When I heard the story of the Flag Burning Teacher my first thought was, every lesson on free speech should start that way. Maybe it would finally get the point across, what “…no law abridging the freedom of speech” really means.
Why gov’t school and private school attempts to limit the freedom of speech of their students, even at home, by banning any participation on social sites like Myspace, should be rabidly opposed for the abuse of power that it is.
To really drive the point home, perhaps the lesson should include some book burnings as well. The Bible and the Qur’an, for instance. Perhaps a well known work of Einstein. Let’s show what stupidity it is to think it proves anything by burning something. The stupidity of the wasted effort to ban the burning of symbols as well.
These same people who get so outraged about flag burning have most likely attended a church that has engaged in book burning at some time or other. Personally, I find much more to be outraged at when it comes to the willful destruction of thought and knowledge, than I do when the subject of destruction is nothing more than a flag.
