If you haven’t been reading College Insurrection lately, you may not know that students at UC Irvine recently voted to ban the American flag in their campus center. Their plan was ultimately vetoed and the students who were responsible have since apologized.
Considering all of that, this story is absolutely baffling.
Allahpundit of Hot Air reports:
Time for a huge food fight over whether this photo is disrespectful to the flagWhen I saw the photo, I assumed the “controversy” was between conservatives who found it touching and anti-war liberals/libertarians who found it ominously nationalistic. (“It’s a metaphor for how we’re indoctrinated to equate patriotism with militarism!”) In other words, I thought it was a star-spangled version of The Dress. But those aren’t the sides here. The sides are people who find the photo touching and people who find it disrespectful to the flag insofar as it displays Old Glory in violation of the Flag Code (subsections 176(c) and (h), to be precise). If you believe the photographer, she’s gotten messages telling her she should kill herself over this.She’s a Navy veteran, by the way. Her husband is active-duty Navy, as is the baby’s father. The baby’s mother? An Army veteran.
Here’s a video report from ABC News:
Zach Noble of The Blaze has more:
When Someone Called This Photo ‘Disgusting,’ the Photographer Decided to Fight Back. She Never Expected the Debate to Explode the Way It Did.The Internet has erupted in a debate over the American flag, the U.S. military and respect.At the center of the dispute: a photo shoot of a U.S. Navy serviceman holding his child in an American flag.The photos were taken by Virginia photographer Vanessa Hicks, who posted them on Facebook on Sunday.The next day, the Facebook page “You Call Yourself A Photographer” picked up the photos — and tore them apart.“The flag is not a prop,” wrote the unnamed person behind the page, which focuses on highlighting bad photography from around the Internet. “To use the American flag in such a way is disrespectful, rude, tacky, disgusting, and against the U.S. Flag Code.”
I don’t understand why the image is controversial.
If you love America and its flag, you should turn your concern to America’s college campuses where the symbol of our freedom is considered by some to be a sign of oppression and colonialism.
Surely, that’s a bigger issue.
Featured image via YouTube.
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