American Flags flies on TOP

Actually, their not even supposed to be on the same shaft or pole. They are supposed to be side by side, with the pole for the American flag at least the flag's width higher than the other flags.

(He needs to sharpen his knife)

Didn't he have anything better to get riled up about? Rising unemployment and homelessness, millions of people without adequate health care, an unsafe food supply, people worrying about where their next meal is coming from, etc., seem to be far greater concerns than how flags are displayed.

I completely agree that there are more pressing things for our nation to worry about as a whole. But then again, if each of us took it upon ourselves to take action to correct the one little thing within out power, as this man did, then we might make it up to the bigger stuff. Maybe?

I have to admit that if I were driving down the street and saw that, it would have irked me, too.

IMO, he was just angrier about the fact that a Mexican flag was over ours. He would have been better off to ask the owner to correct the situation. It irked me that an AMERICAN crumpled our flag that way After he took it down, he should have respectfully folded it....
But one of my big pet peeves is seeing our flags flying at night, in the dark, and in storms.....
My father flies his flag in the front yard , and keeps a second light on it, in case the first one goes out. And if a storm hits, he'll wake up when he hears the winds and go out, any time of day or night - his US flag is not left out in the rain & snow, like so many others.
.... Another pet peeve of mine is the audiences at parades not rising & saluting, and men not removing their baseball caps I have embarrassed my DH & my daughters by telling those around me to rise up & salute our flag - but, hey, it was at the Memorial Day parade (aka the "excuse" for a 4-day weekend party, for too many of our citizens ) and the Marine color guard was passing by
When I was growing up, the VFW would show up at our school for a Memorial Day ceremony - they would say which wars they had fought at. They were our dads & grandfathers and uncles; they let us know what brave means and they gave us the treasure of valuing our American history....I wish that we could bring back those traditions....Respecting our flag properly is not just about "maniacal patriotism" - it's about respect and valuing ourselves & our country - it is what inspires me to pick up trash in parking lots, and speak out if I see someone in trouble or in need, my way of saying "thank you" to my God for letting me live in this wonderful land, with all you wonderful people
Thank you, cbklv, for posting this!!!

IMO, it was wrong to fly the American Flag on the bottom, but it was equally wrong of the guy to throw the Mexican flag on the floor as though it was garbage. I also saw no respect from this guy to the American Flag either - he did not even fold it - carried it out like a piece of rag.

In a triangle pattern, yes. But even folding it like you would a large towel would have been better than crumpling it up.

Like Mike pointed out, you shouldn't fly 2 flags on the same pole in the first place. And in this country, the U.S. flag is usually higher than others when flown side by side. So what the store owner did was wrong. However, the man that removed them was too extreme and there would have been much better ways to handle that situation. I got the "ugly American" feeling from the guy. Do 2 wrongs make a right?

Sad. I can understand the guy's anger. But to rephrase the common saying: "two disrepects don't make a respect."

To clarify two flags on the same pole: not two flags of two sovereign nations, but a state flag or any other flag could be flown on the same pole under the US flag.

Well, yes, far greater concerns, but it takes pride in one's country and respect for its institutions, traditions, laws and values for all those other things to be worth addressing. And somebody who doesn't care about the latter probably doesn't care about the former, either.

It seems to me that some people put too much honor and pride in a large piece of fabric. I'm as patriotic as the next, but I don't care how people display or dishonor our Canadian flag. I personally don't want mine to fray, so it's been protected in my room for the past 13 years. There was one year where it was hung outside, on a tree stump since we didn't have a flag pole, and I still thank my lucky stars that it didn't get damaged from that. But this thankfulness is over the sentimental value over it (I got it in Grade 4, when the class wrote to peacekeepers). In the end, I know it's just fabric and I can just get another.

I guess I've just never understood why people get so upset when it comes to flags. Just seems silly to me.

With one exception. The U.S. and Texas flags can fly at the same height.

But not on the same pole, of course.

If the store owners made a simple mistake, they know better now. If they were trying to make a statement, they got a response.

And if burning the American flag is a valid "free speech" issue, then throwing any flag on the ground would also be protected speech.

Except that they didn't burn the American Flag. According to your logic, it would be ok then to fly the Mexican Flag above the American Flag - that would also be freedom of Speech. If we demand respect to our flag, we need to show respect to their flag too.

That's because you are Canadian (as am I). The big difference is that we honour our flag differently. Drive through any American town/village/city and many, many folks have an American flag flying on their property. You rarely see that in Canada. We do tend to fly them on July 1st but not year around. Are we less patriotic than Americans? No, we honour and salute our flag, just not on our lawns nor every day.

I agree with the respect part, but I think the first part is against the law, isn't it?

That's a good observation, and I think the reason we get worked up about our flag is "The Star Spangled Banner."

And all this time I thought that was just another song!

But what do they now "know"? That a boor who showed less respect than they did for the U.S. flag, by practically ripping it down and wadding it up like a used gum wrapper, while they merely displayed it wrongly, will be applauded, rather than censured, as he's presented in a homemade video as somehow more patriotic than they because he claims to be a U.S. vet? What "right" did he have to contemptuously throw the flag of another sovereign country in the dirt? Who's to say that the store owners aren't U.S. vets? Why didn't he talk to them before putting on his ignorant, despicable little show?

My father was a vet, U.S.M.C., and he never would have dreamed of treating the flag in the manner that "video star" did. He always took the flag down in bad weather and at dusk, and folded it carefully.

That I seriously doubt as a US vet would never have flown the US flag under the Mexican flag. A Vietnam vet might have burned it at one time, but never put it below another country's flag. Part of fighting for your country is claiming the right to bitch about it, too.

As for the rest of what Tricia said,

The owners probably didn't know. I didn't know. I mean, I probably would have automatically put the American one first, but I think it was probably an honest mistake.

I admit that 2 wrongs don't make a right, but I also have to admit that if I saw that veteran defending our flag like that I would have been cheering him on. Seeing the flag of another country flying above ours - right here in the USA is quite a slap in the face.

That might have been my initial reaction too, but I was raised in a rural area with a small country school, and the phrase "consider it" was drilled into our heads from grades K-8, and, after a deep breath & a recollection of Jesus teaching us that "blessed are the peacemakers", I wouldn't have been so quick to take offense nor to judge.
IMO, the storekeeper probably thought that he was encouraging unity between the mixes - remember, the store is in Reno, our nearest big city, and there's alot of "redneck" culture there - cats are still 3rd class pets; the "N" word is heard there more than I ever have heard used in Tennessee (tho less than in Michigan ); there's alot of resentment about the Mexicans rolling into town, etc. As people relocate from CA, Reno is doing alot to change its image and mindset, but there is still that resentful element of people seeing their ways of life get changed.
All that American did was disrespect our flag, and represent the men of our culture as uninformed, hot-headed, impulsive and arrogant

nothing more to add.

You're right. We shouldn't judge. It would have been nicer for the veteran to talk to the store owner. He probably risked his life defending his country though and was caught up in emotion because of what he saw. I don't think he should be judged either.

True, the store owner may not have known better, but perhaps he should have. Even Mexican flag etiquette requires that one country's flag does not fly above another's (in peacetime).
http://www.flags-flags-flags.org.uk/mexican-flag.htm
I would like to know more about it. I wonder what, if any flag(s) were flying the day before. For instance, if the Mexican flag had been flying previously and the American flag was added, it was probably with the best of intentions.

That was my initial reaction, too. As I saw him walk over to the flag pole, I thought he was going to just remove the US flag. Then as he cut the thing off, crumpling it up, I started to lose empathy, and my empathy was about gone when I saw that Mexican flag laying on a heap on the ground. I can empathize with his anger; I can't empathize with the way he handled it.