So, if they were to urinate on the American flag you would be okay with that since it is an inanimate object?
Simpsons basically did when Bart messed up the flag in front of veterans. I didnt hear any outrage then.
I was in China several years ago, and I had a shirt with an little American flag on it. Some people try and pretend to be Canadians or some such, but I figure, why try and hide it? I'm American, and if they don't like it then they don't like it.
Anyway, a student asked me about the shirt one day. The Chinese aren't allowed to use their flag for anything other than as a flag, or they face prison. He said that in China the state would see that as disrespect of the government, and would be sure to punish you.
Then it dawned on me that I love our flag precisely because I don't have to. I believe in America, and have elected to love it. Turning the flag into a sacred symbol of the Almighty State is basically turning it into a portrait of Kim Jong Il or Chairman Mao. I think that anyone that would deface an American flag is a lowly cretin, but anyone who told me I couldn't probably had a lot of other ideas about things 'for my own good' that he'll want me to do.
To that end, I feel the same about statues of the Virgin Mary.
"So, if they were to urinate on the American flag you would be okay with that since it is an inanimate object?"
It depends on how well-written the episode is. I personally don't worship the flag, so it probably wouldn't offend me.