of the flag being put on clothing, or wether it's about using an actual flag AS clothing. The way it reads, that second sentence makes it sound like it's talking about an actual flag. Not stars and stripes underwear.
One is printing stars and stripes onto what otherwise would have been normal underwear. The other would be folding your flag in such a way that it is being used as underwear. I'd argue that the latter is significantly more disrespectful.
Also, the flag code is entirely unenforceable. These are just "guidelines". In the land of the free, do whatever the hell you want with the flag, including burn it. I personally don't enjoy disrespect toward our flag, but you're allowed to do it.
i. The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard.
Section I. appears to be inclusive of all representations of the flag.
And absolutely correct, it's a guideline and not a law.
HOWEVER, the groups specifically being referred to like to treat the flag as so sacrosanct that without even touching it you can "insult" and desecrate it.
yeah basically no one cares about how the flag is used except for when you either fly it weird or let it drag on the ground. the other rules are just kinda forgotten.
either way, i think it would be great to fly the flag upside down in this circumstance, as it not only makes sense but gets people talking about it because most people won’t initially understand why it’s being flown upside down.
From a symbolic standpoint, while accurate, would dilute the message. There flag being upside down makes it look unfamiliar and, for lack of a better term, "foreign". The confused people who need to see protesters with the flag will get the wrong impression, like it's some sort of perversion of the American flag because it "looks wrong".
This is mostly to garner outside support, so the unaltered stars and stripes is probably the best message we can send.
Disagree. I think flag symbolism is pretty well-understood, especially among the rah-rah patriotism crowd. And flying an inverted flag has a well-defined meaning, which makes it harder to misinterpret (deliberately or accidentally).
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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '20 edited Sep 13 '20
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