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Message: [QUOTE="UcMiami, post: 1803139, member: 199"] And his point is that that same country through its various official institutions, laws, and employees has disrespected some of its citizens and therefore has not earned his respect in return. That the justice department, congress, the president, and the supreme court, as well as state and local arms of government have not done enough to ensure equal protection for all, and that they have for too long ignore real issues of injustice. Peaceful civil disobedience is a time honored form of protest against the apathy of a government to members or 'classes' of its citizenry. By not conforming to the codified ritual form of reverence to the flag and the anthem, he is expressing frustration for the government for which those are symbols. I am not sure I would call failure to conform to the ritual as 'disrespect' for the symbols, but a withholding of respect. We have people including a governor of a state who openly talk about secession from the US - including thousands who have signed petitions, but who at the same time follow the ritual, which seems both an extreme hypocrisy, and a mockery of the ritual. We have judges and employees of the government who openly flout federal and state law, but we do not question their 'patriotism' or see their performance of this ritual of reverence to be hypocritical and a mockery. We have a government which wraps itself in the patriotism of 9/11, but then drags its feet for years to provide adequate support to the first responders who were the shining example on that day and all of the days that followed. We have thousands of conspiracy theorists who arm themselves against their government and yet who condemn someone for not performing a ritual in reverence to that same government. It really is a mixed up world. [/QUOTE]

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