95% Didn't Walk On It

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Student Flag Project Draws Controversy in Maine

A Maine college student has caused a firestorm after plastering the floor of a campus building with American flags to see if anyone would trample Old Glory.

Susan Crane, a student at the University of Maine, Farmington, placed hundreds of flags on the floor of the school's student center Tuesday for an art class assignment. She set down the flags in a maze-like pattern to document whether students and staff would step on them.

But instead of fostering dialogue, the experiment drew demonstrators, among them Vietnam War veteran Charles Bennett.

"As far as I was concerned, that was desecration of the American flag," Bennett told FOXNews.com. He went down to the student center to protest the display after a friend told him what was going on, he said.

Bennett was among a vocal group that protested the treatment of the Stars and Stripes.

[Hellion]

Next time they do a test like this,they should throw these flags out instead,see what happens then.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I'd go out of my way to walk on all of them.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Interesting article.

Honestly I think your average person on the street has far more respect for the "idea" of the united states than we generally think. People don't like a lot of what the government does , but they typically do care about the idea of America and wouldn't intentionally want to gesture against it. I think there is a clear distinction between the specific government and the overall idea/ideals of the USA.

Even though i think most card-carrying conservatives would consider me a liberal (which really is incorrect, as i'm a card carrying Capitalist and dislike most, not all, but most, expressions of socialism), it wouldn't occur to me to just ignore the American flag on the ground. Nor would any "liberals" i know in my personal life. Some might cringe at hearing me say it but i really do love this country, and unless i have to jump through a hoop to avoid it, I'm not going to give the impression i don't care about the symbol of the nation. Nor am i going to use it to wipe my feet to make some kind of "point" about freedom of expression. There are other ways to do it.

If the maze was really hardcore i might step on the flags to get across but if i could avoid it i would.

This particular action did, unlike that article mentions, spark dialogue. We wouldn't be discussing it if it didn't. Gesture politics tend to be the only thing that gets the common-joe into a political conversation unless its taking money directly out of his pocket.

Having said that, someone stepped on the flag or put the flag in an inconvenient or irritating spot? I don't personally like it, but really, deal. We've got far more pressing things to fine or jail people for.

[Hellion]

I'd go out of my way to walk on all of them.

same here,LOL!

[Marmee_Noir]

Hey I friggin love America.. We may have some major issues and some big time corruption but heh it's still my home country. But chances are I wouldn't even of noticed the flags on the ground and would of walked right across them... Hell unless I'm wearing spiked heels and am walking across some pretty shady cement I never look at the ground when walking!

And the flag pretty much falls into the same category as most religious relics to me.. I put my faith in the source... Not some piece of propaganda that someone tries to install faith into..

I think Troy said it best in his first paragraph!

[Hellion]

There is a big difference between the USA flag and the UN flag,one should be burned,the other flown proudly,(USA flag that is)Never cared for what the United Nations stood for,IMO.

other than that,the one thing that always stumped me is they put tiny US flag toothpicks on 4rth of July cakes,and you know those get thrown out.

[Marmee_Noir]

There is a big difference between the USA flag and the UN flag,one should be burned,the other flown proudly,(USA flag that is)Never cared for what the United Nations stood for,IMO.

other than that,the one thing that always stumped me is they put tiny US flag toothpicks on 4rth of July flags,and you know those get thrown out.

They not only get thrown out, but think they get chewed on and are used to pick teeth and you can roll the lil flag up and load them into a straw like and ummm never mind... LMAO you know now somewhere out in the great wide USA there is some weird super patriotic person who saves all those lil flagged toothpicks!

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Hey I friggin love America.. We may have some major issues and some big time corruption but heh it's still my home country. But chances are I wouldn't even of noticed the flags on the ground and would of walked right across them... Hell unless I'm wearing spiked heels and am walking across some pretty shady cement I never look at the ground when walking!

And the flag pretty much falls into the same category as most religious relics to me.. I put my faith in the source... Not some piece of propaganda that someone tries to install faith into..

I think Troy said it best in his first paragraph!

[Troy Spiral (13)]

the one thing that always stumped me is they put tiny US flag toothpicks on 4rth of July flags,and you know those get thrown out.

Never thought about it. Interesting observation.

[sass_in_the_pants]

and those flag paper plates that everyone uses at 4th of july picnics. We eat off of those!!

[Dani T girl]

wtf? its just a piece of cloth either way... there's millions of those things, it's not like it's "THE" American flag. They're just gonna add more stars next time we get a new state, and the old ones will be obsolete.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

And the Liberty Bell is just a piece of metal...

The Constitution is a piece of paper..

Liberty, Freedom, Sacrifice... just words.

[Rev.Reverence]

I still think the 'OLD' flag should fly... then the rest of the world would see..

:jamin :jamin

[Pandora]

Things only have meaning if we assign it. I'm not surprised because I assign pride with the US flag, and I would never walk on it. But I support others' right to. To each their own.

[freydis]

Personally, (as long as I saw it before walking, yes, i can be oblivious) I wouldnt walk on it.

But then, I wouldnt walk on any religious icons either, whether it was my religion or not.

I guess I would probably extend that respect to other nations' flags, too.

It's kind of a respect thing.

[TygerLili]

If I saw a maze of any type of flags on the floor my first thought would be WTF, are there land mines or quicksand or something under these flags? That would probably be more motivation for me not to step on any of the flags that what the flags represented to me or anyone else.

If I saw one solitary American flag discarded on the floor I would try to avoid stepping on it, granted that I saw it. I don't like a lot of things about this country, but I can respect the fact that a lot of good people have risked and given their lives to protect it and to give us the freedom we have today.

And, yes, they put American flags on everything, just go look in a dollar store sometime. I'm not a very patriotic person at all, but I think it's miss using the symbolism and missing the point of the flag to put it on plates, napkins, table cloths. Hell, I swear I once saw American flag toilet paper. Explain that one to me.

[Fin]

Interesting to see what FOX considers "newsworthy."

[Dani T girl]

Things only have meaning if we assign it. I'm not surprised because I assign pride with the US flag, and I would never walk on it. But I support others' right to. To each their own.

Agreed. I think its idol worship. I don't use graven images to represent my beliefs, why would I use them to represent my country? On the other hand, I wouldn't go out of my way to walk on the flag. I kinda like this country, even though I hate most of our politics, and half the things we do. I just don't see how a flag, just like the one every other nation flies, could possibly represent the struggle, pain, and glory of America. I think its insulting that most Americans put more credit to the flag then its soldiers. My dad returned from Vietnam and got spit on.

Anyways, it was a bad test. Any good experiment has a control. They should have done one floor with the stars and stripes, and another with the union jack. I'd bet barley anyone would give a damn about the British flag.

[n0Mad]

Next time they do a test like this,they should throw these flags out instead,see what happens then.

Hey, that looks like my toilet paper. Well, it would be my toilet paper if I could find some. Know where to get any?

[Hellion]

What the UN really means,LOL!

I definately don't believe in a one world government.

[jadnifer]

I wouldn't walk on the flags. But that's just me.

If someone else wanted to walk on them, I wouldn't like it, but I would have no right to tell them not to. They have the freedom and the right to walk on them if they want to. Heck, they have the right to burn them if they wanted to.

I think that it was something that was just a simple experiment that got blown out of proportion.