Should All Flags That Offend Even One Person Be Banned?

The best argument against the use of the confederate flag in state flags is that it “evokes visceral, emotional feelings.”

Remember the Vietnam days when the U.S. flags were being burned, cut up, desecrated as a few Americans were calling their own country imperialists? In their view, the American flag represented military oppression, murder, and aggression. Granted, they were a very small minority, but they were entitled to their opinion. And possibly, for a small number of veterans, who lived through the war, the flag still evokes “visceral, emotional feelings.”

They probably get a knot in their stomach when they see people saluting it as they remember the bodies of their dead friends floating in rice paddies under it. But does their bad experience, hate, and lack of respect for the flag mean it should be banned or outlawed?

No, what it means is that the flag protects their right to express their hate against it. Just as that same right is protected by those who hate the confederate flag . . . but that is not a good enough excuse to change history and destroy symbols that might “evoke visceral emotional feelings.” This is Nina May, still encouraging consistency in the law.