Letter: Freedom of speech, but not from consequence
Your rights. Our flag!
Your comment of “I think they may have forgotten WHY they served this country to begin with,” is a typical answer about people’s First Amendment rights, freedom of speech, without much real thought to people’s actual actions and how they may offend others.
The reality of why people have defended this country and the FLAG it represents is to have that freedom of speech that people use as a crutch, and yes, you and I have that right. But it is disrespectful, and its consequences can’t always be assumed to be proportionate or even justifiable. Somebody who disrespects a country’s flag is like a child deliberately breaking something — they want attention.
If somebody wants to kneel, sit or burn a flag to show disrespect — thereby making somebody else angry — and they succeed, then it’s up to public opinion and the general spirit of the people and of the government to decide on the proper response. And as we can see, there is a large divide.
It is only understandable to be upset about certain things that certain people in this nation of many ethnicites and many ideologies might do.
Andrew Payne, Kennewick
This story was originally published September 5, 2017 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Letter: Freedom of speech, but not from consequence."