I spent a good chunk of my schooling in SC; graduated from Travelers Rest High School. Seeing American flags or Rebel flags flown from cars was a regular occurrence. I don't remember it distracting anyone or causing any riots. The biggest reaction it caused was maybe a thought crossing my mind along the lines of, "No people. The South isn't rising again."
If you haven't been able to tell from my previous blogs, I am a very adamant person when it comes to people infringing on rights and personal expression. At the same time, I think it is very important to respect authority; however, neither do I believe that you have to abide by all authority for the sake of it nor do I believe it is being disrespectful to stand against it.
The district rule that these students apparently broke is one concerning causing a disruption on campus or drawing an unnatural amount of attention to themselves. What's so bad about attention? These flags were displayed on cars that remain in the parking lot for the entirety of the school day. It's not like the students had the flags strapped to their backs and Jimmy in Pre-Algebra couldn't see the white board over Old Glory.
These students (a whopping four of 'em) apparently didn't face any sort of punishment, but they did later stage a protest which basically consisted of marching around campus with flags and installing them back on the trucks. Last time I checked, the First Amendment trumps district policies or private school rules (cough cough). I say hell yeah for students standing up for their freedom to do whatever they want with THEIR property. Particularly when it's for a respectful and hopeful reason. People should take some notes.
If you look at the comments at the bottom of the article, my favorite one says, "Ironic isn't it that the actions of the principal drew so much attention to himself. He broke the rule." (My second favorite comment being, "The principal needs to be suspended until he gains some common sense.")
But really.
What a HUGE waste of time all around spent on damage control for the school and the select idiots apparently running it. Turns out people were upset enough that this made national news. As one of the other comments said, "Wow. What a time to pick to flex your administrative powers."
But there's a bigger fish to fry here.
Kudos to Fox for banking on the fact that people don't read full articles to see that the kids weren't punished or reprimanded. You can see it in the title itself. We all know that "yanks" does not carry a real positive connotation. (And that ladies and gentleman is called a hook.)
They only interviewed the principal and superintendent. What about the students? How come no one wanted to talk to them?
If anyone thinks any piece of news isn't at least 50% biased and spun in a way to create a reaction, you need to get some education (but not in SC because we're more concerned about what's on your car than the learning process). Fox essentially spun this teeny-tiny small issue in a way that could stain the reputation of the school and cause a lot of unnecessary complaints or even threats because I can assure you the people that own these trucks more than likely also own guns.
But wait. There's more.
Fox Carolina recently did a piece on a man that's flying the American Flag upside down on his porch. (Link Below)
I drive by this house every day on my way home from work. It made me curious. Based on the looks of his truck and home, and state of American flag, I had a pretty good feeling homeboy is probably a veteran. But that was it. I just had a moment of deductive reasoning. Didn't assume he was an America-hater. Didn't think to call anyone to report that a flag was being displayed in an abnormal way.
But other people did. Lo and behold, we now have a news story on it. Guess what we found?
He is a veteran. An upside down flag is a symbol of distress. He believes America is in distress and he wants to make people aware of it, and that's his loudest form of saying so.
Why on earth people had to go prying and tattle-telling, I have no idea. But respect to the man for getting people's attention and achieving somewhat of what he wanted. Of course Fox didn't let him say why he felt America to be in distress, but hey, he got some airtime.
As you can see, the news has made huge deals out of things that don't matter, and people have gladly taken the ball to get into internet brawls over it (after the first 3 comments, things got ugly on both stories). Treat people with some respect and use your dang mind when it comes to forming your own opinions. When in doubt, though, just cause a ruckus because 'MURICA.
Stay regal, bald eagles.
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