What is so great about the American flag?

um im an american living in canada.. stop generalizing... plus, canada and america are basically the same thing except canada is much more liberal on anything... frankly, when i go to europe, i call myself a canadian, you figure out why. and nationalism blinds you.

i stand up for things, i just think nationalism is a stupid thing to stand up for, look at my response under this, the one that i left for Latrivia.

Ever heard that if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything?

Taiwan? Palestine? the Vatican?

but what i meant was, palestine and Taiwan are fighting to be countries, you know?

I said any country

i really dont understand how anyone can be patriotic. patriotism is basically saying that my side of the line where i was born is better than your side of the line where you were born.. you know? its by luck that you are in america, its by luck that you are a christian [i dont know if you are, but you see where im going with this?] and its by luck that your a girl and not a guy. i mean, thats why the concepts of racism, sexism and nationalism are completly stupid in my eyes. and i do agree with you, the flag basically says "you can burn me" on it lol...

you can do it in canada, and in europe... nobody cares if you burn flags here.. it seems like americans and their blinding nationalism seem to be the only ones who are offended.

I actually understand what you are saying there about the citizens protesting. It is interesting to watch people really argue and protest the country (many of them benefiting from the handouts and loopholes of the government or other corrupt organizations). There are reasons to protest and stand up, but if you look carefully you can see a power interested group, not individual citizens. If you look real closely you can see organizations that want certain people in power (or out of it), you don't see individual citizens. Again, don't take this as a slam against free speech, far from it. They have every right to go out there and say, protest for whatever it is they want. I just had that observation and thought it interesting. But here is one thing to be cautious of about Europe and Canada. Some things that would be free speech in the states would be hate speech there, even if almost no hateful connotation exists in what was said (the magic word "Offended" strikes again). But at the same time they can burn flags too and nothing is done (clearly the word "Offended" is on its lunchbreak). Of course I have no right to tell these countries or their people how to function. That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to have a say about what is going on. One thing that is encouraging however is real blogs and forums like this. Its the individual and its all free speech, free will too. None of us will agree 100% on everything, but so far in this discussion, everyone seems interested in free speech, protest, opinions and what could/should happen. I find it rather encouraging.