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 Wednesday at 03:15 PM 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.

[Gorth]

I have no idea what legislation is around flag burning in Denmark, but it probably violates some kind of fire safety regulation

 

edit: Danes regularly offends anyone and anything, especially ourselves 

[BruceVC]

10 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

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.

The principle of the  belief in what the flag signifies in the new South Africa doesn't change

The old flag didnt represent the whole country but it had significance,  for example South Africans died in 2 WW under the old flag 

We are opposed to anyone burning the flag

Its a pity in  many  countries like the US the flag is taken for granted and burning it has  just  become a form of outrage protest

" Im angry with my government ...lets burn the flag and make sure its on SM"

I am very glad I live in country where we respect what the flag represents but we still criticize government and vote for different political parties 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:46 AM by BruceVC

[BruceVC]

13 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I have no idea what legislation is around flag burning in Denmark, but it probably violates some kind of fire safety regulation

How are things in Denmark, are you still enjoying it and spending time with family?

 

Are you planning on staying, also how is your Danish? With you living abroad for so long can you still write and speak Danish fluently?

 

[Bartimaeus]

Sometimes, I kind of wish Keyrock were still around so that we could all make a point of repeatedly saying what a stupid piece of **** RFK Jr. is.

[Malcador]

So Patel's FBI is probably going to start profiling trans people soon, I am figuring. 

 

Also, laughing at people outraged over Psaki saying "thoughts and prayers" are not enough

Edited yesterday at 05:48 PM by Malcador

[Theonlygarby]

I wanted to start a YouTube channel where every episode i burn a different countries flag... but then I realized I dont do things, so I decided against it

[Gorth]

14 hours ago, BruceVC said:

How are things in Denmark, are you still enjoying it and spending time with family?

 

Are you planning on staying, also how is your Danish? With you living abroad for so long can you still write and speak Danish fluently?

 

Lots of questions, there are just no simple answers to them. It was nice to see my family again after so many years. But I feel homesick for Queensland and have spoken to recruiting companies to get them to keep an eye out for opportunities. I hope to be able to return "home" after New Year (job market in QLD depending of course, it IS the backwater part of Australia)

My Danish is Ok. Took a few months to get used to and I still get the grammar wrong with the off English word or sentence construct sneaking its way in. I did stay in touch with my family, first over MSN Messenger and later Skype regularly, keeping I my Danish skills current over the decades 

 

[uuuhhii]

again

there are not enough trans person in the world for them to oppress

they will be targeting random people from day 1

[rjshae]

17 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Its a pity in  many  countries like the US the flag is taken for granted and burning it has  just  become a form of outrage protest

Among other things, the flag stands for the freedom to burn the flag. So there's that. Most people here would never burn the flag.

[Hurlshort]

I always chuckle at how people want to control protests. Like, feel free to protest, as long as it doesn't inconvenience me or make me upset. What do you think the point of protesting is if it doesn't cause a stir?

The only things off limits should be property destruction and violence. You want to burn a flag, a bra, or a maga hat that you bought yourself, or march over a bridge and cause a traffic jam, go get it. Fight the power. ️

Edited 17 hours ago by Hurlshort

[uuuhhii]

how will protest ever be effective without property damage and violence

are 13 colony suppose to gently holding protest sign around crate of tea

the trick is to make the temporarily embarrassed billionaire think it is their future property that would get damaged

[BruceVC]

5 hours ago, rjshae said:

Among other things, the flag stands for the freedom to burn the flag. So there's that. Most people here would never burn the flag.

Of course, the idea of burning a flag is hypothetical because I know no one on this forum would burn a flag or be involved in criminal acts like looting and vandalism during a protest

 

With the exception of @uuuhhiiwho clearly doesnt know that a protest can absolutely be peaceful and you dont have to break the law

 

[BruceVC]

3 hours ago, Hurlshort said:

I always chuckle at how people want to control protests. Like, feel free to protest, as long as it doesn't inconvenience me or make me upset. What do you think the point of protesting is if it doesn't cause a stir?

The only things off limits should be property destruction and violence. You want to burn a flag, a bra, or a maga hat that you bought yourself, or march over a bridge and cause a traffic jam, go get it. Fight the power. ️

Protests dont have even have to cause a stir like traffic disruptions  to get a message across

Many protests get live interviews and media attention which is very effective around what the protest is about 

And in South Africa many protests end up with a memorandum being handed over to some government representative at the end of the protest march 

Those are all constructive outcomes  of protests 

 

Edited 13 hours ago by BruceVC

[BruceVC]

4 hours ago, uuuhhii said:

how will protest ever be effective without property damage and violence

are 13 colony suppose to gently holding protest sign around crate of tea

the trick is to make the temporarily embarrassed billionaire think it is their future property that would get damaged

Protests in Democracies nowadays are not precursors to insurrections or civil wars to overthrow unjust or authoritarian states

So its not the same as the reality of what caused the Boston Tea Party 

Protests are almost always about a law or societal reality or unhappiness with a failure around something that government is doing 

They not about overthrowing the government like we saw in the  Arab Spring 

[uuuhhii]

all progress come from overthrow tyrant

but never do it right now

delusional defence of status quo are common mental block

[Pidesco]

[Gfted1]

wut

[Malcador]

At least he's not claiming to be Mecha Hitler.