While living in San Diego, I was often enraged whenever I would see something other than our own stars and stripes flying boldly along an antenna or waving shamelessly at a football game. The blood pressure would rise and I would feel that little vein next to the corner of my eye begin to bulge obscenely. The urge to throw something usually became overwhelming until I grabbed the nearest cigarette or beer - or both - to numb the senses and try to accept that free speech was free even if the act offended the amendment that protected it. However, if said smoke or liquor were not available, the protests I did stage would be at best worthy of Yosemite Sam and at worst - the WWF. And more often than not, the rebuttal from the foreign flag offender would consist of the claim that I was a racist and hated all brown people. I often replied that if the definition of a racist had been changed to include anyone that didn't submit ass-up free-of-charge to the minority opinion, then I fully agreed.
But whether or not Merriam-Webster has indeed updated the definition of racism, this argument is hard to win. Because this is where thinking ends and feeling begins. Once you've made an attack on someone's character that will stir others to attack simply on the fuel of emotion, the falsely accused is left battling a crazed mob on the edge of a crumbling cliff of intelligence. It is because of this relentless assault of ad hominem nonsense that I chose to rebut the claim that I am a racist, and that I hate all brown people because I don’t want to see a Mexican flag flying in an American football stadium.
So why is it that I and other hard working Americans get so upset when we see a foreign flag fly over our soil? Well…the answer is in the question isn't it? Hard working Americans know that the reason they have the ability to work hard and become prosperous is because of our flag and what it represents. Not necessarily the government or current political agendas hiding behind it, but the true essence of what our flag stands for: Opportunity.
Under those stars and stripes, we have the opportunity and ability to make something out of nothing. And without that flag or the support of it, that opportunity…YOUR opportunity…simply dies. Just like it died in the countries whose citizens have since relocated under the skies of old glory, but still celebrate the flag of the ideals that have destroyed their homeland. True Americans live and die for what our flag symbolizes: that the people behind the red, white and blue can make their lives BETTER. Therefore, to wave your cheap foreign polyester blend so blatantly in the faces of Americans who generation after generation have laid the foundation of this country is an unpardonable injury. Then to call us racists because we don’t support your flag on that foundation is the unforgivable insult.
Finally, to those on the fence: Remember that waving the American flag or being patriotic doesn't mean that you agree 100% with the politics behind it. Nor does it mean that you are a redneck hillbilly that has no culture or class and can’t form a complete sentence as this article is meant to prove. What it means is that you fully appreciate the opportunity you've been given and that you want to pay respect to the country that provided it. The American flag is our shepherd. It walks us through this world of injustice and suffering to ensure that we have the right to be happy and the right to prosper. If you want to support a flag dedicated to suffering, inequality and tyranny, then go back to the country that flies it and stop pissing the rest of us off.