I Got Your Fascism Right Here

It's not illegal to fly an American flag upside down.  It's not illegal to drop it in the dirt, trample on it, or even to burn it.  It's not illegal to slap it on your car or wear images of it, either.

But the police of Marinette County, WI - acting on the orders of a District Attorney, of all people - trespassed upon private property and stole a man's private possession because someone got their britches bunched up over having a flag flown upside down.

County Enforcer Sheriff "Jim Kanikula said it was not illegal to fly the flag upside down but people were upset and it was the Fourth of July.  'It is illegal to cause a disruption,' he said."  How do we know that a disruption was being caused?  Well, a bunch of sheriff's deputies went onto private property without a warrant and committed theft in broad daylight.  If you ask me, that's pretty damned disruptive.

Comments

[oddjob]

I cannot abide idiots who freak out over the slightest hint of flag desecration, but don't know jack shit (or care at all about) the Constitution!!!

Such people need to be sent to a country that runs the way they want to run ours and see what it's like to live in a land where blind nationalism über alles is the rule of law!

[MR Bill]

Once, back in the '90s, when the right was pushing the Flag desecration thing, I designed a 'flag burning' machine as an art project: I had this old lollypop machine, and in stead of giving you a lollypop, it would despense a cocktail 'flag' (tiny printed flag on a little stick, you buy them by the hundred) and incinerate it. I never could figure out how to make the burning part of it gallery safe...
And you could burn the paper flags or tiny wooden crosses. It was an attempt to push the arguement into reducto ad absurdum. It was probably better as a concept and not an art object.
I had gotten into an arguement with my dad: "I fought for that flag" was his refrain, and he just wouldn't buy the "you fought for what that flag stands for, and not the object 'flag'. You actualy fought for the right to burn that flag as a statement."
But then, confusing the object with what it symbolizes is a common error..
And I always thought the flag prosecutions were off base: prosecute the folks for 'inciting to riot', if that is the case, or 'destruction of public property' if the flag is stolen from a courthouse flagpole. I know it's hard for idiots to get, but the flag is just a scrap of cloth if you don't have the freedom to use it as you will, to the point of offence.

[Stephen]

MR Bill,

That was a fantastic idea. I'm not able to comment on how to make such a thing gallery safe or otherwise feasible, but it's a great concept.

[MR Bill]

The other good part is that it was coin operated, and 'art as revenue stream' is extremely attractive.

[litbrit]

Robert and I own a sculpture that's called "The Synthetic Messiah", created by a St. Petersburg metal artist. It consists of an old-fashioned Philco tv screen that plays, on an endless loop, a black-and-white video of a televangelist shaking his fist and "hollering" to send money by calling the 1-800 number on the screen. Below the tv screen is a stylized iron paper shredder with an attached soap-dish-like holder full of Monopoly money (since it's illegal to destroy real currency, we're told). Anyway, it's interactive: the observer takes a 100 "dollar bill" and feeds it into the paper shredder as the televangelist rants on and on. When the house is finished, this is going in the lobby.

MR Bill, I wonder if there is a way to simulate fire with a little chemical burst or something--I will ask Robert. Because your concept piece sounds FABULOUS, too--right up our alley!

[Sir Charles]

It is mind boggling to me that someone actually thinks he is fighting for a scrap of cloth -- talk about putting a low price on your life.

[Crissa]

Gosh, and the police have a clear and affirmative defense here: An upside down flag is a sign of distress, therefore probable cause for them to enter the property!

What idiots.