The All Things Political Topic - What's Going On...?

[uuuhhii]

usa threatening 200 percent tariff over rare earth

guess trade war is back on the menu

[BruceVC]

18 hours ago, Malcador said:

How's that too far?  Near idolatry of symbols isn't a good form of patriotism 

 

16 hours ago, rjshae said:

Can I ask why you think it goes too far? At worse it can be mildly insulting, but I don't consider it a priority. There are western states that prohibit flag desecration (France and Germany) and those that don't (Canada and Britain). In either case, it doesn't appear to impact them in any significant way. I suspect this is more of a priority for flag-hugging Republicans, and I suspect that prohibiting it in apparent violation of the First Amendment is a slippery slope.

So your posts are more less the same question

We have different views on what a flag represents and thats because of where we live 

For me a flag doesn't represent the government or its policies , it represents the country and its history. Governments come and go with election cycles but your country is forever 

If people want to burn images of Trump or the GOP thats fine, thats your right and choice 

In South Africa our flag and what it means is very significant because we have only been a new Democracy for 30 years and the old flag is considered very offensive and hurtful because of Apartheid 

So even if you personally dont think a flag matters it really does matter on a deeply emotional level to many people outside the USA like in South Africa 

We also allow people to burn flags in South Africa but I cant recall a time where anyone has ever done that and if they did like you see in the US it would be be immediately and deeply criticized  by  almost everyone. I cant imagine anyone significant defending it because of the importance of what the flag represents 

Last year  before the national election the DA created a political advert where the flag was burnt and then restored, here is the actual advert. Its not even a real flag burning but a metaphor around politics and this created a massive amount of outrage 

 

And this was our presidents response just to this advert, so you can imagine how our  society would respond if a real flag was burnt 

https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/president-cyril-ramaphosa-condemns-undermining-national-flag-party-political

I dont think people should face jail time for burning a flag but they should be fined 

But the main point is I dont support any justification for burning a flag because it represents the country and not government policy which of course you can criticize 

 

 

 

[BruceVC]

https://www.barrons.com/news/s-african-court-finds-radical-politician-guilty-of-hate-speech-c0784bef 

 

Julius Malema has been found guilty of hate speech, lovely. Long overdue but better late than never. Its his party that sings the song " kill the Boer, kill  the farmer  " 

 

" At a rally in 2022, Malema referred to a fight two years prior between members of his EFF party and white parents at a school accused of holding a whites-only dance party, telling his supporters that "killing is part of a revolutionary act" and "you must never be scared to kill

 

Seized by the South African Human Rights Commission, the Equality Court ruled Wednesday that Malema's remarks "constituted hate speech... as they demonstrated a clear intention to incite harm and to promote or propagate hatred".

 

The remarks were an "exhortation to kill white males who had participated" in the 2020 incident and to respond violently to racist behaviour, the ruling said." 

Edited 8 hours ago by BruceVC

[Zoraptor]

South Africa is a terrible example for illustrating the sanctity of flags. One day burning an orange white and blue flag was sacrilege and everyone should be singing Die Stem, the next burning a red white yellow black and green flag was sacrilege and everyone should be singing Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica.