By Matt Agorist
In the famous Supreme Court case of Texas v. Johnson in 1989, a five-justice majority ruled that desecrating the American flag was protected speech under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Despite this ruling, Americans from sea to shining sea continue to call for the arrest, or even death, of those who’d dare express their opinion through the use of the Old Glory.
The very essence of freedom is tolerating peaceful forms of expression, no matter how uncomfortable they make us feel. Sadly missing the point, however, are folks who fail to understand that burning or desecrating a flag without fear of punishment from one’s government, is what liberty is all about.
That being said, when police are called in to investigate a photo of a high school student standing on a flag, as if a crime has taken place, liberty for all is under attack.
When a photo was posted to social media this week, of a high school student standing on a flag while another student stuck out her middle finger, a firestorm of controversy blew up. Immediately, the school issued a statement decrying the photo.
A statement on behalf of the Richland School District’s solicitor was posted on Facebook, as well as the district’s website, promising a “timely and thorough” review, reported CBS Pittsburgh.
“The Richland School District has become aware of this unfortunate and unpatriotic picture posted by some of its students,” the statement read. “This type of picture does not represent the opinion of the District or of its overall student population.”
While this act may be offensive to some and possibly against school policy, it is by no means a legal matter. However, it has become one, and police are now involved.
According to WTSP, the Richland Township Police Department also released a statement in regards to the incident, according to CBS Pittsburgh. They are aware of the “disrespectful” photo and are currently investigating.
“We have been in contact with the Richland School District and will work with them in resolving this issue, the police statement read. “Thank you to everyone who took time to notify us of this situation.”
In the Land of the Free, people are calling the police to report a child standing on a flag!
When armed agents of the state are called in to “investigate” an act of free speech, because they found it “disrespectful,” something in this Land of the Free has gone horribly wrong
On Wednesday, the students returned to school for the first time since the photo caused patriotic heads to explode. Instead of standing up for free speech, the students in the photo were forced to apologize, and they and their families were chastised by the rest of the school.
Police were out in full force as well, vaguely hinting that a photo of a student stepping on a flag is somehow a security threat.
According to the Tribune-Democrat, Richland Township Police were parked or on foot on all sides of the school as buses arrived around 7:20 a.m.
Other officers circled the campus and its parking lots.
“Everyone made it to school OK,” Richland Police Chief Michael Burgan said. “It was a quiet morning. But it was better to be safe than sorry.”
The students in the photo now know what happens to those who challenge the status quo — they are cast out, rejected and singled out for their personal expression. Get in line.
When a society becomes more concerned with a piece of cloth than the freedom it is meant to represent, it’s time to wake up.
As a former member of the USMC, I am unoffended when I see flag set ablaze or stepped on — because I see it as an act of expression by a group who feels oppressed. Those who feel oppressed must never be silenced.
Throughout history, the ‘patriotic’ majority has been responsible for most of the atrocities committed against our fellow humans. Only because of a handful of irate freedom loving individuals, unafraid to challenge the status quo, do we have any semblance of liberty in America today.
A true patriot is never a member of the majority who calls for their opposition to be silenced with state force because their views are ‘offensive.’ No, a true patriot is the one who refuses to be intimidated in the face of this violently obstinate collective.
In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. – Mark Twain
Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world.
This is a joke right? The school system and the authorities, especially most law enforcement are doing everything they can to trample all over the american flag and american values. They don’t even want the pledge of allegiance to be said in schools anymore. More and more everyday patriotic citizens are considered terrorist for displaying the american flag. This must have occured on opposite day because any other time the kids would have been applauded and praised and then offered a copy of the constitution and bill of rights to trample over.
The reason they don’t want the pledge of allegiance in schools is because of the under God part. Otherwise, it would.
Not anymore. They don’t want the pledge of allegiance spoken in schools anymore even withouth the phrase one nation under god. You’re welcome.
Oh, OK.
Time to swap out old glory for the Israeli flag anyways. America was usurped years ago.
Two thumbs up if I could, one for the post, one for tanned stewie! That’s great.
Roger That!!
As Pink Floyd said “Hey teacher, leave this kids alone!”
The show of force is the most troubling to me, among the rest of it. What a joke. Well done piece, thanks M.A.
I’ve always said that DUHmericans for all their lip service to freedom do in fact hate freedom. The kind of nonsense described in this article as perpetrated by the authorities supports that premise. Its the same sort intolerance that led to the Kent State Massacre. When I read of these authoritarian abominations I’m encouraged in the knowledge that DUHmerica is the proverbial dead elephant skidding across the ground about to expend the last of its inertia.
It’s amazing to witness the extent that the 19th century mandatory introduction/ compulsory indoctrination of the Prussian School System programming (by the pyramid cap 0.001%)… & coupled with the inculcation of the Skinner-Box psychological conditioning of the 1960’s… has Mal-Imprinted the subconscious minds of ‘Baby-Boomers’ to the extent that an ‘Idea’ & a rectangular piece of cloth… has become a life & death “Hill-to-Die-On” ….but as Mark Twain said: …”You can’t argue with a stupid person …because they’ll beat you to death with their ignorance”
“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you
down to their level and then beat you with experience.” Mark Twain
Dumb kids. If you want to disrespect the flag, do it the correct way and learn from your leaders, law-enforcement and your corrupt politicians who wrap themselves in the flag while wearing it on their clothes. Then espouse how you took an oath to defend it, how much you love it, along with the constitution while blatantly undermining it at every breath you exhale. Do it the correct way you treasonous kids and you will be hailed by many ensuring you will have a future job in any of those professions stated.
As a Vietnam vet, I can tell you I no longer see the flag as I did as a young draftee. I was brainwashed to believe the meme, “my country, right or wrong” or “America, love it or leave it”. The oath I took (which I still adhere to) was to defend my country, from foreign and domestic enemies and uphold the Constitution, not a flag. Those who whorship the flag have missed the transition this once great country has experienced. You have been deceived.
Actually robertsgt40, you have been deceived as I completely agree with you and the post was dripping with sarcasm from beginning to end. Please re-read in the correct context as the real criminals were pointed out very clearly. You’re preaching to the choir so to speak. Just look at my name and posts which will speak for itself.
Sorry my bad 🙂
hehe… no problem, I’m sure I’ve done it before, but glad you’ve seen the light. To bad most are still asleep to the truth.
I think the lines are clearly drawn. The clueless will go out with the tide. It won’t be because they weren’t warned. It will thin the herd.
Love it or not, it’s the 1st Amendment.
Some people don’t understand that the 1st Amendment gives everyone the right to say things that are unkind, unfair, unpatriotic, sexist, uninformed, prejudicial, bigoted and just plain idiotic. If a person doesn’t embrace that completely, they don’t belong here, and they definitely should not be permitted to rule over those of us who do.
Ah, but go to any college campus in America today and you’ll find yourself surrounded by lemmings who parrot the European meme that ‘hate speech’ is actually tantamount to violence and should be punished under the law… Whatever teachers are feeding them this nonsense need to be flushed from their employment ASAP.
Hate speech is free speech, period.
Would Joe McCarthy be pleased with modern unAmerican purges or be shocked by them? I think he’d be pleased.
Lets be realistic for a second, if that was a MUSLIM American kid, you’d be spouting a completely different tirade. Be honest, you know it’s true. That said, what a colossal waste of time and money on the school and police department sides
I may just burn a flag and put it on youtube, don’t you just love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning, remember what george bush said about our Constitution its just a piece of paper, everything and I do mean everything is upside down, remember 4+4 = 5 now go and watch the rest of your tv programming~
“What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often
wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws,
and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes.
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no
constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court
can even do much to help it. While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no
law, no court to save it.
“And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and
women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as
one likes. That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow.
A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a
society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few – as we have
learned to our sorrow.
“What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only
tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too
sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to
understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the
spirit which weighs their interest alongside its own without bias; …”
From: “The Spirit of Liberty”, Judge Learned Hand (1944,
Providence)
As Arundhati Roy once said: ”Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s minds & then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.”
This article made my heart sing. It’s nice to know there are still a few kids who haven’t been vaccinated, fluoridated, and uneducated into bleating sheep despite all the insipid authority figures trying to hound them into submission. That took a lot of guts. My generation had it right but we dropped the ball when the going got easy. I hope these indigo children are stronger and smarter than we ever were.
Yeah right. This is an attack on those not of a “certain” skin color. Black lives Matter does that ALL day long. Where’s the noise there?
To suggest they be arrested is ridiculous. To issue in-school punishment should be mandatory. Parental consequences would only help teach the students to behave appropriately and not be thugs.