American Flag - Muted: Can anyone use?

[Wytchdctr]

Over 20 years in and I'll play devil's advocate here......

You never, ever, go and let someone tell you what you can and cant do with a flag. IMO fly it anyway but upside down. Just kidding on that advocate crap.. but someone probably was getting ready to reply in anger.

Stolen valor is wearing the uniform and/or medals and even that isn't illegal unless - like others have said - you are doing it for financial, etc gain (in most States?). Even if legal it might be a good way to get an beating if you run into the wrong vet (not legal - not advocating violence).

Sponsored

 

[briwill70]

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/8

I won't say too much about this but it is often abused.

 

[canyonslicker]

The flag is properly displayed with the stars upper left. Upper right is used on uniforms.

The stars face forward no matter which side they’re on. Upper right for right side, upper left for left side giving the appearance of advancing..

 

[VAMike]

The stars face forward no matter which side they’re on. Upper right for right side, upper left for left side giving the appearance of advancing..

For the first couple hundred years the flag as an image was always portrayed with the stars in the upper left. When mounted on a pole on a vehicle the stars were closest to the pole and would naturally be toward the front when the vehicle was in motion unless there was a strong wind (vehicles weren't usually very fast) or if it were a ship (they rarely sailed directly into the wind). Over the past few decades it has become fashionable that a picture of a flag on a vehicle or a person or anything else should be portrayed as though it were an actual flag flying into a headwind. That doesn't make this depiction right--or wrong. If someone wants to do it that way, they can. If someone chooses not to do it that way, they can. The only thing that's really wrong is telling other people they're doing it wrong.

The primary source of this fashion are modern military standards which mandate the "flying" depiction of the flag. If someone is an employee of the DoD they should certainly adhere to those standards. But, people not working for the DoD can do as they think best. And, in the past, before the "flag always advances" slogan was introduced, the US military itself did not universally follow the "imagine the flag is flying from a pole" rule, and depictions depended on specific circumstances and command preferences. (Most often it would be depicted as if flying when it was replacing the expected "proper" flag identifying the allegiance of a vehicle, especially trains--prior to motorized transportation the idea that you'd always be moving fast enough to stream a flag out behind you would have seemed insane. Anyway, the key was whether the picture was being used as a substitute for an actual flag. Small/secondary depictions or uniform patches often but not always followed the usual "stars upper left" rule.)

 

[McLeadslinger]

Im A 20 year Vet. Tell your neighbor to shut his pie hole. You can do what you choose.

 

[McLeadslinger]

I bet your Neighbor drives a Tacoma

 

[Whiplash]

Distressed battle flag..
' No Surrender '

 

[WingShot]

 

[Iowa Guy]

Do it! Just make sure they fly the correct way.

Isn't the correct way for the flag to always fly to the "right"?

 

[Iowa Guy]

Isn't the correct way for the flag to always fly to the "right"?

updated:, just reviewed the flag codes, yours are shown correctly, sorry for my confusion

 

[ControlNode]

I get the look are are going for with the flags mirroring each other, but since the flag on the right as rules for proper display I would swap the flag locations so the star field is on the top left as it should be for that flag.

 

[OFC Ranger]

I get the look are are going for with the flags mirroring each other, but since the flag on the right as rules for proper display I would swap the flag locations so the star field is on the top left as it should be for that flag.

Improper flag display, or 1st Amendment choice?

 

[ControlNode]

Improper flag display, or 1st Amendment choice?

Normally I find it is Improper display from not knowing better. Even my local Walmart had it wrong and I pointed it out to them when they first opened. Being in a military town that is not a mistake they wanted to leave that way long.

 

[OFC Ranger]

Normally I find it is Improper display from not knowing better. Even my local Walmart had it wrong and I pointed it out to them when they first opened. Being in a military town that is not a mistake they wanted to leave that way long.

Yes I am aware, but to be blunt it doesn't register on my meter. I'm happy to live in this country, but I stop short of treating a flag with worship. Most of my co-workers would get angry quick at someone burning a flag, I on the other hand couldn't care less. Its a piece of cloth (or in most cases nylon).

I was just being cheeky with my response. Most people who get upset about flag code are also die hard constitutionalist. What would happen if you confronted them about it being your 1A choice to display it that way? Would their head explode on the spot?

 

[ControlNode]

Yes I am aware, but to be blunt it doesn't register on my meter. I'm happy to live in this country, but I stop short of treating a flag with worship. Most of my co-workers would get angry quick at someone burning a flag, I on the other hand couldn't care less. Its a piece of cloth (or in most cases nylon).

I was just being cheeky with my response. Most people who get upset about flag code are also die hard constitutionalist. What would happen if you confronted them about it being your 1A choice to display it that way? Would their head explode on the spot?

In scouts one of my main jobs at camp and meeting was flag handling. So I see it fast. Doesn't bother me, but I still make a point to point it out incase the person displaying it thought that was within the flag code. I get 1st amendment, but something like that is really easy to just assume ignorant displayer so any message about the improper display is lost in most cases. Burning a flag, the message is clear. Now as scouts we did decommission flags and had to cut them up and burn the pieces, but that is a very different from public flag burning.

Sponsored