I am happy that HighburyForever has removed the upside down flag. I take him at his word that he didn't mean to offend but if he was referring to the incident where the National Guard hung it upside down at a baseball game, the reason it was an incident in the first place is because hanging other nations flags upside down is a sign of disrespect. The National Guard did not do this on purpose but did show incredible incompetence and ignorance in doing this particularly because it was the job of this troop to fly ceremonial flags. This is not a case of being oversensitive at all. People don't come here to be insulted or have their countries symbols denigrated. There is no absolute freedom of speech or expression on this forum and if there were it would degenerate into a free for all. This is not a debate about what should be legal behaviour in a country but about what rules we need to follow to make the forum function. The N word is forbidden, you can't make neo-Nazi statements, you can't make ethnic slurs, you can't post pornographic pictures etc. etc and rightly so. There is no reason Canadians should be an acceptable target when other groups are not. I have even gotten yellow cards from some crazy, overzealous moderators on some forums for mild criticism of the teams they support. If people want to fly upside down flags or burn flags at least they should fly/burn their own flag upside down not those of others. There is little similarity between AndyMead's thread and this issue because Andy was not burning the flag himself but only was showing pictures of other people doing so. Had he used the picture as an avatar, ie. showing approval of the flag burning that would be an entirely different issue. It is also interesting that Toon's bravery in using the upside down American flag as an avatar ended in this thread. He hasn't dared to post anywhere else yet. I don't think this avatar will be very popular with a large number of posters but since he has declared he will use it in the US forum I think he should keep to his word and see what type of reaction he gets.
No, it's not. Hanging a flag upside down is an indication your boat is about to sink, and that you need to be rescued by the Coast Guard. * * Poles sailing near the coast of Monaco and Serbians sailing near the coast of the Netherlands better make sure they have a flare on board, just in case.
Maybe it is not imposrtant to you but I find it very disrespectful. I would not want to see the American or Puerto Rican Flag upside down. It is just wrong. Remember when Toronto went to the WS?
Flag Factz! Did you know that when the Philipino flag is turned upside down it means the country is in a state of war? The more you know
Nah,that's not true.The star should become truly upside down.5-year-olds can figure that out. See,that's what happens when you don't pay respect to a flag
The naval idea of indicating "distress" by turning your flag upside-down is also not far from what the meaning of turning a country's flag upside down – you're saying that the country is in "distress." A lot of war protestors will do it because they say that our country is in "distress" because of corrupt leadership, bar morals, etc. etc. There's a rumor a California school recently flew the Mexican flag with the U.S. flag underneath it, upside-down, as a way of protesting immigration policies. A lot of people got upset about that. While it can certainly be protected under the first amendment, it is a sign of disrespect, and it's stupid to do it just to get a rise out of people.
iufan82 hit the nail right on the head with his first two paragraphs, as did Mr. Eritrea. I remember the TOR-ATL World Series, that was an honest mistake, not an attempt to be disrespectful or even smartasses.
The most beautiful state/territory flag in the USA. Maybe after the new mexico flag. PS. Jeremy, I feel sorry for your loss. My dogs are not my whole life but they do make my life whole. I bet you feel the same way.
That pretty much sums up exactly how I feel. It's been nearly two months, but I still miss her a lot.
It is quite amusing that someone who is making fun of the situation and turns the American flag upside down has been too afraid to post in any other thread for the last two days. If you don't have the balls to go through with it at least turn the US flag right side up.
Trust me. His avatar isn't why he's not posting in the USMNT forum. If it'll make you happy, I'll change my avatar and go do some postings.
And if the whiny idiot who started this thread had bothered to contact the person with the avatar directly, this whole thread could've been avoided. I guess we should just count ourselves lucky he didn't go straight to Homeland Security and report the poster as a subversive element.