Yesterday, I linked to a video of an "art project" wherein the U.S. Flag was placed on the ground at the University of Maine at Farmington, and students were expected to walk on it.
This, of course, received criticism from some veterans who, upon learning of the 'art' showed up at the university.
In this article from Maine's Morning Sentinel paper, the student explains that it was supposed to be a social experiment about respect, but police threatened to arrest a Veteran Charlie Bennet who, in trying to 'respect' the flag, wanted to pick them up.
Bennet is the veteran in the video and he is available for interviews - especially in light of his return today to the campus for his own 'parade flag.' Arkansas Republican Assembly blog has details and some good links to the story.
Congrats to the UMF College Republicans for letting us all know about this!
* Fox News has a blurb on this with more details about the project and the support of the University administrators. Thankfully, according to this report, 95% of the students walked around the flags. However, it doesn't say if anyone other than Veteran Charlie Bennet tried to pick them up.
What would you have done if you'd come across this display?
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I, as a patriotic American, would have picked them up and transported them to the VFW.
Seeing how everything else held near and dear to our American hearts has been exploited by special interest groups, I feel the one sanctifying icon left is our American Flag.
With time now and 20/20 hindsight, I would like to think that I would have laid down beside one of the flags, and encourage others of a like mind to do so as well. If someone wanted to walk on the flag, they would have had to walk on me first.
Forced to make a split second decision, I am sure that I would have done something to get me escorted out of the building by security, and I probably wouldn't have gone quietly.
I'd probably think it was some kind of art project and just walk around the flags.
This is a little off topic, but related. When local activists created the "Arlington of the Midwest" by placing all the small gravestones on the lawn at the Common Pleas Court I thought it was an interesting way to present their point of view.
I was not present while the read the names of the falled heros, or for any of the "events" surrounding the display. But, I did walk or drive by it several times and took a picture off it.
What struck me the day I photographed it was that 1) There was not a single American flag anywhere at the site (other than the courthouse flag) and 2) There was no-one posted as a guard.
Now I realize that this was one of the last days of their display, and having made their political point none of the organizers wanted to actually brave the chilly weather to safeguard their display, but, I found it very dissapointing they would not show that minimal amount of respect after the political value was gone.
The A-Hole
The flag isn't supposed to be laid on the ground in the first place.
IMO, this was probably less of an art project and more of a leftist experiment to see how offended they could make people...and then hide behind the old "it's art" excuse.
Post a Comment