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'Hey buddy, my daddy died for that flag.' 'Really? I bought mine. Yeah, they sell them at K-Mart and shit.' 'He died in the Korean War.' 'Wow, what a coincidence. Mine was made in Korea.' No one - and I repeat, no one - has ever died for a flag. See, a flag : is just a piece of cloth. They may have died for freedom, which is also the freedom to burn the fucking flag, see. That's freedom.

Bill Hicks#111

FreedomPatriotismSymbolsProtestRights

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About this quote

What does it mean?
Hicks argues that flags are just cloth and people die for freedoms, not symbols, and that burning a flag is a protected expression of that freedom.
In plain terms
Flags are just cloth. People die for freedom, and freedom includes the right to protest.
What can you take from it?
Symbols do not hold inherent value; the principles they represent matter more.

Where it applies

  • political debate
  • flag burning protests
  • memorials

Putting it to work

  • defending protest rights
  • critiquing nationalism

Questions to consider

  • What does a flag represent to you?
  • Is freedom of speech worth the offense it causes?

Another view

Symbols can unite people emotionally even if they are just cloth.

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