Maine School Turns Flag Desecration into Art …
Posted by: Blue Collar Muse in America First, Blogroll, Common Sense, Conservative, Constitution Issues, Education, Individual Responsibility, LiberalI’m not sure where I was but I must have been doing something VERY important. Otherwise I’m pretty sure I would remember where I was when higher education became synonymous with ignorance. Kind of like remembering where you were when we landed on the moon; when Challenger blew up and when Kennedy, Kennedy, King, Lennon, Reagan and the Pope were shot.
You may be tempted to disagree with me and contend that higher education is not, in fact, an exercise in ignorance. So let me state, for the record, that I wish it were not so. Unfortunately, I have proof that it is. Well, proof that in the minds of some folks in Maine it is. I suppose I could back off a bit since not everyone in the story agrees with what was done. That’s likely the question you’re asking yourself, at the moment, isn’t it? What in the world set Ken off this time?
Here’s the skinny. The University of Maine at Farmington approved a recent ‘art’ project for one of their students. This particular project involved laying American flags, large and small, on the floor of a high traffic hall in the University’s Student Center. The idea was that the flags were there for people to walk on if they so chose. Thankfully, this ‘art’ didn’t insist that people do so and the flags were arranged in such a way that foot traffic could snake around the flags and traverse the hall without stepping on Old Glory.
Most of the young people who walked the hall that day had the good sense, morals and respect for the flag to take the difficult, meandering route. Unfortunately not everyone has a pedigree that includes respect and decency. There were students that walked across the flags and an ignorant few who actually took up positions intentionally standing on the flag. This included one empty headed, ignoramus dressed for the ‘hood (in Maine??) and proudly wearing a sign on his back proclaiming him to be a “Future Teacher”. Yet another reason The Much Younger Trophy Wife and I homeschool our children.
But even these naifs were not the most memorable members from the cast of characters parading across a six and a half minute video of the “art” show. The most memorable were a group of four, two good and two bad. The two bad, unsurprisingly, are University employees. And not just any two employees, oh no! They were the University’s President, Theodora Kalikow and the University’s Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Allen Berger. For the record, both of these individuals have completed a PhD program and appear on the University’s website with the honorific Dr. before their names. I will not so honor them here. I trust they will approve of my exercise of my Freedom of Speech.
The two University employees explain to one of the good guys, a veteran upset about the “art”, that the student’s project was approved by the University (so much for the “We didn’t know” defense later), was covered under the student’s right to free speech and that he can’t remove the flags from the floor. A third woman actually has the hubris to tell him they are protecting his Freedom of Speech by permitting the “art”. The veteran is further advised that his standing in front of the “art” with a home made sign reading “DISGRACEFUL” will not be permitted and that if he persists in doing so he will be escorted off the grounds, although they later agree to let him stay. There is, however, a police officer right next to the vet who enthusiastically agrees to remove him if necessary should the vet seek to defend his beloved flag from desecration. One of the employees further engages the veteran in a debate in which he tells him the flag is just “a piece of cloth” and implies his fight under the flag as a symbol of freedom was ignorant since Viet Nam was about far more than symbols. Truly these two employees are classic examples of those whose mind is so open their brains have leaked out.
The good guys in the video are a vet and another student at the University. Of all the folks in the video, I was most impressed with the veteran. Perhaps it was his time in the service that allowed him to cut through all of the verbal and intellectual posturing and misdirection and keep his eye on the enemy. He was at all times respectful and never once raised his voice but he knew what his mission was and he would not be dissuaded. Some of my favorite moments were when the employees began spouting some gobbledy-gook and the vet’s eyes would glaze over a bit and he simply and obviously tuned them out. He held his sign and stood in front of the flag to prevent anyone from walking on it without first knocking him down and simply stared straight ahead, calm and impassive. What a beautiful testament to patriotism in the face of cultural lunacy.
The second good guy was another student who walked up to the vet as he stood his post, shook the vet’s hand, crossed his arms in front of him and then stood alongside him as he kept up his vigil. Both of the good guys are unnamed in the video, but if I get to Maine, I have two folks on my “I believe I owe you a beer!” list. Thank you, gentlemen, for your service to our country!
Thanks, too, to the folks behind the camera! It’s my understanding that the College Republican group for UMF provided the video. It is difficult to imagine what it must be like to be an American and a Republican in such an environment. Those who openly proclaim themselves to be both get a shout out from Tennessee! And thanks to the nameless students as well who kept the faith by keeping their feet where they belong in a situation like this; on the straight and narrow and not on the Stars and Stripes! It’s these students we should consider as the norm as opposed to ignorant and disrespectful children and the educators who enable them. I suspect there are far more of the good kids than there are the bad ones. Even at the University of Maine …
Blue
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Tags: Allen Berger, Art, Flag Desecration, Theodora Kalikow, UMF, University of Maine at Farmington
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April 17th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
The funny thing that people aren’t taking into consideration about this at all is that the flags were made of duct-tape, and the other smaller flags were purchased from Wal-Mart and made in China (who as we all know, we don’t have the best relationship with right now). They were REPRESENTATIONS of flags.
People aren’t up in arms about American flag doormats, coasters, and boxers, but somehow flags made of duct-tape and displayed on the floor are offensive? Would it have been less offensive if Susan Crane had placed American flag T-shirts and welcome mats around the floor of the student center? And if we want to argue about context and say those products aren’t meant to offend people, neither was Crane’s project–she had no intention of hurting people (the project itself was silly, because it’s already been done and is basically plagiarism).
The students at my university created the context in this situation, the Veteran I’m sorry to say blew it out of proportion as have the College Republicans, just to get a little publicity. We weren’t getting this much attention until they put out that slanted and god-awful video (which doesn’t show the veteran attempting to ruin the student project, or the opinions of the administration themselves). I think it’s disappointing to see everyone so involved in something small like this when so many larger things are happening.
Not to mention all this media attention has the University students at each others throats, which is sad.
And I really hate to see you talking so poorly about higher education when we’re the ones spending our money and putting so much time and hard work so we can help build a better America. College students & universities in general aren’t the enemy.
-Melissa
April 17th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
[…] Blue Collar Muse - ‘Maine School Turns Flag Desecration into Art’ […]
April 17th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Melissa -
I appreciate you coming by and leaving your thoughts. As a college grad myself and with a couple of years of grad school under my belt, I understand the amount of work it takes to get through school. However, as an adult and having spent the last 30 years after college working in the real world I also have an opinion on college. Namely, that students don’t know everything. If they did, they wouldn’t be students, would they. Further, in their ignorance, many students say and do things in school that they are horrified to recall later.
Which is why I thanked
And it’s why I reserved most of my scorn and my praise for the adults in the situation; the veteran and UMF’s President and Provost. They are not students or youth. They should know right from wrong. They should be leading and training students. Unfortunately for UMF, only the vet filled those shoes.
That the flags laid on the floor were representations is both incorrect and, even if they were, it is irrelevant. It is incorrect in that the flag is not a flag only when it is made of cloth and flown on a pole. Plenty of us are happy to see it displayed in pride on bumper stickers, mugs, screenshots and such. The depiction of the flag is as much a flag as one you might fly on your flagpole. To use any depiction of Old Glory in a demeaning, derogatory or desecrating manner is just as upsetting to me and those like me as what this empty headed woman did.
Should you succeed in convincing me the items used in her “art” project were not, indeed, flags my second point comes into play. Basically, it’s unimportant whether or not the items were real flags or mere representations as even the real flags are mere representations of the ideals of Liberty, Freedom, Justice and the other noble tenets on which our country was founded. Even the young woman whose “art” we are discussing understood that. She understood she wasn’t looking to provide and opportunity for insult to material. Rather it was an insult to what the material arranged in that specific pattern, shape and coloration roused in the hearts of those who saw it.
It is discouraging to see you so widely miss the mark by blaming the vet and the College Republicans to the extent you accuse them of blowing this out of proportion to get publicity. That would seem to have been the role that UMF and the talentless “artist” played. By everyone’s account, they all knew the undertaking would be controversial. They went ahead. That people responded as they knew they would does not make those responding publicity seekers. The vet would have been there regardless of the presence of cameras or not. The CR members were incensed and present and I’m happy they were there to represent me and my opinions of what the school permitted and the ignorant young woman conceived. Why is it publicity seeking when Americans object to the desecration of our flag but noble and Constitutional and brave when ignorant and incendiary men and women who despise their country and its heritage do the desecration?
This event is not the small and inconsequential thing you believe it to be. That so many are polarized on the issue is a good thing, not a result to be lamented. It clearly divides the people into those who respect and honor our country, its heritage and its character and those who do not. Such clear delineation is valuable because it allows us to see who the internal enemies of our country truly are. If, as you say and as I have agreed, it is not students and universities in general, it must be individual students and University employees in specific. If nothing else, the “art” project has cleared up the question of who belongs to which camp at UMF. I, for one, am glad to see the identification spread beyond UMF and Maine so the public has the chance to choose their side as well.
Blue
May 8th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
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May 9th, 2008 at 7:49 am
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September 16th, 2008 at 6:44 am
I know this post is late, but i just found this website, and thought people should from a student at umf, that this should not reflect on the students because many, many of us were upset, because this was not the first time something like this has happened at that university, the ones who student ourselves and everyone should be upset at are our president and vice president for the despicable actions, in the youtube video posted about this art project, and also for even approving such a thing.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:53 am
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