The Terrorists Have Already Won Part 1: Flag burning should be manditory.

[Lies]

Ok, here's my first proper rant, it's taken me several days to write this, and I still feel like I didn't say everything I wanted to say, but I don't want to spend a month trying to get that right

I'll be posting this elsewhere hence the funny sign off.

Tell me what you think.

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Friends, Neighbours, and most importantly, enemies, lend me your rationality.

I have urgent news for you.
There is no war on terror. The terrorists have already won. Correction, they won a long time ago.
When? When you stopped questioning authority. If you ever questioned it in the first place.

Oh it's probably not your fault really. You were suckered into it from a very early age. A victim of the conspiracy.
You were told to respect your elders, to listen to what they say.
First it was your parents. Then it was your teachers, your boss, your leaders. 

But who ever told you to question what they say? Certainly not them. It wouldn't work in their favour.
Your elders demanded complete unquestioning obedience, of course, it was 'for your own good'.
You may have asked questions initially, when you had a million questions to ask about the world, all in innocence.
But it would get to the point when you were told to do something, and you asked, "why?" the response would be, "because I said so", and that would be the end, and you would do it.
Soon enough, you'd be conditioned to do things upon order, without wondering why, assuming it was for your own good.

And this mode of thinking passed on... of course, you were encouraged to ask questions at school.
But really, you were only allowed to ask the right questions, the wrong questions would get you into trouble, or would get ignored, or they would provide you with an answer that you didn't understand, or perhaps was only half of what you really wanted to know, or should have been told.

This created gaps in your rationality, things that on the surface seem to make sense and are complete, but if you were to scratch off the surface and dig a little deeper, you would find that there is a lot of scrambled information.

Were you made to stand up at school assembly, have the flag raised, and sing the national anthem?
Have you ever thought how that has affected you up until this day?

Are you a patriot? Why?
Because you were told that your country is the greatest, and that you should love everything about it, and if anything or anyone threatens the things you love you should be ready to fight and die for it?

Do you respect your flag?
Is it because you were told that flag is a symbol of the greatness of your country and all the freedoms you supposedly have, that your elders died fighting for?

Does it boil your blood when you see someone burn that precious flag?
If your answer is yes, then let me guarantee you one of the first statements made: The terrorists have already won.

For I say, that flag is a symbol, a symbol that represents much more then most of us were told to believe, and that symbol is full of corruption.

It represents the unquestioning love of the country and those who live in it, and the the unquestioning obedience to its leader.
Or the complete ignorance and ability to hate countries that are not your own and all those who live in it, and the complete ignorance of the biased intentions of its leader.

It represents the sense of identity of who you are and your past, that your ancestors used it to show that this land was theirs.
Or the lie that your identity and past depends on that flag being there, and that your ancestors stole the land from the original inhabitants.

It represents something worth fighting for, the freedoms that your ancestors fought and died to protect.
Or the illusion that is worth fighting a meaningless war, and that people who fought for your freedoms should be respected and therefore to show disrespect towards the flag is equal to disrespecting those people, when really, if you don't have the freedom to burn your flag, is truly disrespecting those who died for it.

The flag is NOT what it represents. The flag is a piece of coloured fabric, and is only anything more if you personally see more in it.
The people have forgotten this. The people have lost their way. The people have stopped thinking, and let others tell them what to think.
They let their emotions get in the way of rational thought, and have been fooled into thinking that the menu is more important then the food.
The flag is NOT you. The flag is NOT the people you love. The flag is NOT the country. The flag is NOT your freedom.

So called patriots, WAKE UP. A true patriot would burn their flag because that's the freedom you're supposed to have, that you claim you love so dearly.
If you really think that someone burning "your flag" is an insult to all those things, then you have let the terrorists win.
That's right, YOU.
In fact, when you start to campaign that flag burning should be illegal, then YOU have become the terrorist.
YOU have taken away the freedoms from the people you love and the country you are so proud of, and most importantly, yourself.

When it gets to the point where a flag is burnt, and no one cares, can we say that the world is on its way to winning the war on terror.

Please note: There are rumours of people going around, burning flags, of their own country, and other peoples countries, and that they hate YOU and everything you love.
These people don't hate you, or the country, or the people, they hate that you think a flag is more important then the real problems we have in this world.

Also note: If flag burning is not yet illegal where you are, I suggest taking advantage of it, piss off as many people as possible, and if they ever bother to ask you why you are burning their precious flag, you can tell them.
"I'm trying to make flag burning illegal here, because I love the flag that much".
(Also, it's not "their flag." You bought it, you own it, it's YOUR flag to do with what you want, right?)

Love, Light + Chaos,

-The Cosmopolitan Patriot

[Cramulus]

Interesting rant, Lys.

What I like about it:
It starts off with a Rogerian vibe - pissed off and motivational. Unlike the traditional rant about the Awful State of Things it actually suggests a course of action.

What I don't like about it:
Flag burning doesn't really make anything better. It pisses people off, yeah, but how does that help? I agree that its important to take advantage of your rights. But in the end, you're burning the flag to show that the flag is just a symbol. And your actions in doing so are equally symbolic.


as far as the American flag goes, I never took it to represent Our Lovely President or anything that he personally stands for. I prefer to think of it as a symbol for all the pissed off revolutionaries that are now fatsick on Bureaucracy. And if we could just shake them out of it they'd be taking to the streets like they did during the Revolutionary War, but right now they're too poisoned to move. But I don't (personally) think flag burning is going to make them shake off the dust. It may get them (I'm suddenly conscious of how frightening that word Them is. I should be saying Us, no?) It may get us to think critically, but the majority are just going to get pissed off and harden themselves more, no?

Anyway, good rant. It's nice to finally see what you've been working on.

[Lies]

Thanks for the feedback cram.
I've got a little bit to add to it, that I forgot to mention, as I said, I didn't say everything I wanted to say, but its good to know what is thought of it so far.

(Edit: Ok, I added what I wanted to add, just one line. I think it's done enough now)

It pisses people off, yeah, but how does that help?

It doesn't in of itself. But if you get a chance to talk to anyone that it pisses off, give them this as a flyer.

But in the end, you're burning the flag to show that the flag is just a symbol. And your actions in doing so are equally symbolic.

Of course. Don't think the irony didn't escape me. It's really to highlight the stupidity of getting angry at flag burning. Getting people to actually do it isn't *really* what the main goal of this rant is, but would be a nice side bonus.

t may get us to think critically, but the majority are just going to get pissed off and harden themselves more, no?

Perhaps. But as the line I added now states, flag burning and seeing how people react is a good way to prove just how simple the state of mind is at the time.

[Idem]

What I don't like about it:
Flag burning doesn't really make anything better. It pisses people off, yeah,

Which can be a reward in and of itself.

[Agrippa]

Nice ..   
Symbolism is a very powerful thing. A symbol can inspire, or fill with hate.
If you let yourself be filled with hate because of the symbol, your doing it wrong!

Please note: There are rumours of people going around, burning flags, of their own country, and other peoples countries, and that they hate YOU and everything you love.
These people don't hate you, or the country, or the people, they hate that you think a flag is more important then the real problems we have in this world.

I like this part alot ..

[East Coast Hustle]

I like this rant.

[Nast]

If you let yourself be filled with hate because of the symbol, your doing it wrong!

Or doing it very right. Hate is a very powerful uniter, and symbols often last longer than their creators. People need some sort of symbol, an effigy of their own beliefs to remind them of their purpose.
Otherwise the attention is drawn on the human element, and people are less willing to put their faith in a human leader than a symbolic one.

[Agrippa]

That is true, but symbolic hate can be very dangerous. It can easilly turn against you if the symbol is misused or mistreated by accident or to intentionally make you angry.