Ban the American Flag? WHAT?

Yesterday (I was feeling lazy; therefore, I did not post) I received an email which detailed that moveon.org, Organizing American, and the SEIU were twittering to vote for yes on a FOXNEWS poll. I was originally very angry that this was happening. I even posted a status on my facebook page against these very people. After I let my blood pressure come down (which I need to do for real!), I did a little research with a saner head.

The research I did was to go to twitter to see if the email was true. Unless the individual members of the above organizations were twittering themselves, the email is absolutely false. The major groups mentioned in the email were not twittering to go vote yes on the poll.

The truth, though, in the email is that the "YES" on the poll was definitely winning. Of course, that in itself presents a problem except of course when you consider you can vote as many times as you want on the poll, which means a very few people can swing the vote in their direction if they so choose. This is one of the reasons FOXNEWS declares all of their polls "not scientific."

So what was the poll? That's another amusing thing in this whole email. The email forwarded to me was started on June 4th. Now it could've started several weeks ago and have been edited before being sent to the person who forwarded to me; you can't tell. The amusing thing though is the poll was from the first week in May. The poll was started May 7 (approximately, I'm basing this on the first comment date). So if the email forwarded to me was started at that time, it took a full month to get into my email box.

The FOXNEWS poll was asking if the American Flag should be banned at schools. Of course, the question is misleading. This poll was a result of the conflict which occurred at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California over five students wearing American flag decorated clothes on Cinco de Mayo. The poll does not ask if American flag adorned clothing should be banned; instead, it asks if the American flag should be banned. The YES response reads "YES. The safety of the students come first."

The YES answer is a typical progressive method to spin a result in their direction so I was amazed that it was asked on FOXNEWS considering most people view FOXNEWS as biased right (of course, this viewpoint is taken because FOXNEWS is definitely not biased LEFT which is how other news and media outlets are biased). The YES answer can get some to answer YES because to answer NO would mean the person is in favor of putting students at risk. Tricky wording at its best!

The flap over the flag is a ridiculous situation. I will be the first to say the students who wore the American flag-covered clothing were doing it to rile up their fellow students who were wearing Mexican flags because of Cinco de Mayo even if they say they were weren't. However, I stand with them on this matter because in the FOXNEWS article, one of the Mexican supporters shows their ignorance.

Joshua Miller wrote, "Freshman Laura Ponce, who had a Mexican flag painted on her face and chest, told the Morgan Hill Times that Cinco de Mayo is the "only day" Mexican-American students can show their national pride." Can you believe this? Displaying "national" pride for a nation that is not America while getting a free education in America. Also, she doesn't even understand what Cinco de Mayo is representing.

One of the amusing facts about Cinco de Mayo is that it's predominantly celebrated in America. Yes, that's right, Mexico does not celebrate Cinco de Mayo. That is not to say that Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated by some Mexicans. Those who live in Puebla, Mexico celebrate Cinco de Mayo; for the rest of Mexico it's more of a low-key event than a big celebration (Barbezat). There is even a website devoted to the celebration; but, alas, it's American.

In 1862, France, Spain, and England invaded Mexico who was in the midst of an upheaval which caused business interests to suffer property losses. Basically, Mexico wasn't paying their bills to their foreign investors and the foreign investors came to collect. Spain and England struck deals and left. France wanted more. On May 5th, 1862, an outnumbered Mexican army defeated the French at Puebla. An astounding victory for the Mexicans - they defeated one of the most powerful armies in the world! They won the battle, but lost the war as the French went onto occupy Mexico. Napoleon III installed his own emperor in Mexico. In 1867, after the Civil War was over and the US had sent troops to the border invoking the Monroe Doctrine, the French withdrew giving Mexico back to the Mexicans. Let me reiterate, France invaded Mexico because the Mexicans weren't paying their bills. The Mexicans won a battle but lost the war. It took the US demanding the French to leave to actually leave. This is what is celebrated on Cinco de Mayo. This is what represents Mexican national pride - at least according to a teenager who lives in America.

It really is sad the spin some people put on events. It's really sad when people speak and are actually ignorant of the facts (I have my fingers crossed that all of my facts are correct!). It's sad that the displaying of American pride in America on any given day would be considered conflict invoking.

We are the melting pot. In a melting pot, the parts become a whole. The pot is emblazoned with the flag of America. People can have pride in the place from which they or their ancestors came; however, that pride should have a small voice when compared to the pride one should have for living in a country where freedom reigns.

Cinco de Mayo is just another day. Much like St Patrick's Day, it's not a holiday but just another day to have some fun. Cinco de Mayo does not have the significance of July the 4th or September the 15th (Mexico's actual independence day). It is not on the same plain as these two dates and should not be viewed as such.

This is America. National pride is about America in America. We will tolerate pride of other nations because we believe in free speech; however, to even suggest we temper our speech to accommodate another's belief because of what might happen is un-American. The ignorant have called Arizona's immigration law un-American. Do they even know what American is? I definitely can say that to call for the ban of the flag in any shape or version to appease any group in America is not only un-American but it's actually ANTI-AMERICAN! Shame on anyone who voted YES in the FOXNEWS poll.

Mike

References:

Foxnews poll: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/05/06/american-flag-banned-america/

Cinco de Mayo advocacy site: http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm

Miller, J. (2010). California students sent home for wearing U.S. flags on Cinco de Mayo. Retrieved 05 Jun 2010 from http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/06/california-students-sent-home-wearing-flags-cinco-mayo/

Barbezat, S. (n.d.). Cinco de Mayo holiday in Mexico. Retrieved 05 Jun 2010 from http://gomexico.about.com/od/festivalsholidays/p/cinco_de_mayo.htm

Downey, D. (Ed.). (1987). New Standard Encyclopedia. IL: Standard educational corporation.