Quote:
Originally Posted by fdpaq0580
You were responding to OBB, I believe. Sadly, I can understand and imagine people thinking all types of things. That is why there are so many different points of view and so many ideologies. There will be lots of different posts on this thread and I expect opinions to run from one extreme to the other.
From one veteran to another, a most sincere THANK YOU for your service. Take heart knowing that there are many of us who are outraged at this terrible act of vandalism. To those who would hijack this thread to turn it into a discussion or debate on what they think is appropriate to fly with the American Flag, might I suggest starting another to address that subject. This is about a neighbor and veteran who has suffered trespass and vandalism and, regardless of whether I or anyone thinks of his political preference, deserves a little compassion on this day set aside to remember those who served and, especially, those who paid the ultimate price for our Freedom.
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It was an act of vandalism. It was not a hate crime, it was not a this or that or the other thing. The fact that the owner is a veteran means nothing in regards to the topic: an act of trespassing and vandalism to personal property.
You are all turning it INTO a rant and tirade against disrespect for veterans...
when it was nothing more or less than an act of trespassing and vandalism on private property. Willful destruction, if such a thing is a law down here.
The only way it would be a matter of disrespect for veterans is if whoever did it knew that this person was a veteran, and was doing this intentionally BECAUSE they knew this person was a veteran. Somehow - I doubt that's what's happening.
Vandalism is wrong. When it happens you should call the police.
If you come to a forum posting about it, you have to expect people will nitpick the post.
If someone came to your front door and painted a smiley face on it...
would you include the fact that the door had a brass handle? Would you include the fact that your door was painted white, before the vandalism occured? Would you include the fact that the doorframe was cheap metal? Would you include the fact that the step leading to the door was made of brick? No? Why not? Because it doesn't matter. What matters is that someone painted a smiley face on your door.
Why then include the exact specific flag, when your intention is to inform people that someone broke the flagpole and trashed the flags? Here's why: because you are INVITING criticism. You're daring people to come out and say "stop putting those particular flags on your flagpole."
Again - if you don't want people to have a problem with your opinion, don't advertise it in a way that people can't just avoid it if they don't want to hear it.
I wear a shirt with a political message on it. You're only stuck seeing it on me for a day. And then it's gone for at least the next week. I have a bumper sticker on the inside of my golf cart. You're only stuck seeing it if you happen to be looking into my golf cart - and then I ask you - why are you looking into MY golf cart?
I don't fly MY candidate's flag on a flagpole - no one in my neighborhood does. We have more respect for each others' opinions than that. None of us want to force our neighbors to see someone we don't want to see, flying proudly under the flag of our country. No matter which candidate it is. The flagpole is not for advertising. If you want to advertise, put the ad on a different flagpole. It doesn't belong under the USA flag.
Sorry about the vandalism. Whoever did it was meshuggenah and should be tarred feathered and dragged around the town fair by a horse without a plug or bag hanging from its backside.
Also - don't create political threads if you don't want people to get political about it.