-UC Irvine: Students Ban Offensive American Flag
by Dr. D ~ March 7th, 2015
UPDATE: UC Irvine student executive cabinet vetoed this legislation. So the flag is still flying.
The associated student government at University of California, Irvine has voted to ban the American flag from the student union area citing the need for it to be ’inclusive.’
According to the legislation, while the flag may be a positive symbol to some, to others it is an offensive reminder of nationalism, colonialism and imperialism. The document also documented their support for freedom of speech as a ‘valued right’ but they seemed to suggest that in the student area it needed to be limited in order to avoid ‘hate speech.’ Here’s a quote from the document:
Whereas people are assimilated into national ideologies by deployment of this cultural artifact.
Whereas flags construct paradigms of conformity and sets homogenized standards for others to obtain which in this country typically are idolized as freedom, equality, and democracy.
Whereas symbolism is interpreted differently by different groups or persons based on individual unique experiences.
Whereas a common ideological understanding of the United states includes American exceptionalism and superiority. …
Whereas the American flag has been flown in instances of colonialism and imperialism.
Response: Is this an example of some of the teaching and ideological values being promoted on this campus? The legislation seems to indicate that some students going to UC Irvine have a problem with American values like “freedom, equality, and democracy”?
Some of my taxes are going to support that very institution and underwrite the tuition of some of these very students that may find freedom of speech and the American flag as offensive and representative of ‘hate speech.’
I posted this as an example of the type of thinking that is being expounded on college and university campuses across America. In this case the American flag along with Constitutional freedoms are under assault and being represented as ‘offensive’ to some.
What does this portend for the future of our nation if a new educated class is rising up that may not share our traditional American values of ‘freedom, equality, and democracy.’ Will this new generation call for limiting free speech and freedom of religion? With these types of attitudes on display, one wonders how lawyers and judges coming out of Irvine’s School of Law will rule and interpret laws and the Constitution in the future? Will progressive PC inclusiveness end up destroying our nation and our Constitutional freedoms in the future? *Top
