House Votes to Protect Flag
Conservative pundits often justify U.S. support for various brutal right-wing dictatorships by making a fine distinction between them and left-wing dictatorships. The key word is always “totalitarian.” Communist governments are totalitarian because they create government-centered societies in which the state is often accorded semi-religious status. They frequently point to the huge pictures of Mao and Lenin that constitute the official wallpaper of China and the Soviet Union. Of course, this kind of thing never happens in right-wing dictatorships (Hitler clearly does not count).
On Sept. 12, the House of Representatives passed a statute against burning the flag (Part I, Sept. 13). It seems to me that we are treating the flag with an idolatrous fervor not very different from those totalitarian societies.
A Buddhist would point out that we have mistaken the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself. The flag represents the freedom to live and express ourselves freely. So, when somebody burns that symbol of freedom, we all get the urge to throw that person in the slammer.
Am I the only person to see a contradiction here? Are Republicans and Democrats so afraid of the destruction of a symbol of freedom that they are willing to destroy freedom in order to protect it? This couldn’t bear some resemblance to that dreaded “T” word, could it?
BOB WESTAL
Los Angeles
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